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PEAE CULTURE 

 By EALPH E. SMITH, Professor of Plant Pathology 



Soil and Climate. The best pear soil is deep and rather heavy, with plenty 

 of moisture. Alluvial river bottoms and moist clay-loam foothill slopes char- 

 acterize our chief pear sections. The tree will stand more drouth, moisture, 

 and alkali than most fruits, however, and thus is often used to fill in low, wet 

 or slightly alkali spots or sloughs in orchards of peaches or apricots where 

 the latter trees would not live. Pears are not very particular as to climate, 

 flourishing equally well near the coast, in the interior valleys, and among the 

 foothills. Irrigation is usually needed. 



Districts. The greatest acreage of pears in California is to be found in the 

 central coast valleys, the Sacramento Valley and adjacent regions and the Sierra 

 foothills of El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Nevada counties. San Jose, 

 Sacramento, Placerville, Marysville, and Anderson are centers of production. 



Culture. The Bartlett is the principal and most exclusive variety grown in 

 California. A few others like the Winter Nelis are sometimes quite profitable, 

 but their culture is exceptional. French seedling has been the usual rootstock, 

 but the Japanese pear is coming into use on account of some resistance to 

 blight and wooly aphis. Pears are planted about twenty-four feet apart, or 

 seventy-five trees per acre. The trees cost about twenty cents each in quantity. 

 Six to eight years is required to commence commercial bearing. The trees are 

 long-lived and very hardy. Other crops may be grown between while the 

 trees are young. Orchards should be plowed in spring, irrigated from two to 

 five times according to locality, and cultivated frequently. Severe pruning is 

 necessary. The tree when planted should be cut back to a height of twenty 

 inches and each year's growth thereafter should be shortened to a length of 

 twelve to eighteen inches, thinning also to a framework of three to five, 

 frequently branched main limbs. Lateral branches should be headed in to pro- 

 duce fruit spurs. Fertilization is not much practiced and is often undesirable on 

 account of making the trees more susceptible to blight. Spraying is necessary 

 to control scab, codling worm and other pests. The usual practice is a late 

 winter application of lime-sulphur just before the growth starts, one combined 

 spray of Bordeaux mixture and lead arsenate after blooming, and one or two 

 later sprayings with lead arsenate. 



Harvesting. The fruit is picked carefully from the tree by hand when 

 "hard ripe." 



Marketing. There are three principal uses for California pears: canning, 

 sun-drying, and shipping fresh. The Bartlett is preeminent on account of its 

 suitability for all of these purposes. The fruit is shipped to the canner in 

 loose boxes. Drying is often done by the grower himself. For shipping, each 

 pear is wrapped in paper and they are then packed carefully in standard sized 

 boxes. 



Cost of Production. Production and harvesting expenses vary widely, but 

 $75 per acre is a fairly liberal average of yearly expense with good care. 



Eeturns. Production of trees ten years of age and up varies from three to 

 ten tons per acre, and the usual price from $25 to $40 per ton. The foothill 

 districts of smaller yield per tree make up to some extent by high shipping 

 quality of the fruit. Groves average from ten to one hundred acres. 



Cost of Groves and Land. Good pear land, with water, can be bought at 

 from $60 to $200 per acre, and producing groves are worth from $300 to $1000, 



