No. 4.] FRUIT GROWING. 165 



fruit more successfully grown. At the biennial meetings of 

 the American Pomological Society, having a representation 

 from every State in the Union and the British Provinces and 

 held in all parts of the country, Massachusetts has always 

 taken an exceptionally creditable position w^ierever it has 

 made an exhibit of its pear fruit. The pear under favorable 

 conditions will prove more profitable for the first fifteen or 

 twenty years than the apple, as the trees come earlier into 

 bearing and are more reliable for an annual crop. The sur- 

 plus of this fruit is sold in Philadelphia, New York, Maine 

 and Canada, and with the improved methods of transporta- 

 tion there is no reason why the late varieties of this fruit 

 should not become an article of export as well as our 

 apples, if grown in sufficient quantities to meet such de- 

 mand. 



There are two kinds of pear trees sold from the nurseries 

 in about equal proportions, and if planted in a deep, strong, 

 moist, but well-drained soil and given good cultivation both 

 will prove satisfactory ; but if planted in a light soil, with 

 gravel subsoil, the standards, or the pear budded on the 

 pear stock, with its longer roots foraging over wider space, 

 with good care, will produce fiiirly good results ; but the 

 dwarfs or the pear budded on the quince stock will invariably 

 fail, and the discouraged grower declares pear growing un- 

 profitable and the nurseryman from whom he bought his 

 trees a fraud. That it requires unusual care on the part of 

 nurserymen to secure accuracy in what they sell and their 

 advice to patrons is true ; but that failure more frequently 

 rests with the grower rather than the seller of trees is 

 equally true. The dwarf tree is indispensable in growing 

 this fruit. It is especially necessary in gardens with limited 

 space. Some of the desirable varieties can be successfully 

 grown only on the quince stock, and its early bearing makes 

 it desirable in starting new orchards, as it will produce fruit 

 in three or four years from time of planting. Some of the 

 stronger growing varieties, if planted as they should be, 

 with the quince portion of the stock below the surface of the 

 soil, will throw out roots from the pear stock, becoming 

 standard trees ; but they usually throw one or two long roots, 

 making an unevenly balanced tree. When it is desirable to 



