SOILS FOE PEAKS. 41 



and Long Island, which seem peculiarly adapted to 

 the growth, productiveness, and longevity of the Pear; 

 wdiile the winter of 1855 destroyed many thousands 

 of pear trees on the strong soils of the counties of 

 Central ^New York. In the neighborhood of Syracuse, 

 this was especially remarkable. 



Nothing can be more fatal to the hopes of the pear 

 grower than the selection of his trees from an alluvial 

 flat. Blight at some period of their existence is sure 

 to manifest itself in a great number of them. Free 

 soils, however, it must be granted, are subject to 

 balancing evils, in affording shelter to innumerable 

 tribes of insect depredators, in fostering the produc- 

 tion of equally innumerable varieties of weeds, and 

 in more readily parting with moisture and manure. 



A more nearly perfect soil as a base, for the cultiva- 

 tion of the Pear, is a somewhat heavy loam, composed 

 of three-fourths of coarsely granulated sand, fifteen to 

 twenty per cent of clay, and the remainder of vege- 

 table matter. This should rest upon a subsoil of sand 

 and clay, extending to the depth of three or four feet. 

 A bed of gravel should underlie the whole, thus afford- 

 ing perfect under- drainage. It would be well for the 

 planter, before engaging largely in the business, to 

 ascertain the longevity and productiveness of such 

 pear trees as are growing in his neighborhood. Many 

 of the old Dutch residences of Brooklyn, erected long 

 before the Revolution, bearing evidence of the mili- 

 tary violence of that period, are surrounded by trees 

 older than themselves — trees that have outlived two 

 or three generations of houses, each of which may 

 have seen as many generations of men j^ass away. 



