346 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



fulness by associating ^tith the yonng, and interesting ourselves in their 

 matters. It is far better to do this than to expect them to enter enthusi- 

 astically into matters that naturally command the attention and thought of 

 the older ones. In the arrangements for another year let this thought be 

 given prominence. And finally shall we not, from the outset of the new- 

 year, plan to attend these monthly meetings and entir heartily into the exer- 

 cises? The recreation will aid digestion, beget entlmaiasm in horticulture, 

 and a<id zest to our lives. The value of life in this world lies in what we can 

 get out of it; and these meetings, if we can enjoy them withouc too much 

 sacrifice in other directions, are avenues, the traversing of which can but adtl 

 to our measure of enjoyment, and thus enable us to absorb more fully the 

 intention of the power that makes for happiness as well as righteousness. 



PROPAGATIOK AKD CULTURE OF THE PEAR. 



As the membt rs of this society are little, if any, engaged in the nursery 

 business, but much in producing fruits, I shall have very little to say about 

 propagating the pear. I have grafted the pear on both the common apple 

 and crab apple roots, and by setting th^m deep, so as to roi>t from the pear 

 scion, ihey have made productive and durable trees. 



In the 8\ ring of 1857 I set a pear orchard of ;^00 trees, on my farm in Grat- 

 tan, Kent county, an experiment then considered somewhat hiizardons. There 

 were 30 Bartlett, 30 White Doyenne, '^"0 Flemish Beauty, 20 Louise Bonne, 

 dwarfs; ai d less of others, to make up 16 varieties. Two-thirds of the land 

 was a heavy loam, the remainder, sandy, and there I set the Flemish Beauty. 

 The land had borne but three previous crops. It w-s well plowed and 

 thoroughly harrowed. 



I had a man dig good, liberal ho^es, another careful, patient man to set the 

 trees, while I trimmed roo's and tops and distributed. The afterculture was 

 an annual pruiiing in the spring, just as the buds were swelling, as much 

 hoeing and clean cultivating as I would give a hill of prize corn, and a good 

 washing with scap suds once or twice each year. In 1859 many of the trees 

 blossomed, and in 1860 the fruit was allowed to mature on several of them. 

 One tree, an Onondaga, produced 80 peais, measuring a full bushel. Another, 

 a dwarf Bartlett, not larger in diameter than my forefinger, was so heavily 

 laden that, one morning, I found the top renting with its burthen on the 

 ground, and thereafter it was supported by a stout stake. Such loaded trees T 

 they were beiiUtiful sights, 'ruly; but wh.it did they coat? Well, none of the 

 trees allowed to so overbear can)e into full bearing again until the fifth year 

 after. 



In the fall of 18G0 I took first premium at the Kent county fair for varieties 

 of pear, exhibiting thirteen kinds. I had had no blight, and was enthusiastic, 

 confidently asserting that I could take the naked ground and produce a 

 hundrtd bushels of pears much sooner than a hundred bushels of apples could 

 be grown. 



On my return from the war, it was found that the dark clouds had settled 

 somewhat on my pear orchaid, many trees showing the browned and black- 

 ened leaves of the pear blight. I went at them in midsummer, with knife 

 and saw, tutting off and burning all to below the dried leaves and shriveled 

 bark. Some lecovercd and are alive and productive now, while some died 

 for good. I remember that of one tree, an Onondaga, the whole top, nearly^ 



