IN THE ORCHARD. 



193 



Hints on Pear Growing 



R. L. HUGGARD, WHITBY, ONT. 



PEARS are not grown as plentiful as 

 that class of fruit deserves. To get 

 the best results the land should be a good 

 clay loam surface, with a stiff clay subsoil 

 well underdrained. No varieties of fruit 

 trees give their best results on wet or soggy 

 soil. 



The pear requires less pruning than al- 

 most any other fruit tree. Pruning should 

 be done while the trees are young, as very 

 little pruning is required after they come 

 into fall bearing. 



I have tried both clean cultivation and 

 growing in grass, simply cutting the grass 

 once during the year. The result showed 

 clearly that cultivation is decidedly the best 

 both in the growth of wood and fruit. There 

 are many varieties that it will pay to thin, 

 especially the Kieffer, Bartlett, Jules Guyatt, 

 and frequently Louise Bonne, Lucrative and 

 others that have a habit of overloading. 



VARIETIES THAT NEED THINNING. 



I have never found it necessary to thin 

 Clapp's Favorite, Lawrence, Leonard, An- 

 jou or Duchess d'Angoleme, as they gen- 

 erally mature all the fruit that sets each 

 year. For several years' past the Seckel, 

 although one of the smallest pears I grow, 

 has brought the highest price per bushel on 

 the market. This, no doubt, is on account 

 of its superior quality. The trees, although 

 slow growers, are quite hardy and seem to 

 be free from pear blight. 



About April i, or as soon as convenient 

 before the buds open, I spray with copper 

 sulphate and lime, and afterwards with the 

 full Bordeaux mixture, adding whale oil 

 soap. The fertilizers used in all the or- 

 chards is barnyard manure and ashes. I 

 have tried several brands of fertilizers, but 

 none seem to give as good results as the 

 ashes and manure. No trouble has been 

 experienced from blight for several years. 



Trees Girdled by Mice. 



H. L. HUTT, ONT, AGRI. COLLEGE. 



The mice girdled my trees to a depth of two 

 feet Ibelow the snow level. The trees were only 

 put out a couple of years ago. Is there any- 

 thing I can do to save them ? — (B. C. Abbott, 

 Lucan, Ont 



iN the case of young trees only a year or 

 two old they may better be taken out 

 and replaced by new ones if the injury is at 

 all serious. In the case of older trees, 

 which are well established and ready for 

 bearing, it is advisable to try to repair the 

 damage by binding or by bridge grafting. 



If the injury is close to the ground, the 

 best thing to do is to bank some earth 

 around the injured part. If the injury is 

 too high for this to be done, the next best 

 thing is to apply a plaster of soft clay or 

 fresh cow dung, which should be firmly 

 bound about the tree with a strong bandage. 



In the case of trees which have been en- 

 tirely girdled, they may be saved by bridg- 

 ing the injured part with long scions in- 

 serted beneath the fresh bark above and be- 

 low the injury. Several of these should be 

 put in so as to convey the cambium from the 

 upper to the lower parts of the tree. The 

 whole injured portion should be covered 

 with the plaster and bandaged as previously 

 mentioned. 



If the trees had been protected last fall by 

 wrapping about them a band of felt paper 

 or something of that kind, as was advocated 

 by Mr. Harold Jones' and others in these 

 columns last fall, damage might have been 

 avoided. 



Loss Through Neglect. — A great deal 

 of damage was done to fruit trees during the 

 winter by mice chiefly in grassy and neglect- 

 ed orchards. If growers would practice clean 

 cultivation and clean up the rubbish around 

 the fences they would not be troubled with 

 this pest. I have met growers who say 

 that they have lost hundreds of trees. — (A. 

 E. Sherrington, Walkerton, Ont. 



