33'-i STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



as he ^voulJ corn, and if they sliow feeble growth would apply stimulating 

 fertilizers with good cultivation. 



A paper was read by Dr. Owen as follows, on 



PEAR TREE CULTURE. 



In this paper I do not intend to go to the nursery and tell how the trees are 

 to be grown, or any for the orchard; neither do I intend to discuss the subject 

 of preparing the ground for tlie young orchard ; but presuming that the ground 

 intended for it has been well located, well drained if needed, thoroughly cul- 

 tivated,, and of sufficient fertility to produce a first-rate crop of corn, that the 

 trees have been well grown, and at this point I see that they are well planted, 

 ■and of correct distances apart, and with all this well done, it is a fact standing 

 out prominent in fruit culture, that the pear in nio?t localities in the fruit- 

 growing regions of the United States is one of the most uncertain in its pecun- 

 iary returns to the cultivator ; not that good prices, and even large prices, are 

 not obtained for good fruit, but the difficulty is, there seems to be no certainty 

 'that a pear orchard, if apparently well grown and thoroughly established, will 

 not in almost a single season be destroyed by the blight, a disease which has 

 thus far baffled the skill of the best cultivators to remedy. The subject 

 before us is the l»cst method of "Pear Tree Culture,'' that method wliich is 

 Ijest adapted to produce trees which will make a good tlirifty growth, and be 

 exempt as much as possible from the destructive blight. Various theories have 

 been advocated by cultivators for many years, but no certain remedy has been 

 discovered to grow trees whicli will certainly resist this evil. But hundreds of 

 'orchards and tens of thousands of trees, wliich a few years ago gave promise 

 of pleasure and profit to their owners, are amongst the things hoped for but 

 not realized. The question at once arises: "What is the cause, — why should 

 ,i^n apparently healthy and thrifty tree be suddenly struck as with death, the 

 limbs and leaves turning black, often when well loaded with fruit? There 

 must be a cause, and I would suggest for the consideration of this meeting, if 

 it may not be largely attributed to the too rapid growth, both in tlie nursery 

 and iu tlie orchard, caused by strong and stimulating fertilizers, to produce 

 rapidly what nature requires more time to healthily produce, — forgetting the 

 ■old adage ''He that plants pears jilants for his heirs." We don't wish so 

 much to plant for our heirs as for the best market; so we stimulate growth, 

 Jioping to get in a few years what our ancestors waited nearly a lifetime to 

 2)roduce. My theory and practice is to give good cultivation, and but little ma- 

 nure and whatever manure is given is first applied as mulch, as wide as the 

 roots of the tree e-xtcnd, covering the ground both summer and winter tliat the 

 equalization of the temperature about tiie roots may be more uniform and not 

 •subject to such sudden changes as are so frequently experienced in this climate. 

 I would keep up as good cultivation as I would for a premium crop of corn, 

 removing the mnlcli for the jmrpose and replacing it again as soon as the culti- 

 vator h;id done its work. I would follow this treatment until my trees were 

 well established and commencing to fruit, when I would seed down and keep 

 the orchard in grass. I would continue the system of mulcliing sutficiontly to 

 keep up the fertility of the soil, — which would at the same time keep the sur- 

 face from becoming sod-bound. This mulch can be of almost any kind that 

 will not heat or ferment, and may be judged of in some measure by the neces- 

 sities of the soil, some needing such as will increase the fertility of the soil. 



