Staking and Wiring
Standards should be attached to a round, strong, stout stake 2½ inches thick or more, as soon as planted. The best plan is to have the stake in position ready for the tree. For full sized standards, the stakes should be 7 to 8 feet long, and driven 18 inches or more into the ground; they should be in the centre of each hole. Choose durable wood, as far as possible. A straw or hay band, or a piece of bagging, should now be run round the stem, and the stake attached to it by thick string or cord well tarred. The twigs of the willow (soft and strong, especially the golden willow) may also be used. Protection against rabbits must be provided at once. A wire fence round the orchard or garden is best; where there is no fence, put a yard of wire netting (1¼ mesh) round each tree. This will last for years. The wire should be 3 feet high at the least. Examine your fence every year in September and repair. You cannot be too particular. Serious damage may be done in a night.
Stocks For Pears
The discovery of the Quince Stock, as adapted to the Pear for budding or grafting upon, has added immensely of late years to the popularity of this valuable fruit. The discovery, it is true, is not a new one. Merlet, writing in 1667 (says Mr Scott), recommends the Portugal Quince as stronger and more favourable for working pears upon than any other variety: "It swells equally fast with the graft, which none of the other sorts do." Le Gendre, an author of about the same date, in Le Manière de cultiver les arbres Frutiers, says: "I have been much aided by the invention of grafting the Pear upon the Quince," and adds that he was one of the first who helped to introduce this method. By this discovery the well-known saying: "Plant pears for your heirs," must give way to another:—
"That those who plant pears
Grow fruit for their heirs
Is a maxim our grandfathers knew;
But folks have learnt since,
If you graft on the quince
The fruit will develop for you."[1]
This stock checks excessive growth, and brings the tree into early bearing. It is not adapted for large standards nor for light soil; in good pear ground it is simply invaluable. Sometimes poor results occur, but the failure is usually caused by the want of proper care, either at the nursery or in the garden. Young trees are often overworked. Some varieties will not thrive on the quince stock, so that double-grafting has been introduced. Thus the strong-growing Beurré d'Amanlis is grafted on the quince, then two years after some other sort is grafted on it. It is said that in this way Gansel's Bergamot is made "a marvel of fertility,"[2] but this is not my experience! The disappointing pear Marie Louise is usually double-grafted, so is that excellent late pear Josephine de Malines for cordons, bushes, or pyramids, and so are many others. Strong-growing varieties like Vicar of Winkfield, Beurré Hardy, Beurré Clairgeau, Marie Louise d'Uccle, and others, are used as intermediate stocks. To check the vigorous Pitmaston Duchess, the weakly Winter Nelis is employed as an intermediary. Our chief nurserymen are studying the habits of each pear which needs double grafting, and failure is rare on their part. Fruits grown on the Quince Stock are often more highly coloured, and not so coarse as such as are on the Pear Stock. Those who have a good pear soil then should plant no tree on the Pear Stock, except in an orchard.
The varieties usually employed are the Portugal, the Angers, and the common Quince. The Angers being compact, prolific, and easily increased, is said to be the favourite.[3]
In some soils Pear Stocks must be used. The Quince would not thrive; it is not strong enough. The latter is surface rooting, it emits more fibres, and does not rejoice in the tap-root of the Pear Stock. But for light and unfavourable soils, and also for large standards, the Pear Stock alone will suffice. This is often called the Free Stock, as compared with the dwarfing Quince. In former years the seeds of the wild pear were used to raise new stocks, but at the present time pear seedlings are sent from France to England and the United States in large quantities. Our cousins, however, are exerting themselves earnestly to improve the pear, and with their energy and variety of climate, will not long be dependent upon France.
Orchard Trees
In good soil and a favourable, well-sheltered aspect, standard trees on the pear stock may be a success if planters and owners can wear the cap of patience for eight to ten years. Should it be probable that cattle will use the ground, a strong and lasting fence must be put round each tree, as thorns encircling them will not suffice. Iron fences made for the purpose, with wire netting added at the top, may be the cheapest in the end. Otherwise, put three posts (larch or oak) to form a triangle round the tree. These should be well charred or tarred at some distance from the lower end before being firmly driven in. The tops should slant outwards. Then nail cross-pieces to the posts; old railway-sleepers are sometimes cheap and useful. The standards in good soil should be thirty feet apart or more. It is a mistake to allow the grass at any time to grow under the trees. Moisture which pears require is absorbed, and the air is kept from the roots. Reduce the branches after planting (in October or November) to five or six at the most; cut these back to an outer eye, six to nine inches from the stem. The roots will establish themselves for the first year, and good growth will usually follow. The strength of a tree depends mainly on its roots. These must not be overtasked at first, or the tree will suffer seriously. Next year, late in July, cut back to the sixth leaf all shoots springing from the main branches which run inwards; keep the centre open, well exposed to the light, sun and air, and allow the main branches to develop themselves freely. In the winter cut all shoots not needed back to two or three eyes. If more boughs are needed, shorten the leading shoots, always cutting just above an outer eye. Make the tree as even as you can by shortening leading shoots on opposite sides. Never allow boughs to cross or to interfere with one another. If boughs are void of a fair proportion of shoots and spurs, they should be stopped. Be careful to admit the sun fully on the south side. Cut off all shoots springing from the central part or on the lower part of the branches of old standards. If young standard trees are well planted, carefully fed and pruned, the stems kept clear of weeds and grass, they can be brought into comparatively early bearing. Where irrigation is possible, let a stream of water that has flowed some distance over the ground be turned in dry weather on to their roots, or let liquid manure be given after rain; the effect will be surprising. But beware of very cold or stagnant water!