62 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



that to my list. While I despise the taste of the thing, I believe it should 

 be added to the list because there is no question that if there is any fruit 

 that can properly be taken care of we should do it, and it will add very 

 materially to our fruit list. ~ 



President: The next thing on our program is a. paper by Mr. C. H. 

 Barnard entitled, "The growing of pears in Nebraska." 



GROWING PEARS IN NEBRASKA. 

 C. H. Barnard. 



The growing of pears in Nebraska has in the past been a question 

 that we are all rather inclined to doubt, and having doubted give the 

 benefit of the doubt to the industry and pass it up without the try, try 

 again that has accomplished the growing of apples and other fruit. 



One thing that has kept planters from making a more thorough test 

 of pear growing has been the price of trees has been so high, or too high 

 for just experimenting. Another thing, the almost universal practice of 

 giving the pear the best place and good cultivation so as to make the 

 best growth, with the idea of bringing to bearing as soon as possible, 

 and in this way induced a tender growth which experience has taught 

 us induced blight of twigs and limbs, and soon the tree is dead from what 

 we term "blight." 



The first pear trees planted on my place were standard trees set fif- 

 teen feet apart and in a very rich place, and then we gave this our very 

 best cultivation, and as a result a few years and every tree was gone. 



An accident first made me think that pears could be grown, and 

 while as yet we have not planted extensively we have a few trees that 

 are doing fine. A short row of pear trees that had been left in a nursery 

 row, being from eighteen inches to four feet apart, have for several years 

 borne good crops and are apparently as hardy as apple trees standing 

 near, and they bear as often as the apple. 



This row comprises a few Duchess, Bartlett, Louise Bonne, and Buf- 

 fum, and are so close that the branches interlace. Each variety bears a 

 full crop, and there is no difference in the bearing qualities of any one of 

 the varieties. My orchard proper planted fifteen feet apart, before I no- 

 ticed this row of the same varieties, when this row was all full, had some 

 trees with fair crops and some with none. 



My last planting I placed them four feet in the row with the rows a 

 little wider and breaking joints in the row. This seems very close plant- 

 ing, but I wish to give it a fair trial and see how it will work out. The 

 varieties are mixed as much as possible with a view to a more perfect 

 pollenization. 



In selecting trees for planting I prefer the dwarf trees, and plant 

 deep enough so that the pear stock will develop roots above the bud and 

 thus combine the early bearing of the dwarf tree with the supposed 

 longevity of the standard. 



