48 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



PEAR CULTURE. 

 By C. M. Weston, Belgrade. 



I received an invitation from your President to prepare a paper 

 on "Pear Culture," to be read at this meeting, and I could not well 

 decline, as I had been honored with a like invitation a number of 

 times previous, when other engagements prevented me from comply- 

 ing with the request. And it is now with a degree of diffidence that 

 I come before you with a paper for the first time, knowing full well 

 that there are many present who have had a large experience, not only 

 in fruit growing, but also in preparing papers on the same. But I 

 will endeavor to give you a few ideas as gleaned from some over 

 twenty' years' experience in the cultivation of the pear, attended 

 with varied successes and failures, trusting 3'ou will receive them as 

 coming from one who has had more experience in raising pears than 

 he has in telling how it is done. 



You should first select a suitable piece of ground near your build- 

 ings. It should have a dry subsoil. If that cannot be had, it should 

 be underdrained, as the pear will do no better in a wet soil than the 

 apple. The ground should have enough animal dressing applied to 

 raise a good cr«jp of corn or vegetables, then thoroughly pulverized, 

 and marked off in rows fifteen feet apart, placing the trees the same 

 distance apart in rows, in the form of a hexagon. I should select 

 seedling trees if they could be found, if not, I would start my orchard 

 from the seed, as I would prefer a pear seed to a tree grafted at the 

 root. Dig the holes for your trees a little deeper and larger over 

 than the roots extend. Have some two inches of loose dirt in the 

 bottom of the hole to place the roots upon, then incline the tree a little 

 towards the southwest, to prevent what I call sun scald, or trunk borer. 

 Put the dirt in around the roots with the hand as closely as you can, 

 lifting up the small roots and fibers as you put in the dirt, so when 

 it settles around them they will be in about the same position as 

 they were when taken from the nursery. Use no animal dressing 

 around the roots of the trees. Then you should mulch the trees 

 with coarse hay, straw or leaves, about ten inches deep, and extend- 

 ing some three feet from the tree. 



The ground can then be planted to beans, potatoes, or some other 

 vegetable, and then continue to plant, giving it an annual coating of 



