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Tlie HoHwidturisl and Journal 



cient age and size arc generally bearing a 

 fair crop of fruit. 



In a letter just received from Mr. N. 

 Ohmer, of Dayton, 0., an extensive fruit 

 grower and President of the Montgomery 

 County Horticultural Society, he says he 

 has about fifteen hundred standard pear 

 trees, most of which have been in bearing 

 ■ for eight or ten years, and during that time 

 have borne a partial or fair crop every year ; 

 while the apple crop in that vicinity has not 

 been a fair one but once in that time, which 

 was last year. So that he considers the 

 pear crop much more reliable than the apple. 



As to the blight, he has suffered some loss 

 of trees thereby, but not much where the 

 soil was well chosen and the trees of suita- 

 ble kinds and well trained ; had very little 

 blight last year, and almost none this sea- 

 son. He does not let the fear of blight 

 deter him from planting pears ; for only two 

 years ago he planted, as an experiment, an 

 orchard of fifteen hundred dwarf pears — 

 though he has not as much faith in dwarfs 

 as in standards. 



He has now on his trees a full crop of 

 Bartletts, Louise Bonnes and F. Beauties, 

 with a smaller crop of D. d'Ete, Rostiezer, 

 Lawrence, Scckel, B. Lucrative, Vicar, etc. 

 This fruit will be sure to sell for high prices 

 this year, in the absence or scarcity of 

 peaches and grapes. 



Mr. Ohmer's Bartlett and Vicar pears are 

 noted for their fine size, color and excel- 

 lence. His Vicars especially, ripening up 

 so finely at Christmas time, sell at very high 

 prices in city markets, and he counts it one 

 of the most profitable varieties. His soil is 

 a good strong loam, resting on limestone, 

 and the situation quite elevated, not requir- 

 ing drainage. 



Another successful pear orchard is that of 

 Mr. A. Fahnestock, near Toledo, consistino- 

 of a thousand standard trees, planted ten 

 years ago, and embracing the leading mar- 

 ket varieties. These also are bearing a fair 

 crop of fruit, especially the Bartletts, and 

 have done so for several years past, with 

 almost no losses of trees from blight or any 



other cause. The soil of this orchard is 

 flatter and more clayey than Mr. Ohmer's. 

 It was well underdrained before planting. 

 The trees have grown very finely, and, being 

 trained to branch low, they are now perfect 

 pyramids in form, averaging about fifteen 

 feet high, and as many wide at the base. 

 He attributes his exemption from blight 

 largely to the form of his trees, the tops 

 affording shape and shelter to the trunks. 



Speaking of pear trees, I will add a hint 

 or two for Western Nurserymen. It has 

 long been the prevailing opinion among tree 

 dealers and planters that pear trees cannot 

 be grown as successfully in nurseries in Ohio 

 and the more AVestern States, as in those at 

 the East, and persons desiring first class 

 standard trees must procure them from 

 Western New York. I confess that my 

 own experience at a Columbus Nursery, for 

 the ten years that I was there, accorded 

 with this opinion. But on visiting that 

 establishment a short time since, I was sur- 

 prised to find large blocks or squares of as 

 fine standard pears, two and three years old, 

 as I have ever seen at Rochester or Geneva ; 

 and, as evidence of the growing demand for 

 the trees, I was told that the number of 

 pear trees, of different ages, on the grounds, 

 was not less than six hundred thousand ; the 

 demand every year increasing, especially at 

 the West and South. 



How It Is Done, 



In answer to my inquiry, how such hand- 

 some pear trees were produced, I was told 

 by the proprietor, that the secret of his suc- 

 cess consisted of four requisites : 1st. Suit- 

 able soil — good strong loam, not wet nor too 

 dry, and that has not been previously used for 

 trees ; 2d. Deep and thorough preparation 

 and enriching ; 3d. Planting none but the 

 largest and best of imported stocks, whatever 

 their cost; 4th. Good culture and training. 



He did not claim that there was any- 

 secret in the matter, but, in view of his re- 

 markable success, I think that many of 

 the Western Nurserymen may be profited by 

 adopting his practice more strictly than they 

 have heretofore done Painesville, O. 



