xiy INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



with good culture and care, will yield sixty to seventy 

 bushels of shelled corn to the acre, or one hundred 

 and seventy-five bushels of Irish potatoes, will be 

 found rich enough for pears. When the trees receive 

 the same attention that good farming calls for in 

 raising corn or potatoes, they will grow as freely and 

 be as responsive as either of the crops named, and 

 make all the wood that is desired for their welfare. 



TOO MANY VARIETIES. 



Another gross and expensive mistake usually made 

 by beginners, is that of planting too many varieties. 

 This error is one of the most common, and one that 

 every one regrets, when time shows, as it surely will, 

 its character and cost. In an orchard of, say, five 

 hundred trees, there should not be less than one hun- 

 dred of each variety, and he who follows this plan 

 will have good reason to be thankful when his trees 

 come into bearing, provided he selected those sorts 

 adapted to his soil and the wants of the consumer. 

 It is much easier and more profitable to find market 

 for one hundred barrels of any well-known variety, 

 than to sell ten barrels each of ten varieties. It is 

 well enough for amateurs to test new sorts, but those 

 who embark in the 'business as an investment and 

 for profit, should limit their number of varieties to as 

 few as possible, not to exceed six in the start. 



DWARF PEAR TREES. 



Another and still more fatal mistake is that of 

 planting dwarfs instead of standard trees for orchard 

 culture. The very lame and deceptive inducement 



