PERSONALIA 123 



"I planted out 1,000 dwarf pear trees nine years 

 ago. They were largely Duchess (Angouleme), but 

 there are some Manning, Howell, Anjou, Louise 

 Bonne and Lawrence. I have not been entirely satis- 

 fied with the results. We have not had the proper 

 quantity of fruit. There has been some fruit every 

 year since the fourth year, and two years ago there 

 was quite a good crop, but nothing to compare with 

 the yield per acre of Kieffer, LeConte and Garber, for 

 instance. Of course, these are higher-priced fruit and 

 large yields are not required for good returns. Only 

 the Duchess and Manning, however, have produced 

 sufficient to pay at all, and the orchard has not as 

 yet really paid financially. We have a nice crop this 

 year, however, more than the total yield up to this 

 season, and perhaps from now on we may win out. 

 My dwarf pears are on a soil too dry and sandy for 

 the best results, and I think we are at Washington 

 pretty near the southern limit, at least at low altitudes. 

 In the mountains of Virginia and North Carolina they 

 can be grown further southward. They require a 

 moist, preferably clay-loam soil even in their naturally 

 favored districts, such as New England, New York 

 and Michigan, but such a soil is still more desirable 

 when rather too far south for their normal range. They 

 require high culture, manuring and fertilizing, and 

 thorough pruning and spraying in any locality, and 

 these requirements are still more exacting in Mary- 

 land. A slight neglect in cultivation, pruning or spray- 

 ing in one season results in a mass of blooms the next 

 spring, but little or no fruit set. Of course, this ex- 

 tra attention which has to be devoted to dwarf pears 



