PEACH AND THE PEAR. 261 



manures. All pear trees, especially after they have 

 become 10 to 12 years old, have great mats of roots, 

 rather superficial ; so now at this a^e and after it, unless 

 your trees are making- too much wood, and you wish to 

 root prune them ; watch your ploughing very closely 

 and make it very shallow. 



Shall we cultivate Standards every year ? Watch 

 them well, so long as they do well ; make strong non- 

 succulent wood and plenty of it, and bear good fruit and 

 large crops ; cultivate them yearly. If making too much 

 wood, and it succulent and not firm, and inclined to 

 blight, throw your trees into sod. Now watch them 

 closely ; if the wood stops growing, and the fruit 

 becomes knotty and small, as it is very apt to do, then 

 plough up the orchard in the spring, sow down to clover, 

 and the next June a year, turn this clover under; 

 and after that, cultivate every year until trouble comes 

 again. The only objection I have to turning down green 

 clover in June is, that in fermenting, it may prove a 

 nidus for bacteria, like green manures in general, so I 

 would watch this plan and see if it was followed by 

 excess of blight. 



THE DWARF PEAR 



needs, certainly, thorough cultivation, and that every 

 year, just as directed for Standards. 



If your trees are not doing well, see if they are 



