CULTIVATION OP THE PEAR-TREE. 



CULTIVATION OF THE PEAR-TREE. 



BY DR. J. M. WARD, NEWARK, N. J. 



Ir one of your late correspondents had good reason for thinking enough had 

 been written on the subject of planting pears, it would become me to shrink from 

 a compliance with the requests that are made to embody my observations on the 

 subject, their treatment, the best varieties, and the adaptation of the quince or 

 pear stocks to our varying climate. I claim nothing more for my observations 

 than the experience of a ten years' residence on a fruit farm, witli a pear orchard 

 of a thousand trees, embracing one hundred varieties — objects of special interest 

 to me. 



In the science of pear culture in this country, the rubbish is just cleared away, 

 and the foundations firmly laid, while the noble edifice to be erected on its walls 

 is to be the work of the laborers now in the field of observation, and those who 

 can bring contributions of experience, with one item of truth after another, till, 

 in time, an edifice will be erected of such towering height and importance, as no 

 other country than ours with its brilliant skies and clear atmosphere, can witness. 



My observations will tend to contrast the comparative success of experiments 

 with dwarf trees on the quince and those on their native stocks, and may be 

 regarded by some as disparaging to the former. The glowing picture of Mr. 

 Rivers' orchard of dwarf trees, drawn by the lamented Downing, was not without 

 its influence in leading me to regard that as the mode of culture, which, while it 

 marked the progress of the age in horticulture, was destined to supersede in a 

 great measure, the growing of pears on their own stocks. 



Viewing the subject through such a medium, it is no marvel! I embarked ex- 

 tensively in the growing of pears on the quince. With some varieties I have been 

 eminently successful. The crop during the past season has not only been grati- 

 fying to my pride as an orchardist, but has proved eminently remunerative ; indeed, 

 the facts will warrant the remark, no crop grown upon the farm has paid so well, 

 in view of the labor bestowed, as a crop of Duchesse D'Angouleme, on the quince. 

 Both the largest of this variety, and of the Bartlett, have been upon the quince. 

 At one time there was counted upon the mantle, in the fruit-room, twenty-five 

 that weighed a pound and upwards, each — specimens, it is true, that had been 

 selected from their fellows on account of their size. 



The sight of a hundred trees, closely planted in rows, about twenty in a row — 

 each tree resembling its fellow in size and form, and each sustaining as much of a 

 crop as it could prudently be trusted with ; the eye here and there lighting upon 

 a specimen with its blushing cheek turned towards the sun, and the whole, when 

 gathered, yielding over twenty bushels — was an argument in favor of dwarf trees, 

 the force of which the most incredulous could not well withstand. But, turning 

 from it to the Onondaga, and contrasting the thrifty, vigorous growth of 



