WHAT THE STATIONS ARE DOING. 



The Wilder Pear 



LINUS WOOLVERTON, POMOLOGIST, ONTARIO DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The Wilder is a valuable pear for either home use or near market, ripening about the middle of August. It takes its name after the 

 late venerable Marshall P. Wilder, the honored president of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. It was not originated by him, but 

 was a chance seedling found growing on the norih shore of Lake Erie, and was named in his honor. When ripe the coloring of this pear is 

 a deep red on yellow ground, and shows up very attractively when placed on sale. Many of the early pears, notably the Summer Doyenne, 

 ripening in July, the Manning's Elizabeth and the Dearborn's Seedling, ripening in August are too small to bring much money, but the 

 Wilder is of fairly good size, often measuring three inches in length by two and a half in breadth. The quality is excellent, the flesh tender 

 and fine grained, and the flavor sweet, aromatic and very pleasant. I would advise growing this pear on the quince, judging by my own 

 experience at Maplehurst, where the dwarf trees are doing well. 



IMPORTANT BULLETINS 



AN interesting bulletin has been issued 

 recently by the New York Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Station treating on the 

 plant-food constituents used by bearing 

 fruit trees. Investigations were made to 

 ascertain the amounts of nitrogen, phos- 

 phoric acid, potash, lime and magnesia used 

 in one growing season by ' growing fruit 

 trees. One to three typical representatives 

 of standard varieties of apple, peach, pear, 

 plum and quince were selected. The fruit, 

 leaves and new growth were carefully gath- 

 ered and analysed. 



It was found that peach trees used the 

 most plant food per acre. Apple and quince 

 trees were about the same and came second, 

 while plums gave much the same results 



and used less plant food than the other trees. 



The proportions used by the different 

 trees were approximately as follows : 

 Nitrogen, i lb. ; phosphoric acid, .2y lb. ; 

 potash, 1. 14 lbs.; lime, 1.35 lbs.; magnesia, 

 .45 lbs. In the fruit, quinces used the most 

 nitrogen, with apples, peaches, plums and 

 pears following in order. Potash was 

 present in the fruit in larger quantities than 

 any other food constituent. Nitrogen was 

 found to be about half as much as potash. 



Plant food was more abundant in the 

 leaves of the peach than in those of the other 

 trees, after which came the apple, quince, 

 pear and plum trees in the order given. 

 Lime was present in the leaves, and in the 

 new wood in greater quantities than any 



