Summer Meeting. 133 



DISCUSSION ON PEARS. 



Mr. McNair — I have cultivated part of my pear orchard and have 

 part in sod. There is some bhght in both parts. I had a nice crop two 

 years ag'o, which was the first crop off the Keiffer and Garber. I have 

 some in the yard which bear every year. I have no crop this year to 

 si>eak of. The pears set on many trees this year, but dropped off when 

 the size of the end of your finger. 



Mr. Jenkins — Some people do not grow pears, but think them the 

 most delicious of fruits. Some of the best varieties blight the worst. I 

 have lost a hundred trees in a year, but this does not discourage me. 

 Lincoln and Sudduth may be free from blight, but I cannot guarantee 

 them. The Duchess is the best we have. Anjou is good, too, and not dis- 

 eased as far as I can see. I cultivate the trees the first few years and 

 prune them into shape. And I cut off every sign of blight and burn at 

 once. 



Member — I have a pear tree sixteen or eighteen years old ; it is 

 thrifty in growth and a heavy bloomer, but it does not mature its fruit. 

 It has had no blight until this year. 



Mr. Goodman — You will have to have another variety to fertilize 

 the old one. Put grafts of Duchess or Garber on the top limbs, and 

 you will in two years have blossoms to fertilize those on the original 

 stock. 



Mr. Gano — The following story comes from Kansas : A planter in 

 that state had put out several of the leading varieties of pears, and as the 

 blight came he cut it off. At seven years of age they had all blighted 

 down but one tree, and that was partly gone. This one he sawed off 

 and left a stump a few feet high. When throwing out some meat brine 

 he thought he would put it around the stump to kill it. The following 

 summer he found a sprout had started near the bottom of the stump. It 

 was a fine thrifty growth seven feet tall. The next spring he sprayed 

 with the brine and the tree is now bearing fruit. He has continued to 

 spray with the brine and has planted more trees. He sprays in March 

 before the trees have made any growth, and he has no blight in his 

 orchard. 



Mr. Dutcher — The Keiffer is an imperfect fertilizer some years and 

 needs something else. 



Mr. Whitten — The Garber or Anjou are good fertilizers for Keiffer. 

 In a record of nine years on the Station grounds, the Keiffer has set 

 fruit but once by its own pollen. And as a rule, even when it sets fruit, 

 it does not develop right. The quality also is much poorer where it is 



