98 Pear -Trees in Grass. 



PEAR-TREES IN GRASS. 



It seems as though enough had been written on this subject, from time 

 to time, to enlighten every man in the country, so that he would carefully 

 avoid the error of planting pear, apple, or almost any other trees, in grass- 

 land ; and yet every careful observer, as he goes through the country, cannot 

 fail to remark the ignorance or indifference that practically exists on the 

 subject. Some persons who so plant pear-trees delude themselves with 

 the idea that they are really planting an orchard. We have known some 

 to have a fever for a pear-orchard, and thereupon rush off to some nursery 

 and buy a large lot of dwarf and other pear trees with high-sounding names, 

 — no great matter what their real merits, — and set them in holes eighteen 

 inches broad by half that number of inches in depth, dug out of the tough 

 sward ; the tree crowded in without much regard to the roots, or even 

 to the depth they are set, hastily covered, the sods turned upside dov/n, 

 and the work is done. The whole orchard set in this way, receiving no 

 manure, and possibly no care after the work of planting was done, the 

 owner, happy soul ! — happy in his ignorance or stupidity, — congratulates 

 himself on owning a pear-orchard numbering trees and varieties by scores, 

 if not by hundreds, and talks about " the good time cowing," when he will 

 have fruit in abundance for himself and family, and possibly to sell. 



" Mistaken souls that dream oi ^ears." 



How do their dreams dissipate after a year or two, as the trees, after' 

 fighting hard for life against adverse circumstances, finally give up the 

 ghost and gradually disappear, and "' the places that once knew them know 

 them no more " ! Thereupon he declaims against those who sold him the 

 trees, and the uncertainty and unprofitableness of fruit-culture generally. 

 How many times we have noticed such results in the suburbs of large cities, 

 where those, who have been successful in other pursuits, vainly think they 

 can add to their wealth, or at least enjoy a plenty of fruit, without even 

 understanding or regarding the plainest laws of vegetable growth ! They 

 do not expect their horses to be sleek and fine-looking without great care, 

 and even the pigs in their pens fare well ; and yet the trees, which require 

 as much or more care, are left to shift for themselves. All wrons. 



