PEAR GROWING IN CALIFORNIA. 289 



A striking illustration of this fact was brought to the writer's atten- 

 tion while conducting an experiment in the fumigation of peach nursery 

 buds, in a Maryland nursery, to destroy San Jose scale, and to deter- 

 mine the strength of gas that the buds would stand. A number of 

 bud sticks were treated with heavy doses of hydrocyanic acid gas, and 

 the greatest of care was exercised in tying the buds after insertion. 

 The work was done by colored help who were anxious to please because 

 of an expected tip. As a result of the exceedingly careful work, 

 especially that of tying the buds securely to the stock practically 100 

 per cent of a stand was secured. Rows alongside in which untreated 

 buds were inserted, but without the same care in placing and tying, 

 had little more than 50 per cent of a stand. This illustration, while 

 it concerns peaches, will no doubt apply equally as well in the case of 

 pears, and shows the necessity for careful work in budding, which is 

 sometimes sacrificed for speed. Buds are tied either with a fiber, called 

 raffia or cotton twine, which is removed in the spring. They remain 

 green throughout the winter months if a satisfactory union has taken 

 place. The tops of the seedling trees are removed just above the bud 

 early the following season, before growth begins, then all the strength 

 of the root system is utilized in the development of a top from the bud. 

 Bud-wood should be carefully selected, well matured, and above all 

 from trees that are known absolutely to be of the variety desired, and 

 if possible, which have had a good record of production to recommend 

 them. Water-sprout growth should be used with caution, as the buds 

 of such branches are invariably weak. The biggest and strongest- 

 looking buds on thrifty average length, current year growth of bearing 

 trees, are the most desirable. The practice of securing bud-wood 

 during the time of pruning in young orchards, which have made a 

 rank growth and which have never borne, is wrong and should be 

 condemned. In the first place, if this is done, the bud-wood is not 

 of the best and the nurseryman can hardly afford to take the 

 chances of his stock not being true to name. At the present time 

 there is a law in California which makes it a misdemeanor to sell 

 stock not true to name, and violations are punishable by a fine of not 

 less than $50 and not more than $500, or by imprisonment in the 

 county jail for not less than twenty days or more than six months, or 

 by both fine and imprisonment. Thus the nurseryman, in addition 

 to losing his reputation by selling trees of one variety for another, is 

 laying himself liable to a heavy fine and imprisonment. With these 

 facts before him, the California nurseryman must exercise the greatest 

 of care in the selection of buds from known varieties. The better 

 class of nurserymen recognize this fact more keenly than any one else, 

 but the few who are in the business merely for the dollars that they 

 get out of it, and who care little for the future of the fruit industry of 

 the state, are apt to follow the lines of least resistance and in doing so 

 fail to take the precautions necessary for the protection of the grower 

 who makes his lifetime investment in an orchard and who therefore 

 is entitled to great consideration. 



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