IRRIGATION OF THE PEAR 265 



secure a fair amount of fruit on branches with strength and stiff- 

 ness enough to sustain it. 



Summer pruning will promote fruiting either in a young or an 

 old tree and some practice it to secure early bearing of young trees, 

 but the common practice is winter pruning to secure strong wood 

 and prevent overbearing. 



THINNING PEARS 



It is quit important to attend to thinning the fruit on over- 

 loaded trees. Even the popular Bartlett will often give fruit too 

 small for profitable sale unless thinned, though successive pickings 

 as the fruit reaches marketable size, which will be commended 

 presently, does to a degree reduce the danger of overcrowding. 

 With pears, as other fruits, thinning should not be done until it is 

 seen that the fruit is well set. Dropping off from natural causes 

 sometimes thins the crop quite enough. 



IRRIGATION OF THE PEAR 



In some situations the pear needs irrigation, though it will 

 endure drouth which would destroy most other fruit trees. There 

 is no profit in small, tough fruit. As stated in the chapter on irriga- 

 tion the wood growth and fruit show whether proper moisture 

 needs are met or not. Early pears are advanced in development by 

 irrigation in some parts of the State, and this is an important factor 

 in their value. On the other hand, late pears may be kept growing 

 to larger size and later maturity by irrigation. The following is 

 an interesting concrete instance : 



Mr. John McAlister of Santa Clara County got nearly double the price 

 for his pears one year because he held them back from ripening by timely 

 irrigation. The weather in August and September when the Bartletts and 

 Beurre Hardys ripen is a little too warm to accomplish much by irrigation 

 except to increase the size of the fruit. The Hardys were irrigated two 

 weeks before picking early in September; and after they were picked, the 

 Cornice, Winter Neils, and Easter Beurre were irrigated. The Cornice 

 were picked just before the Neils and the Neils were three inches in dia- 

 meter before they needed to be picked late in November. The Easter 

 Beurres six weeks after the Hardys, which brought the picking up to 

 January 1. The Easter Beurres were 3J^, 4, and 6 inches in diameter at 

 that time. The pears had been held on the trees at least a month later 

 than other people, and some of them were held in storage until March 1 

 before shipping to the eastern and coast markets. The pears are right to 

 pick when they are large enough and the seeds begin to turn brown; but 

 this condition may be delayed and the size increased by late irrigation un- 

 less early rains are ample enough to produce the same effect. 



BLIGHT OF THE PEAR 



The pear blight appeared in the San Joaquin Valley about 1900. 

 In 1904, after having nearly wiped out bearing trees in the southern 

 counties of the San Joaquin Valley, the disease began to devastate 

 the orchards along the Sacramento River through the vast area of 



