32 



HINTS TO CULTIVATORS OF THE PEAR. 



ficiently versed in materia medica to ex- 

 plain. I became acquainted with it several 

 years since in perusing an extract taken 

 from a Freiich Journal. I have since 

 spoken of it to my friends who had sickly 

 ti'ees, who have proved its extreme efficacy 



in restoring them to their former iuxuriancev 

 Respectfully yours. C. Reagles, 



Schenectady, N. Y., June, 1343. 



[See, also, our own experiments witb 

 copperas water, p. 532, voL II, of this jour- 

 nal. Ed.] 



HINTS TO CULTIVATORS OF THE PEAR, 



BY A MARYLAND SUBSCRIBER. 



I HAVE observed, in the Horticulturist, that 

 you think the pear tree more tender or de- 

 licate in its bark and wood than most other 

 fruit trees usually considered hardy. Hence 

 it is more liable to injury by the frosts of 

 winter, or the heat of summer, than even 

 the peach or nectarine. 



This opinion has been also entertained 

 by me for several years, and I have made 

 some experiments based upon it, which, if 

 you please, you may lay before your read- 

 ers. 



Observing, about eight or nine years 

 ago, the bad effects which long continued 

 dry weather had upon some dwarf pear 

 trees growing in my garden, I determined 

 to endeavor to protect them if possible 

 against the violence of our extremes of 

 temperature, both of summer and winter. 



After various trials, I have found that 

 the best mode of attaining the desired ob- 

 ject, is to make use of coverings — either 

 straw or coarse salt hay. Where the latter 

 is readily obtained I should give it the pre- 

 ference ; but straw answers the purpose 

 equally well. 



My application of the covering of straw 

 or hay is a very easy one. Considering 

 the roots and the trunk the points most 

 needing protection, I begin by binding a 

 lining of straw somewhat loosely round the 

 whole trunk as far up as it can easily be ex- 



tended. " Straw-rope" has a still neater 

 and better effect. 



I then cover the surface of the ground* 

 under the tree, so far as I judge the roots 

 to extend, with a layer of straw, six inches 

 thick. To give it that clean appearance 

 which it should have in a well ordered 

 garden, I fasten it down with four small 

 poles, laid upon it so as to form a square,- 

 and fastened with four hooked pegs, driven, 

 into the ground to confine the poles to their 

 places. After these poles are fasteneJ 

 down, the ends of the straw, that project^ 

 can be cut off regularly about six inches- 

 beyond the poles. 



Five years have elapsed since I first be- 

 gan to protect dwarf pear trees in my gar- 

 den in this way. I assure you I have found 

 it of such manifest advantage, that I cannot 

 too highly recommend it to yourself and: 

 your correspondents. I think I have tested 

 it with all possible fairness, as I have 

 straw-ei every alternate . tree, in a long 

 row of dwarfs, and have therefore been 

 able to judge very positively of the good 

 effects of this protection against the ex- 

 tremes of temperature. 



The trees that have been straw-ed, when 

 compared with those left in the usual state, 

 exhibit the following evidences of the be- 

 nefits of this treatment. 



In the first place, the foliage is of a 



