BERGAMOTTE ESPEREN ON WALL
Dessert Pears.—Doyenné d'Été (very early), Beurré Giffard, Jargonelle, B. d'Amanlis, Doyenné Boussoch, Louise Bonne, Pitmaston Duchess, Emile d'Heyst, B. Diel, Forelle or Trout Pear, B. Clairgeau, Winter Nelis, Josephine de Malines, Passe Crassanne, Easter Beurré.
Cooking Pears.—Catillac, Uvedale's St Germain, Verulam (more compact), Bellissime d'Hiver (grows like a cypress). Others might be added. Some of these do well also as pyramids.
oblique or diagonal, on one stem only, are my favourites. The finest fruit can be grown on them even in the open, if the situation is good and well protected. They are usually placed against a wall, but they also do well on wires. These should be put near a path about 18 inches or 2 feet away, and 2 to 3 feet should be allowed the other side. If the wires run N. and S., the best fruit will be on the S. side. E. and W. is a better aspect, but both are good if there is shelter. On a wall, S. or S.-W. is best. Plant single cordons in good ground, they will soon grow and bear. Double-grafted trees are dearer, yet cheap. All in such soil should be on Quince. On chalk or gravel soils they must be on the pear or free stock. Older trees cost a trifle more, but never buy old trees. Old trees are like old folks, they rarely transplant well. Avoid horizontal or double cordons. The former are too near the ground, and often in the gardener's way. The latter are not so manageable as single stems. Sometimes single stems fail from various causes; they can be easily removed, and a fresh tree substituted at little cost. In a year or two the new tree, if not cropped at first, may begin to do well and bear fruit. Plant 18 or 20 inches from each other at an angle of 45°; when the tree reaches the top wire, train it onwards. After a time, this wire may be crowded; then a tree here and there may be allowed (as a single stem) to go upwards. But root-pruning (half a side only) each year will keep gross growers in check. Stop the tops of strong growers of any size after planting to produce fruit buds, and always remove blossom buds at the top. All varieties do well as cordons; the most tender should be planted in the best protected and warmest spot. The wires (galvanised) should be stretched from iron posts, the latter strengthened with stays. Bars of iron perforated, flat, and light, 6 or 7 feet apart, should keep the wires in position. The lowest wire should be about 18 inches from the ground, the wires above at least 12 inches apart. Six feet is a sufficient height for the top wire. Otherwise the garden is shaded and the trees require a ladder. Oak posts 7 to 8 feet long, 4 to 5 inches through, tarred or charred at the bottom, are perhaps cheaper at first. These also require stays. In three or four years the wires are almost covered, and good crops in a fine season follow. Leave openings at intervals for gardeners to go through.
Arches
(with a cordon on each) may also be formed over paths and wires stretched from one to another. But beware of bringing them very near to each other. Sun and air are essential to success. A shoot allowed to run along a high horizontal wire will often bear fine fruit. Walls too should be covered with cordons rather than horizontals. Double the crop is often secured in half the time. Visitors to the Chiswick Gardens of the R.H.S. may see a large number on a high wall bearing in a hot gravelly soil good fruit. The treatment of all such trees is simple. If against a wall and on light soil, they must be fed well. Stable manure should be given in the autumn and left to decay; liquid manure when the fruit begins to swell. Summer prune in July, pinching or cutting new growths back to the sixth leaf, reducing these in autumn to two or three eyes, but leaving fruit buds untouched. Root prune when necessary in late October or November. In winter, look over the trees, see that all are tied properly, reduce with a small saw any large lumps of wood formed in the course of years, and prepare the trees for spraying or washing.
The cost of Standards is usually from 1s. 6d. to 2s. 6d.; Maidens or Yearlings 1s. 6d. each, 12s. per dozen; Bush and Pyramids on Pear or Quince 1s. 6d. to 3s. 6d.; cordons, 1s. 6d. each, 12s. per dozen; double-grafted trees 2s. 6d. to 3s. 6d.