102 THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 



might well be planted a little deeper, and in heavy soils not quite so deep. 

 The soil must be packed firmly about the roots — best done by tramping. 

 Watering is necessary only when the land is parched with drought. When 

 necessary, water should be used liberally. Puddling the roots by dipping 

 them in thin mud before planting serves very well for watering. The 

 surface soil should always be left loose. Rank manure about the roots 

 of young trees is plant infanticide. During the tender nonage of the young 

 pear, cultivation should be intensive; insects and fungi should be kept off; 

 and plants that refuse to grow well must be marked for discarding. 



A catch-crop grown between the rows of pears is a profitable adjunct 

 to the pear-orchard for the first four or five years. Few indeed are the 

 pear-orchards in New York that cannot be made to sustain themselves 

 for the first few years by inter-cropping. The crops should be hoed crops, 

 such as potatoes, cabbage, beans, tomatoes, and nearly all crops in demand 

 at the canneries. Along the Hudson, small-fruits are often planted in 

 young pear-orchards, but in Western New York these are not looked upon 

 with favor. Grass and grain are deadly in a young pear-orchard, and no 

 right-minded man would plant them there. This brings us to cultivation. 



Cultivation should be the rule; sod mulch, the exception, in growing 

 pears in New York. After pear-trees come into bearing they may be made 

 to produce crops if kept in sod. The grass in sodded orchards should be 

 kept closely mown to form a mulch about the trees. Commercial fertilizers 

 as well as mulch are needed in sodded orchards, and of the several chemical 

 fertilizers nitrogen is most requisite. The man who grows pears in sod 

 must not expect as much fruit, as the crop is lessened in both number 

 and size of the pears. On the other hand, the pears may be better colored, 

 and the trees may be freer from blight. 



Tillage is begun in the spring by plowing the land. This operation is 

 followed by cultivation with smoothing-harrow, weeder, or cultivator. 

 There are several reliable guides to tell when and how often a pear-orchard 

 should be cultivated. When the soil becomes dry it should be tilled. A 

 heavy rain should always be followed by the cultivator to prevent the 

 formation of a crust on the surface. At this time, he tills twice who tills 

 quickly. Cultivate when there are clods to be pulverized. Usually a pear- 

 orchard should be cultivated once in two or three weeks until time to sow 

 the cover-crop in midsummer. The depth to till is governed by the season 

 and the nature of the soil. Heavy soils need deep stirring; light soils, 

 shallow stirring. Till moist soils deeply; dry soils, lightly. The time to 



