228 Notes and Gleanings. 



ABOUT PEARS. 



Unsettled Condition of Horticulture. 



Horticulture is very far from being an exact science. There is little that is 

 settled in any department of it. Suppose one should try to find the very best 

 method of pruning and managing grape vines, and thereto should read all that 

 has been written on that question within the last ten years by scientific and prac- 

 tical men (if life were long enough) ; what would most likely be his conclusions ? 

 So in regard to any other branch of our fruit culture. Our knowledge is lamen- 

 tably limited and inexact. Our conclusions are curiously divergent. 



Pear Culture no Exception. 



Pear culture forms no exception to this painful state of facts ; and it must be 

 acknowledged that all the experience of two hemispheres and all the science of 

 this age have failed to tell us how best to grow and manage a pear tree. It is 

 therefore an embarrassing thing for any one to attempt what might seem like 

 instruction. The most that any man can do is to give his latest opinions — 

 which a year's experience may materially change. And no man's opinions main- 

 ly based on the narrow experience of a particular locality can be much relied 

 upon under different conditions of soil and climate. 



So I stand here to-day, not as a teacher, but as a somewhat enthusiastic stu- 

 dent of pear culture, to give you some of my present impressions, which may be 

 worth but little for any place, and that little only for sections whose conditions 

 of climate and soil do not materially vary from those of the hills of Southern 

 lUinois. 



Condition of the Soil. 



The mechanical state of the soil for a pear orchard is, I think, the most impor- 

 tant consideration connected with it. It should be in that happy medium condi- 

 tion which gives free natural under-drainage without being leachy. Such a soil 

 will give those temperate conditions of moisture and warmth in which pear roots 

 dehght. Our western soils are generally too heavy for pears, and require very 

 thorough subsoiling and artificial under-drainage. This is somewhat expensive, 

 but indispensable to success in retentive soils. It is said that tile drains are soon 

 obstructed with roots in an orchard. Probably a foot in depth of small cobble 

 stones covered with gravel at the bottom of a Four foot ditch will make the best 

 drain for the orchard. As all vegetable substances are derived much more 

 largely from the air and water than from the soil, it seems that the' mechanical 

 condition and chemical properties which enable it to absorb and retain the 

 gases supplied by the air and the rain are rnore important than mineral constit- 

 uents. 



I would plant a few trees on the best soil I could get or make, wherever I was 

 located, as pears are a luxury worth taking great trouble to obtain ; but I would 

 not plant largely or for profit, except on soils adapted, by natural constitution or 

 artificial preparation, to the healthy growth and longevity of the trees. 



