159S 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



deep-rooted, ami can better withstand and 

 profit by dee|i cultivation than the peach. 

 As to the depth of plowing, the writer is 

 inclined to favor rather deep plowing for 

 the pear orchard. If the trees are set 

 with the point at which they were budded 

 two inches below the surface the first two 

 or three furrows may be made about as 

 deeply as a one-horse plow can go, name- 

 ly. 4 to 5 inches. After the third furrow 

 the two-horse plow can he used, and as a 

 rule the land should be plowed as deeply 

 as it will stand; in other words, as 

 deeply as the soil will permit without 

 turning up too much of the clay subsoil. 

 It is usually wise, unless great care has 

 been taken in previous preparation, to 

 plow the middles of the pear orchard very 

 deeply, turning an inch of subsoil to the 

 surface each time. In this way the soil 

 will be deepened; 8 to 10 inches is none 



Seckel Pear, 

 too deep and less than 6 inches should 

 not be considered deep enough. As the 

 trees spread out and the root systems oc- 

 cupy the soil, the plowing may be an Inch 

 or two shallower than in the young or- 

 chard, but with this exception the depth 

 should always be maintained. It is a 

 great mistake to plow the orchard shal- 

 low for a number of years and then plow 

 it deeply, for many of the roots will have 

 developed at shallow depths, and the sub- 

 sequent deep plowing will tear up and 

 destroy them. 



Fertilixatiou 



Few soils really adapted to pear culture 

 are fertile enough to support the bearing 

 pear orchard without some assistance in 

 the way of manures and fertilizers. If the 

 soil is tolerably fertile, that is, capable 

 of growing 40 bushels of corn per acre, 

 the young oi'chard may need no assist- 

 ance whatever until it has borne a heavy 

 crop, after which, as a rule, some addi- 

 tional plant food will be desirable, if not 

 absolutely necessary. As above suggest- 

 ed, however, young trees usually need to 

 be fertilized individually during the first 

 two to four years after planting out. For 

 this purpose any good, complete fertilizer 

 may be used, one containing 10 per cent 

 of potash from muriate of potash, 7 to 8 

 per cent of phosphoric acid from acid 

 phosphate or dissolved bone, and 4 per 

 cent of nitrogen (half from nitrate of 

 soda or dried blood and half from tank- 

 age, bone, or some other slowly available 

 form or organic nitrogen). Before the 

 trees have pushed out into growth the 

 first spring after planting, a large hand- 

 ful (about one-third of a pound) should 

 be thrown immediately around the tree 

 and hoed or cultivated into the soil. 

 When the tree begins to absorb soil water 

 and push out its new leaves, it will at 

 once feel the stimulus of this fertilizer, 

 and as a result the leaves will come out 

 large and of a dark-green color, and the 

 twig growth will be robust and vigorous 

 even though the trees are on poor ground. 



The second year it is best to put the 

 fertilizer in the bottom of the furrow 

 after the first trip with the plow has 

 been made on each side of the tree row. 

 A handful of fertilizer should be strewn 

 in each furrow for a distance of three or 

 four feet each way from the tree. The 

 second furrow is then plowed, the dirt 

 being thrown on top of the fertilizer. If 

 stable manure is to be applied, it may be 

 put in the bottom of the furrow and cov- 

 ered up in the same way. It is a good 

 plan to fertilize all the trees the second 

 year with about one pound of commercial 

 fertilizer to each tree, and then to give a 

 special manuring with two to four shovel- 

 fuls of good stable manure to the weak 



