206 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



manure applied to its roots. The ground should be made rich 

 enough to produce large crops of corn, before planting the tree, 

 and kept so by an annual top-dressing of thoroughly decomposed 

 manure carefully worked into the surface soil with a rake or 

 hoe. 



Liquid manure is excellent, if well diluted and applied in the 

 early part of the season. A moderate dose, once a week, till 

 August, will be as much as is well to administer. Growth of 

 wood should not be encouraged late in the summer, for it will 

 be too tender to stand our severe whites 



Trees should always be mulched, especially in the hot season, 

 to filter the rains, keep the surface open and moist, and retain 

 the escaping gases. A good mulch is, in results, equal to a dress- 

 ing of manure. Let no one plant more trees than he can tend 

 well ; otherwise results will be most discouraging, and pear 

 culture abandoned. The practice of raising grass in the pear 

 orchard, or any other crop after the trees come into bearing, 

 will very much diminish the quantity of fruit and injure its 

 quality. Clean culture is the only method that will give satis- 

 factory results. Stir the ground occasionally to the depth of 

 two or three inches to keep down all weeds and leave the sur- 

 face loose. Keeping trees mulched will be a partial substitute 

 for this. 



The bark of a tree should be kept clean by washing in the 

 spring before the leaves appear. One good wash recommended, 

 is a pound of caustic potash dissolved in a gallon of water. 

 This will drive away insects and promote the healthfulness and 

 growth of the tree. The growth is also promoted by early spring 

 pruning before the sap begins to circulate. If pruned in the 

 winter, the cold weather is likely to injure the ends of the 

 branches, and kill the leaf-buds thereon. If fruit, instead of 

 wood, is desired, pruning should be done during the growing 

 season, but late enough to prevent a second growth. The latter 

 part of July, in our climate, would probably be a good time to 

 prune for this purpose. Bending young shoots into the form of 

 rings has been successfully practised to change the habit of trees 

 from wood -making to fruit-making. 



But usually it is not well to urge trees into early bearing, or 

 to allow them to bear heavily after they do begin. No tree should 

 ever be allowed to produce enough to endanger the breaking 



