seven] out in the orchard 



you have no room for second-class fruits, even if 

 they will sell; for as sure as human progress, in- 

 ferior stuff will, after a while, stop selling. For 

 this reason I say plant no Garber or Kieffer. Picked 

 very early, and handled with great care, Kieffer 

 is sometimes tolerably good — generally it is unfit 

 for table use. I hesitate to say that a pear should 

 be handled with more care than an apple, for I 

 hold that an apple should be so picked and stored 

 that not one cell be ruptured. The pear, however, 

 must be handled with the utmost caution, or it will 

 be very quick to decay. The profit in pear grow- 

 ing for market lies wholly in sympathetic treat- 

 ment. 



The pear tree must be planted without manure, 

 in clean soil; must be kept free from suckers; 

 mulched with coal ashes, or some other clean ma- 

 terial, and washed often with kerosene emulsion. 

 You must be sure that a young pear tree does not 

 get checked in its growth. You should never 

 plant the little whip-stalks that are sent out from 

 some nurseries; they will in ten years' time not 

 make one year's growth. Get good, stocky trees, 

 six feet high or more, and plant as I have directed. 

 Keep the bark clean, and the roots moist, and 



[137] 



