40 One Thousand Questions in Agriculture 



alfalfa by letting hogs eat it oif, thereby leaving the droppings on the 

 land. What I wish to knozv is this: Will this crop be beneficial or in- 

 jurious to the trees? 



Alfalfa can be successfully grown in an orchard, providing you 

 have irrigation water so that the alfalfa shall not rob the trees of 

 moisture ; otherwise it is a very dangerous practice. The practice 

 of running animals of any kind in an orchard is to be condemned. 

 Pigs are particularly liable to injure trees by gnawing the bark, and 

 we have seen fig trees barked clean as high as a pig could reach 

 by standing on his hind legs. Of course, if you try an experiment 

 for your own satisfaction, you will have to watch the pigs very 

 carefully. It is true that growing pasture crops in an orchard and 

 grazing it off is injurious to trees, because the land lacks proper 

 aeration, and good orchard cultivation is even more necessary in 

 this State than in humid climates. Therefore, unless you are sure 

 of a good water supply for irrigation, it would be altogether safer 

 to give the whole land to the trees and keep them cultivated well, or 

 else dig out the trees and use the land for other purposes. 



Dwarf Pears Not Commercially Grown. 



Will you kindly give the experience of pear growers in California who 

 have grown the dzvarfsf If you can give me the data or refer me to 

 persons who can give data shozving that the growing of dzvarf pears can 

 be made a commercial success the information zmll be of great value. 



There is no commercial growing of dwarf pears in this State, 

 except some trees owned by the A. Block Company, Santa Clara. 

 The late Mr. Block had an old orchard of dwarf trees, planted per- 

 haps forty or fifty years ago, which he converted into an approach 

 to a standard orchard by removing alternate rows, and the trees 

 being otherwise treated like standards have been satisfactorily pro- 

 ducing pears for many years. How far these trees are still on the 

 dwarf roots and how far they have supplied themselves with roots 

 from the variety growth above, we do not know. There is no dis- 

 position whatever to plant dwarf trees in this State except among 

 a few amateurs who are making home fruit gardens. In view of the 

 successful growth of standard trees in this State, there seem to be 

 no adequate reasons for recourse to dwarf trees. 



Yield in Drying Pears. 



IVhat is the loss of zveight in drying Bartlctt pears? 



They run from 7 to 8 lbs. of fresh pears to 1 lb. hard dried. 

 There is quite wide variation according to condition of the fruit. 

 Probably about 7^ to 1 would be as near a realizable ratio as you 

 could get by arbitrary estimate. 



Pear Problems. 



Kindly let me knozv the advisability of grafting Bartlett pears onto 

 apple trees. In replanting pears in young orchard, how would it do to 



