PEARS 



1601 



its fruit more difficult of access, and, in 

 case of pear blight, the branches are so 

 arranged that the life of the tree is more 

 quickly imperiled by the disease. 



The vase form of tree has the disadvan- 

 tage of requiring considerable skill dur- 

 ing the first few years of pruning. It Is 

 somewhat unnatural to most varieties of 

 pears while they are young, and it there- 

 fore requires considerable effort to keep 

 the tree properly balanced and to develop 

 successfully the desired form. It has the 

 advantage of being the easiest tree to 

 work around, the easiest for thinning and 

 picking the fruit, and to prune after the 

 first few years. It is also the most con- 

 venient tree to spray, and is a thoroughly 

 satisfactory form from the standpoint of 

 fruitfulness. In pear orchards, however, 

 one factor alone should be sufficient to 

 lead to the adoption of this style of prun- 

 ing, namely, the much greater ease with 

 which pear blight can be fought and 

 pruned out. The low-headed vase form 

 of tree, with the body 16 to 18 inches 

 high and the limbs and main branches 

 cut back so that they fork at about 12 to 

 18 inches, and with the main limbs kept 

 entirely free from fruit spurs and fruit- 

 bearing branches, is by all odds the safest 

 form of the three to withstand blight. 



The natural form of pear tree involves 

 very little pruning, merely sufficient to 

 clear out the interlocking branches and to 

 remove wafer sprouts and an undesirable 

 surplus of limbs at any point. It is the 

 cheapest because it requires the least 

 work. However, when such trees come 

 into bearing they usually overbear cer- 

 tain years. With many varieties of pears, 

 the Kieffer, for instance, the trees are 

 likely to break down with their load of 

 fruit, and require several years to recover. 

 The saving of expense in pruning by no 

 means compensates for the loss. 



The Vase Form 



In order to secure the vase form of 

 tree, which the writer advocates, the nur- 

 sery tree when planted in the orchard 

 should be pruned to a straight c.^ne about 

 18 inches high. The Garber and some 

 other very spreading types may possibly 

 stand two feet in height. On the other 



hand, very upright growers like the Kief- 

 fer, the Bartlett, and, as a rule, most of 

 the dwarf types, should be pruned to 

 from 12 to 18 inches. This straight stock, 

 if properly planted out, will throw out a 

 number of shoots the first year. When 

 the buds have pushed out an inch or so 

 they should be rubbed off the lower half. 

 When the new growth is about 6 to 10 

 inches long the trees should be visited 

 and three branches selected for the future 

 main limbs. These three branches should 

 be arranged in a circle so as to form an 

 inverted tripod, and should not radiate 

 from one point, whatever the type of 

 tree adopted, but should be several inches 

 apart vertically. Having selected these 

 three main twigs, all the other growth 

 should be pinched off at the tip, allow- 

 ing these shoots to become strong, vig- 

 orous twigs; and in a good tree they may 

 reach a length of three to six feet the 

 first year. If any one of these shoots 

 shows a tendency to outgrow the others, 

 it may be pinched back when 10 inches 

 or so long, in order to retard it until the 

 others catch up. In the winter, or pre- 

 feralily just before the buds swell in the 

 spring, the three shoots which have been 

 selected for the main limbs may be head- 

 ed back, preferably leaving a branch from 

 12 to IS inches long, making the inverted 

 tripod level across the top. A length of 

 12 inches is best for dwarfs, while a 

 greater length is more suitable for stan- 

 dards and Orientals. All other twig 

 growth is removed. The following spring, 

 when the buds are pushing out, all of 

 them starting on the trunk and main 

 limbs, except on the upper six inches, 

 should be carefully removed by rubbing 

 with the hand, protected with gloves if 

 necessary. When the new growth has 

 pushed out 8 or 10 inches it is often de- 

 sirable to go over the trees again, remov- 

 ing or pinching back any undesirable 

 sprouts. For the next winter's pruning 

 two of the most desirable twigs on the 

 upper part of each of the three arms of 

 the tripod which extend upward and out- 

 ward should be selected and cut off to 12 

 to 18 inches, and the other branches of 

 the tree should be again removed. The 



