SOIL FOR PEARS. 



OLAY soil is considered best for pear 

 culture, and still it should not be 

 too tenacious and sticky. A pear 

 orchard will not thrive so well on 

 any soil that has not a clay sub-soil. 

 Next to a friable clay loam, a gravel 

 loam is most desirable. A light sandy 

 soil is the least desirable of any, and yet 

 pears can be grown on sandy soil. 



Standard pears can be planted twenty 

 to thirty feet apart according to circum- 

 stances and habits of growth. If planted 

 thirty feet apart, dwarf pears can be 

 planted between the rows each way. I 

 prefer a standard pear for general orchard 

 culture, for the reason that they require 

 less fertility and cultivation, and for the 

 further reason that they are longer lived 

 and make larger and more permanent 

 trees. 



When the question came up for a 

 vote, however, before the Western New 

 York Horticultural Society, we found 

 that the dwarf pear was the favorite for 

 orchard planting or for garden. Dwarf 

 pears have the advantage of coming into 

 earlier bearing. The dwarf pear is not 

 short lived. It requires more pruning 

 and more attention than the standard 

 pear. Many varieties do better, on the 

 dwarf pear than on the standard. 



I should not locate a pear orchard or 

 any other orchard on a low piece of 

 ground. I should locate it on a hill- 

 side. The pear is easily transplanted. 

 I transplant several thousand every 

 spring, and they do not lose on an 

 average, one out of one hundred trees. 

 Pear trees come into bearing earlier 

 than the apple. 



TEN CHOICE PEARS. 



WILL now give what I consider 

 the best ten varieties of pears for 

 export or home market or any 

 purpose, for profit to the general 

 planter, and I will start with Bartlett, 

 Beurre Bosc, Beurre d'Anjou, Beurre 

 Clairgeau, Doyenne de Cornice, Duchess 

 d'Angouleme, Sheldon, Lawrence, 

 Doyenne Boussock, Ritson, and you 

 may add the Keiffer, for the short time 

 it will be in demand, and when there is 

 no more call for it, you then could not 

 have a better tree for top grafting, to 

 any variety you wish, and in fact, if I 

 was to plant a pear orchard, I would 

 plant every tree Keiffer, and then top 

 graft to what varieties I wanted, as there 

 could not be a better parent stock to 

 work from. Another good parent stock 

 would be the old Edmonds or Church 

 pear. I think if our Flemish Beauty 



was worked on to either of these, we 

 might get it back to its original cleanli- 

 ness and good quality, and also a num- 

 ber of other varieties, such as the Brock- 

 worth Park, White Doyenne, etc. I 

 think that the want of cleanliness and 

 their tenderness is due to weak parent 

 stock, and I do believe that if all varie- 

 ties of trees were treated in the same 

 way, that we would have less diseases, 

 such as blight, yellows, black knot, scab, 

 etc. I will now ask, since I have taken 

 up the pear, who will start the peach, 

 plum, apple and cherry, and give their 

 opinion, as to what they think the best 

 six to ten varieties for the general fruit 

 grower to grow. 



I will also add what I would consider 

 the best twenty varieties for exhibitions : 

 Bartlett, Beurre Bosc, Beurre d'Anjou, 

 Beurre Clairgeau, Beurre Hardy, Beurre 



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