74 



pear, it certainly bears well and is hardy, but I call it a very 

 poor eating pear. The Kirtland, I have two trees, did not 

 bear this year, and I shall graft it, for I think I never saw a 

 worse pear. Bcurrc Clairgeau is a very nice pear, but a sliy 

 bearer with me. Lawrence also nice but shy. Flemish 

 Beauty cracjks badly. 



James T. Johnson, 



For TnERON Johnson. 



REPLY of JOHN O'bRIEN, OF BRADFORD. 



I have exhibited at the County Fair, in Lawrence, the fol- 

 lowing varieties of pears, all raised on Standard trees : — 

 Beurre d'Anjou, Sheldon, Onondaga, Scckel, Lawrence, 

 Belle Lucrative and Beurre Clairgeau. Mv soil is a sort of 

 dark brown loam, neither light nor heavy, from twelve to 

 fifteen-inches deep, with a sub-soil of very fine yellow, hav- 

 ing as near the color of ground ginger as anything I can 

 imagine, and I am satisfied that it is the soil for the apple, 

 pear and grape. It is enriched every fall, as my pear orch- 

 ard is my kitchen garden. I plough under a very liberal 

 supply of barn-yard manure, excrement of horses and cows, 

 which is the best fertilizer that I know of for all kinds of 

 plants, (of course trees are plants, also), when properly ap- 

 plied to the soil, though wood ashes are excellent, but they 

 are too scarce and too costly for profit. As to pruning, I am 

 not very definite on this point, as I have been equally suc- 

 cessful Avith pruning done soon after the fall of the leaf, and 

 that done the 20th of JNIarch, on both pears and ap})les, 

 though I think the most proper time to prune is during the 

 dormant period, when there is no upward flow of sap. I 

 believe pruning, systematically dono, regulates the growth 

 and welfare of the tree, and has a great tendency to induce 

 the maturity of fruit spurs, thereby producing fruit earlier 

 and of better quality, than if permitted to go unpruned, to 

 say nothing of the uniformity of the tree, I am opposed to 

 sawing off large limbs, as in so doing the tree receives a 



