THE PEAR 323 



Hence, with the pear as with the apple, we would cultivate the trees in 

 grass as soon as they have attained to a bearing size. No one ever has trees 

 to blight, so far as we have observed, till they get to blooming, and this is ad- 

 ditional evidence that the bacteria gain entrance through the blossoms. 



The pruning of the pear tree from the start must be done in accordance 

 with the particular habit of the tree, for pear trees vary greatly in their habit 

 of growth. Scckel needs hardly any pruning to keep it in perfectly round 

 and symmetrical growth, except to prevent too dense a head. Sheldon tends 

 to grow up into a Lombardy poplar form and needs shortening back to buds 

 on the outside of the shoots, to induce a more spreading habit. Some of the 

 books are fond of showing pears trained in a pyramidal form, but we have al- 

 ways found that for our climate the round and open headed form is the best 

 for all our fruit trees. Branched low to the ground and trained into this 

 form they are better for our purposes than pyramids which need the constant 

 care of an expert. With trees like Kieffer and Leconte, which are inclined to 

 make long shoots, it is important to practice summer pinching to induce the 

 formation of a compact head. We have seen many Kieffer trees which have 

 been allowed to take their natural habit, and which soon load the long shoots 

 with fruit and break with the weight. If these long shoots had been checked 

 by pinching the terminal buds when a foot or two long, they would have 

 branched and become more compact. Summer pinching is often of greater 

 value than winter pruning with such rapid growers as the Kieffer and Vicar. 

 With feeble and crooked growers like the Bartlett, hard and close pruning 

 should be the rule while young, and no summer pinching should be done, for 

 the Bartlett needs encouragement to grow rather than checking. Winter 

 cutting increases growth and summer pinching checks it. Bear this in mind 

 in all your pruning. 



FEEDING THE PEAR. 



What we have said in regard to the feeding of the apple orchard will ap- 

 ply with equal force to the manuring of the pear. Avoid too much nitrog- 

 enous manure, and too rank a growth if you want to avoid the blight; but 

 after the trees have come to bearing age put them in grass and keep the grass 

 as you would a fairly good lawn. An annual topdressing of raw bone meal 

 and muriate of potash, in proportion of five of the first to one of the latter, 

 will keep pears in sod in a sufficiently thrifty condition, and they will be far 

 less liable to blight than if cultivated. Even in the young and formative 

 stage of the trees of apples and pears, the cultivation should not be kept up 

 later than July, so as to give the trees time to ripen the wood growth of the 



