April, 1913 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



93 



Methods of Successful Pear Growers* 



Allan G. Bland, Ontario D«pt. of Agriculture 



LAST summer I visited a number of 

 the larger p)ear growers in New 

 York state in order to learn some- 

 thing about their orchards, methods, 

 and how they were dealing with pear 

 blight. While there are many neglect- 

 ed orchards in the state which are posi- 

 tive eyesores and of no commercial 

 value I also visited orchards where al- 

 most the last word had been spoken on 

 the subject of good care. I should like 

 to outline the way in which pears are 

 grown on a couple of these farms. 



Mr. L. I. Morrell, of Kinderhook, 

 has some one hundred and seventy-five 

 acres in fruit and has made a special 

 study of pear growing, especially of 

 Keiffers. The varieties he grows are 

 Bartlett, Secke, Clapps, and Keiffer. 

 The soil is a sandy loam and was in very 

 poor condition when he bought it. Since 

 then he has built up the land until at 

 present it is in excellent condition. In 

 one block he has two hundred and twen- 

 ty-eight Keiffer trees nineteen years old, 

 which are in great shape. In the 

 early spring he sends a man through 

 these Keiffers to prune back all the 

 branches to old wood ; that is to say, 

 he removes all last year's growth. This 

 causes the trees to make a very vigor- 

 ous growth each year, although they 

 are not allowed to get any larger. Fruit 

 spurs are developed all along the main 

 branches of the trees and a heavy set 

 of fruit is the result. 



Every year he applies a mulch of to- 

 bacco stems around his trees at the rate 



of twenty-five pounds to the tree, which 

 costs 'him twelve dollars a ton by the 

 car. Besides this he plows in a cover 

 crop every year which consists of a mix- 

 ture of rape, clover, and vetch. Added 

 to the tobacco stems, and cover crop, 

 he applies a commercial fertilizer of 4% 

 N. and 18-20% phosphoric acid. Mr. 

 Morrell is absolutely convinced that 

 commercial fertilizers are necessary in 

 order to get the best results. He culti- 

 vates about every ten days from the 

 early spring to the middle of June. Last 

 year he sold all his pears at an average 

 of four dollars twenty-five cents a bar- 

 rel, including Keiffers. 



The trees are planted twenty feet 

 apart, and he estimates that for the past 

 five years his Keiffers have averaged be- 

 tween three and five barrels. Mr. Mor- 

 rell has blight in his orchard, but is 

 doing all he can to control it, and feels 

 confident that he will succeed. The 

 application of fertilizers and his system 

 of pruning are the most noticeable feat- 

 ures of Mr. Morrell's method of hand- 

 ling his orchard. The amounts used 

 seem heavy, but for twenty years he has 

 been experimenting and now feels con- 

 vinced that he cannot do with less. 



Mr. B. J. Case grows Seckcl, Bartlett, 

 Keiffer, and Duchess, and has had very 

 good success. Although he does not 

 believe in as severe pruning as some 

 growers recommend, he has his orchard 

 gone over every year and a certain 

 amount of pruning done. He cultivates 

 and uses cover crops of clover, and has 



done so for years. It may be of interest 

 to give his returns for the past few 

 years. Mr. Case has kept strict ac- 

 count of all expenses on his farm and 

 can tell his exact profit on every crop 

 each year. In 1906 he netted one hun- 

 dred and forty dollars an acre from 

 Bartletts. In 1907, one hundred and 

 forty-one dollars; 1908, seventy-three 

 dollars; 1909, one hundred and six dol- 

 lars; 1910, forty-four dollars; 191 1, 

 sixty-seven dollars ; making an average 

 net profit of ninety-five dollars an acre 

 a year from this block of Bartletts. 



Taking these two places as illustra- 

 tions of many others we must admit 

 that they seem to show that good cul- 

 ture is necessary in order to make pears 

 pay. If heavy crops are to be expected, 

 the trees must have plenty of available 

 food and must be in a vigorous condi- 

 tion. 



Investigation Work on Peaches* 



Prof. L. Caesar, Provincial Entomologist, Gnelph, Ont. 



In order to eliminate the danger of 

 the trees that are being experimented on 

 to find the cause of peach yellows and 

 little peach contracting disease from 

 other trees of the district, I am arrang- 

 ing to carry on a series of experiments 

 in- a section of Norfolk county several 

 miles from where any peach trees are 

 growing. 



Moreover, as the degree to which the 

 nurseries spread the disease is very im- 

 portant, I am planning next year (1913) 

 with the cooperation of Mr. Biggar and 

 the other inspectors, to accumulate data 

 on this point. 



Whatever time I had left after per- 

 forming the experiments this year, was 

 largely devoted to studying more closely 

 the various symptoms of the diseases, 

 helping the inspectors to recognize them 

 and holding demonstration meetings in 

 various sections. These meetings were 

 well attended. 



On my invitation. Dr. Duggar, who, 

 as I have mentioned, is investigating the 

 cause of Yellows and Little Peach, visit- 

 ed the district and spent nearly three 

 days with Mr. Biggar and myself study- 

 ing the various symptoms of Yellows and 

 Little Peach, and other matters of in- 

 terest in different parts of the Niagara 

 Dictrict. I have heard from Dr. Duggar 

 since his return home, and he says he 

 feels more confident than before of ulti- 

 mately getting to the root of the trouble. 

 During his visit, he suggested a few 

 ways of investigation that I hope to take 

 up next year. Mr. McCubbin, of the 

 Botanical Department, of Ottawa, has 

 started to study these diseases. I look 

 for much help next year from his co- 

 operation . 



Investigations, however, will not cure 



•Extract tram an address delivered before the 

 laet anmual convention of the Ontario Prult 

 Growcre' Association. 



