316 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CENTEAL 



SECOND DAY— MORNIiSG SESSION. 



Prayer by Rev. Mr. Streeter of Mattoon, Mr. Parker Earle of South Pass read the 

 following essay : 



ABOUT PEARS. 



Horticulture Is very far from being an exact science. There is little that is settled in any depart- 

 ment of it. Suppose one should try to find the very best method of pruning and managing grape 

 vines, and thereto should read all that has been written on that question within the last ten years by 

 scientific and practical men (if life were long enough !), what would most likely be his conclusions V 

 So in regard to any other branch of our fruit culture. Our knowledge is lamentably limited and 

 inexact. Our conclusions are curiously divergent. 



Pear Culture forms no exception to this painful state of facts; and it must be acknowledged that 

 all the experience of two hemispheres and all the science of this age have failed to tell us how best 

 to grow and manage a pear tree. It is therefore an embarrassing thing for any one to attempt what 

 might seem like instruction. The most that any man can do is to give his latest opinions— which a 

 year's experience may materiall}' change. And no man's ojjinions mainly based on the narrow 

 experience of a particular localitj', can be much relied upon under difl'erent conditions of soil and 

 climate. So I stand here to-day, not as a teaclier, but as a somewhat enthusiastic student of pear 

 culture, to give you some of my present impressions, which may be worth but little for any place, 

 and tliat little only for sections whose conditions of climate and soil do not materiallj' vary from 

 those of the bills of Southern Illinois. 



Tlie mechanical state of the soil for a pear orcliard is, I think, the most important consideration 

 connected with it. It should be in that happy medium condition which gives free natural under- 

 drainage without being leachy. Such a soil will give those temperate conditions of moisture and 

 warmth in which pear roots delight. Our Western soils are generally too heavy for pears, and 

 require very thorough subsoiling and artificial underdrainage. This is somewhat expensive, but 

 indispensable to success in retentive soils. It is said that tile drains are soon obstructed with roots 

 In an orchard. Probably a foot in depth of small cobble stones covered with gravel at the bottom of 

 a four foot ditch will make the best drain for the orchard. As all vegetable substances are derived 

 much more largely from the air and water than from the soil, it seems that the mechanical condition 

 and chemical properties which enable it to absorb and retain the gases supplied by the air and tlie 

 rain, are more important than mineral constitvients. I would plant a few trees on the best soil I 

 could get or make, wherever I was located, as ijears are a luxury wortli taking great trouble to 

 obtain, but I would not plant largely or for profit, except on soils adapted, bj' natural constitution 

 or artificial preparation, to the healthy growth and longevitj' of the trees. Having the right soil, it 

 is important to get good trees to plant. And among trees, as among animals and among men, I 

 believe there are great difi'erences of constitutional vigor. A large majority of the pear trees I 

 have seen come out of the nursery, are deficient in their native vitality; this may come from a feeble 

 stock, or from a weak bud or graft. A young pear seedling inherits the qualities of its parent tree, 

 and only the seeds of perfectly grown pears from healthy and vigorous trees should ever be used in 

 propagation. It is my impression that we suffer greatly from the neglect or ignorance of propaga- 

 tors in this respect. It is wholly impossible to make healthy and long lived trees from puny stocks. 

 Perhaps it is not less important to select buds or grafts from health}' trees, and which have been 

 well developed by full exposure to the sun and air. A vigorous graft on a weak stock may be 

 induced to throw out roots from itself, but a weak graft will never amount to much, whatever the 

 stock. I will venture the opinion here that the best way to make a pear tree, is to sow the seed 

 where the tree is to stand, and put on such tops as you prefer. This cannot be done however in all 

 places. But I have no doubt that the oldest, largest and most regularly productive pear trees in this 

 world have grown from seed where they stand. As most of us must buy out trees from the nursery, 

 and take the chances as to their ' ' noble blood, " I would buy only those trees which *ow a vigor- 

 o us habit, and a good balance betn'eoi stock and top ; and other things being equal would take year 

 trees in preference to older. Nature is violated less in the removal of a young than an old tree. 

 As to the time of planting, I unhesitatingly say it should be in the Autumn, and the earlier the 

 better, after the leaves have fallen. I also believe in planting closer than is the common practice. 

 The great need of an orchard in our climate is protection against severe winds, and shade to trees 

 both in summer and winter. All these conditions are more easily secured by close planting than in 

 any other way. In those sections where root pruning is essential to the health and life of the trees, 

 four hundred or five hundred trees can be set on an acre, and remain permanently. Or one-half or 

 three-fourths of them may be root pruned at three or four years of age, and brought into early beai-- 

 Ing, while the balance are left to grow to their natm-al size. In time the root-pruned trees, having 



