OF DWARF FRUIT TREE CULTURE. 35 



profit in addition to the pleasures and luxury of having a minature 

 fruit garden, and as both apples and pears are subject to the same 

 treatment, I will in this place give a few hints that may help in that 

 direction. It has become the fashion in England (a fashion that 

 might with advantage be introduced into the United States) for per- 

 sons with independent means to plant dwarf fruit trees and sell some 

 of the produce to less fortunate neighbors at fancy prices. As an 

 example of the fancy prices that are sometimes paid for dwarf 

 fruit of highly attractive appearance, I may mention that there is a 

 pear grown in Paris called the "Belle Angevine" or "Uvedales St. 

 Germain, ' ' so attractive and large that it frequently sell in the high- 

 toned delicatessen stores in the Palais Royale at 30 francs ($5.70) 

 EACH. It is of enormous size, often weighing two pounds, and very 

 attractive, but utterly worthless as a desert pear, and as to its cook- 

 ing qualities I cannot speak, as it is chiefly used to ornament the din- 

 ner table, no one thinking of eating it, the ordinary fruit stores 

 selling them for 25 cents each. 



On the subject of fertilizers it may not be amiss to quote from 

 Prof. E. Waugh, of the Massachusetts Experiment Station, who has 

 devoted much time and study to this subject, and says: 



"While it is true the dwarf fruit trees should be liberally fed, 

 there is a possibility of overdoing it. It has already been explained 

 that the dwarfing of a tree depends in a certain way on its well 

 regulated starvation. If the top could get all the food which its 

 nature calls for, it would not be dwarfed. The rule of feeding dwarf 

 fruit trees therefore should be to give them enough fertilizer to keep 

 them in perfect health and in a good growing condition, but not 

 enough to force unnecessary growth. Fertilizers rich in nitrogen 

 should be especially avoided, and as the object in view is to secure 

 an early maturity of the tree and to produce fruit, always in prefer- 

 ence to wood, a larger proportion of potash would naturally be sub- 

 stituted for a diminished proportion of nitrogen. Of course the 

 amounts and proportions of the different elements (nitrogen potash 

 and phosphoric acid) to be applied will vary greatly with different 

 conditions with the nature of the soil, age of the trees, etc. As a, 

 sort of standard we may say that under normal conditions of good 

 soil, with dwarf apple and pear trees in bearing, there should be 

 given annually for each acre: 



400 pounds ground bone. 



