30 PKEPAKATION OF THE SOIL. 



As the suimner advanced, fine thrifty shoots, two 

 and three feet in length, covered the tree, but all the 

 fruits, except about thirty, fell before ripening : while 

 on trees not stimulated by such unnatural nutrition, 

 and which made little or no wood-growth, more than 

 fifty fine pears were matured. 



'No tree of that size should have borne one-quarter 

 of that number, but it was an experiment in which the 

 good of individual trees was not regarded. Is^ature 

 usually refuses to perform the double labor of wood- 

 growth and large fruit production during the same 

 period ; and we cannot, with all our skill, induce her 

 to disregard the laws which govern her dehcate and 

 wondrous processes. 



When rich stimulants are applied to bearing trees 

 during the growth of the fruit, the latter is almost 

 certain to fall prematurely, as sogn as the unusual 

 nutrition is exhibited in more thrifty production of 

 wood-growth. 



The proper time for the application of such highly 

 organized manures as have been mentioned, is in the 

 fall or in early spring, during the hibernation of the 

 tree. They should always be well and deeply worked 

 into the soil. The cost of manuring varies much with 

 the locality and price of stable manures. If thoroughly 

 manured for tho reception of 400 to 800 pear trees — 

 an acre should receive from twenty to fifty double 

 wagon-loads of stable or compost manures. Tliirty- 

 five wagon-loads, at two dollars each, would fix the 

 cost of manuring an acre at $70, which would be a 

 very moderate sum. 



In the grounds of Prof. Mapes, at Newark, New 



