Chapter XIV 



CULTIVATING THE PEAR ORCHARD. 



THE STANDARD ORCHARD. 



Before speaking of cultivating the orchard, I will 

 refer to one point, It does not pay to top-graft an 

 apple orchard after it is thirty years old, but pear trees 

 are much longer lived, particularly Standards, and while 

 there is life in the root of a pear tree, bad or good, it is 

 worth caring for and grafting. Cut off the tree, and the 

 stump will send out suckers ; bud or graft these and you 

 may get a good tree ; also, you can top-graft old pear 

 trees, say one-third the tree each year, and thus change 

 them, and in the same way you may top-graft younger 

 trees. 



The pear needs high culture, as a rule, and 

 especially, Dwarf pears. In 1871 there were supposed to 

 be on the Peninsula, fifteen thousand pear trees. It is 

 all conjecture with me, but since that time, say there 

 have been planted on an average fifteen thousand trees 

 per year. Now, from 1871 to the present time, say 



