2 g8 THE FRUIT GROWER'S GUIDE. 



ing 17 for cultural expenses and 5 5s. for rent, &c. 15 5s. per acre. In th fifth 

 season the trees and bushes are in remunerative bearing, and increase in value yearly, 

 reaching their best in the tenth or twelfth year, by which time the soft fruit bushes 

 will have been reduced in size or removed then or soon afterwards. When the pear 

 crops are full the trees should be heavily mulched and supplied with liquid manure, 

 or top-dressed with quick-acting fertilisers, washed in after the fruit is well set, thinning 

 the fruit carefully leaving two or three fruits of the large, or four or five of the medium, 

 fruited varieties to every foot run of branch well furnished with foliage, and keeping 

 superfluous spray well in hand, to expose the fruit to the sun for colouring. Good even- 

 sampled fruits readily fetch 5s., and choice 10s., per bushel. Each tree produces a bushel 

 when in full bearing = 75 10s. and 151 respectively, per acre. The low standard 

 trees, as a rule, give better returns than pyramid, and both continue profitable for as 

 long after as in attaining the period of best production. Superior exhibition fruits 

 are had by severe thinning and extra feeding. These bring fancy prices, but fine, 

 clear, highly- coloured, even-sized specimens at 9d. to is. per dozen pay better than a few 

 of double or treble their size fetching 6d. to Is, each. 



Pyramids or bushes at 6 feet apart cost 1,210 at 6 per hundred = 72 12s.; 

 or, including draining and preparing the ground, planting, staking, and manuring, 

 107 12s. per acre. In the second or third year the trees will bear half to a dozen 

 specimen fruits each, worth 9d, to Is. per dozen, if carefully and showily packed in 

 boxes =22 17s. 3d., 45 7s. 6d., 30 5s., or 60 10s. respectively (according as 

 the trees bear), per acre. It does not pay nearly so well to grow pears on pyramids or 

 bush trees to sell by half-sieve as by the dozen ; also bear in mind that the return to 

 the grower is seldom more than half that realised by fruiterers, often not more than one- 

 third, and fruit sold in the shops at 3d. 6d. each may only bring Id. 2d. to the 

 grower. From the fifth to the seventh year trees of the large fruited varieties will 

 produce 2 to 3 dozens, and the medium size 3 to 5 dozens of " boxable," averaging 

 2s. 6d. per tree = 151 5s. per acre. Assuming the trees to be root-pruned and kept 

 6 feet apart, they reach the period of best production in the tenth to twelfth year, and 

 give an average return of 3s. to 4s. per tree = 181 10s. 242 respectively per acre. 

 To secure this result the blossoms must be protected from frost in the spring, and the 

 cultivation be high = 50 per annum ; but this method of growing choice pears should 

 not be attempted by those unskilled in fruit-growing, for it requires a thorough know- 

 ledge of the several varieties to be carried out successfully. 



