REPORTS OF DISTRICT AND LOCAL SOCIETIES. 531 



•exposure. If a clay soil, it should be thoroughly plowed and drained 

 where necessary. Pears will bear much fertilizing. Ashes and bone 

 meal are about the best. Barn manure is good. Any fertilizer is good 

 that promotes good growth. Eighteen feet each way is recommended as 

 the distance apart for setting pears; but we should be guided some by the 

 variety of pear and soil. Dig large holes and have, some surface soil 

 placed in the bottom. The first year or two a corn crop between is good. 

 'The partial shade is a good protection. Any hoed crop is preferable to 

 rgrain. Blackberries are less injurious as a crop between, while raspber- 

 ries and strawberries are more injurious. Currants are desirable if you 

 want any crop between. It is well to shade the trunks of trees one or two 

 summers and winters. Wrap and tie building paper around them. In 

 ipruning make a medium low top. High tops are too much strain on the 

 ! roots. It is desirable to cut back pear trees. For size, one-year-old trees, 

 Jf of good growth, are preferable to large, overgrown trees. The larger 

 ithe tree the greater the shock in transplanting. As to varieties, there is 

 .an endless difference of opinion. My idea is Anjou, Bosc, Bartlett, Shel- 

 don, Clapp's Favorite. A western New York report names the Anjou as 

 .the most valuable pear. The Anjou has a weak stem, and is bruised by 

 ifalling on the ground. I have wondered why the Bosc is so little planted. 

 <0n account of being hard to propagate, nurserymen have discouraged its 

 planting. Bartlett is extensively planted. It ripens when we have much 

 •other fruit. It is a very tender fruit to handle and is not so good a grower. 

 ][n marketing I have recently used barrels and kegs. I make two grades: 

 JNo. 1, large, smooth specimens, and all the rest are No. 2. It takes longer 

 tto wait for pears than for peaches. Moody says that a bushel of pears can 

 Ibe grown cheaper than a bushel of apples. As to dwarfs, my experience 

 "iis limited. I planted 300 or 400 dwarfs 12x16 feet apart, and was so little 

 jpleased that I planted, in between, standards 16x24 feet. Dwarfs have too 

 weak a hold on the ground and are easily blown over. My experience is 

 ithat Clapp's Favorite and Bartlett are nearly as early bearers as dwarfs. 

 Too much and too sudden stimulating might induce pear blight. 



Mr. S. Cook asked whether there is any difference in varieties as to 

 Iliability to blight. 



Mr. Comings: Doyenne" d'Ete and Clapp's Favorite and Souvenir du 

 (Congress are blighters. The Lawrence is a nice pear and seems to b« free 

 ifrom blight, and is a good deeper. 



Mr. U. B. Webster: The Doyenne d'Ete is going. It comes in with 

 ttoo much other fruit. I am surprised to see the Bartlett take third place. 

 Mow soon does Anjou come into bearing? 



Mr. Comings: Not much before seven or eight years. I should not 

 plant Clapp's Favorite extensively. Would not plant Clairgeau every- 

 where. In many places it grows small and inferior. Angouleme is of 

 Xpoor quality. 



Mr. S. Cook: I cut the blight out of a pear tree several years ago, and 

 tthe tree seems to be healthy and bears well, but I do not know that there 

 its any remedy for the blight. I have found certain varieties more subject 

 uto blight than others. Clapp's Favorite, Onondaga, and Souvenir du Con- 

 egress blight badly. Do not cultivate late, or manure too heavily, so as to 

 imduce too rankdate growth. Pear trees do not need barnyard manure when 

 ?young. They prefer ashes and bone dust. Angouleme, Anjou, and Seckel 

 <"&re not liable to blight. Bartlett is medium. I never saw any blight in 

 tine Kieffer, except one small limb. I think it is a good thing to cut off 



