214 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the apple, the king of all fruits, and outlined that system of manage- 

 ment that in my experience and observation has secured the best re- 

 sults. 



But the same treatment is applicable to all other orchard trees 

 except standard pear, which should be planted on deep and well-pre- 

 pared soil ; dig large holes in the fall and leave them open through 

 winter. If the soil contains plenty of iron, so'much the better. It is 

 in a measure an antidote to blight. Cultivate the same as apple the 

 first five years ; then sow in grass and let them remain so, unless they 

 become stunted and exhausted, then dig around them and give a top 

 dressing of manure ; prune very sparingly from the start. In case of 

 blight, cut off all affected branches at once and burn them, but wash 

 and cleanse your tools for every tree you prune. Without this precau- 

 tion you had better not cut. Thirty-two years ago my father began 

 cutting blighted pear branches that appeared first on Flemish Beauty 

 and some other varieties, burned the branches, but used the same knife 

 and saw without cleansing, and soon had the blight all over an orchard 

 of one thousand trees, and remarked that the more he cut the worse the 

 blight spread. It was evidently carried and spread by the use of the 

 tools. 



Dwarf pear trees should be planted on good, deep, rich land, and 

 have continuous cultivation not more than one or two inches deep, and 

 giae them a top dressing of manure at least once in two years, and when 

 the branches become stunted from fruiting, cut back and renew grad- 

 ually. With a proper selection of varieties and intelligent culture, pear 

 growing in Missouri has proven quite remunerative. And yet it is a 

 lamentable and shameful fact to Missourians that with a soil and climate 

 capable of producing an abundance of the largest, finest and best-fla- 

 vored pears that grow on this continent, our large cities are supplied 

 with California pears. 



Peach orchards should have thorough and continuous cultivation, 

 and after they bear one or two full crops they should be cutback — not 

 all the branches at one time. Kemove dead and broken limbs, cut out 

 very weak branches, and shorten back one-third or one-half the remain- 

 ing top every alternate or third year, according as you start in. This 

 will give you a constant supply of vigorous bearing wood and large, fine 

 fruit, not only like the fine specimens you picked from the first two crops,, 

 but often larger and higher colored. The very finest specimens I ever 

 grew were picked from old trees treated in this way. This plan, or one 

 quite similar to it, was recommended some years ago by J. P. Berck- 

 mans, of Augusta, Ga., and I am thoroughly satisfied that it is the cor- 

 rect treatment and will give the best results. 



