318 



PEAR GROWING IN CALIFORNIA. 



take place and finally wood-rot fungi will gain entrance and cause 

 decay. It is true that pear trees will stand more abuse in pruning 

 than any other kind of deciduous trees. Nevertheless the same general 

 principles apply to all and despite the hardiness and ability of the 

 pear to recuperate after an injury, the same care necessary with other 

 trees will pay when given to the pear. 



An illustration of the amount of abuse the pear may undergo and 

 still produce good crops of fruit may be seen in Fig 126. At one time 



FIG. 126. Bartlett pear tree, the heart of which has rotted and been removed 

 some years after pear blight control work. 



this tree had a bad attack of blight making it necessary to remove 

 practically all of the bark from one side of the trunk. Despite the 

 fact that paint was used over the entire injured surface, in seven 

 years' time decay had destroyed the exposed wood and after it was 

 removed there remained nothing but a shell of the original tree. Even 

 the roots on one side were cut away so that from a height of about 

 five feet above the ground to the crown the heart of the tree was 

 chiseled away and most of the root system on the same side was sacri- 

 ficed. Despite this fact the tree is still living, and annually produces 

 a good crop of fruit that pays well for the effort and expense that 

 were necessary to save it. 



PRUNING TOOLS. 



The best general purpose pruning tool is a small hand shears. In 

 pruning young trees up to the age pf five years there is little need for 

 anything else providing the work has been well done each season and 

 there are no heavy branches to be removed. A larger, stronger, two- 

 handed shears is sometimes used. This type of shears is awkward to 

 handle and is not generally used, but has a place in the pruning 



100 



