322 THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



That some localities abound in the necessary food. The tertiary formations in New Jersey, and 

 the trap dykes in Connecticut, are rich in all necessary elements, and, without doubt, the 

 clays of the Detroit River banks contain more than the usual amount of phosphates. And it is 

 suggested, that 



In some instances this tree is sustained for a long period of time by the accidental supply 

 of food. The dead carcass of some large animal may have been deposited near its location, a 

 pile of bones, leached ashes, decaying vegetable matter, the refuse of a slaughter-house, or 

 night-soil. Perhaps flocks of ducks, geese, hens, or turkeys make theft roosts on or under 

 its boughs for days and months in succession. From these and similar sources, phosphate of 

 lime may be furnished. Other collateral influences have favored these bicenturians in certain 

 localities. The pear-tree requires a rather moist and tenacious soil ; not, however, wet and 

 saturated with stagnant water. If placed on a loamy or clayey soil, abounding in the requi- 

 site inorganic elements, with pure water percolating beneath at a depth at which it can merely 

 be reached by the extreme roots, this tree will be as hardy, strong-growing, and durable as 

 the oak. Climate also exerts an influence on its health and prolificness. 



The deficiencies which occur in most soils may be, to some extent, artificially supplied. 

 Animal bones, urine, the sweepings of the poultry-house and yard, and guano are the prin- 

 cipal sources from whence the supplies must be furnished. My own trees have been greatly 

 improved, both in their vigor and productiveness, by burying about their roots large quanti- 

 ties of unground bones : time and weather break them down as rapidly as the trees call for 

 supplies. The surface of the ground has been dressed with ashes and refuse lime. Under 

 this course of treatment I never had a pear-tree attacked with any species of blight. This may 

 have been accidental. In conclusion, I would say that, in common localities, no one should 

 set out one pear-tree more than he can annually cultivate with care, and can constantly supply, 

 in some form, with the requisite food. A starved fruit-tree is of no more profit than a starved 

 animal. Rural New Yorker. 



Time when Pears should be Gathered. 



THE following article, on the gathering and ripening of the pear, by M. De Jonghe, of 

 Brussels, is taken from the London Gardener's Chronicle: 



Formerly, when the varieties of pears in cultivation were comparatively few, there was 

 little difficulty in knowing the time when each sort ought to be gathered ; but now, when the 

 number of good varieties is so much increased, the proper time for gathering the respective 

 sorts cannot be known without a certain experience acquired during a period of from three 

 to five years, in order that a mean may be obtained ; for the maturity of the fruit on the 

 tree depends 



1. On the individual constitution of the tree and its liability to change. 2. On the soil in 

 which the tree is planted. 3. On the influence of the stock. 4. On the temperature of the 

 season, whether more or less favorable for accelerating the maturity of the fruit. In order 

 to know exactly the mean period of maturity on the tree of any particular variety of fruit, it 

 is necessary to observe several trees of such variety, planted in different soils and situations. 

 With regard to the varieties of pears which ripen at the end of summer or early in autumn, 

 it is not difficult to fix the date when they should be gathered ; for, in the same situation, 

 this, in different years, does not vary more than ten days. The influence of soil, of stocks, 

 and of temperature more or less warm and dry, is not so great on early fruits as on the late 

 autumn, winter, and spring varieties. With regard to the summer and early autumn kinds, 

 they cannot always be left to ripen completely on the tree, grown as a pyramid or standard ; 

 and it is needless to add that these sorts of fruits do not, in our climate, merit a wall, where, 

 in fact, they are never so good as in the open ground. When a considerable number of 

 fruits is observed to have reached the point of maturity, and when, with a slight pressure of 

 the thumb, the stalk is readily detached, without twisting, at its junction with the spur, a 

 portion of the fruit should then be gathered, and allowed to acquire their full maturity in the 

 fruit-room. This first gathering will ease the tree, and the whole of the nutritive sap will be 



