300 



CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



on the square. As the tree is slower to attain size and full bear- 

 ing than the stone fruits, and as it is a long-lived tree, the pears 

 are sometimes set twenty-four feet with plums in quincunx. 

 Peaches and apricots are also set between pears sometimes, when 

 the soil chosen for pears suits them also. 



PRUNING 



Usually the pear is grown in the vase form, as described in 

 the general chapter on pruning. With regular, upright growers, 

 heading low and cutting to outside buds results in a handsome, 

 gently-spreading top, and effectually curbs the disposition which 

 some varieties, notably the Bartlett, have to run straight up with 

 main branches crowded together. 



As with other fruit trees, the pear must be studied and pruning 

 must be done with an understanding of the habit of the variety 

 under treatment. Irregular and wayward growers, which, in 

 windy places, also have their rambling disposition promoted by 

 prevailing winds, often give the grower much perplexity. The 

 general rules of cutting to an outside bud to spread the tree, to 

 an inside bud to raise and concentrate it, and to an outside bud 

 one pear and an inside bud the next, if a limb is desired to con- 

 tinue in a certain course, are all helpful to the pruner. But with 

 some pears, of which the Winter Nelis is a conspicuous example, 

 it is exceedingly hard to shape the tree by these general rules, 

 and some growers abandon all rules, merely shortening in where 

 too great extension is seen, or to facilitate cultivation, and trust 

 to shaping the tree when it -shall have finished its rampant grow- 

 ing period. It will be interesting to cite a few methods of Cali- 

 fornia pear growers : 



"The Winter Nelis pear is an uncouth grower. Let the trees alone until 

 they have borne a good, heavy crop, and the limbs come down and spread 

 out nicely ; this will occur in five or six years after setting. This will give 

 you an idea what you want to do with the balance of the top that is not borne 

 down with the fruit. My plan is to cut straggling branches, thin out so that 

 the branches will not wind around each other, but don't cut the top, for you 

 will find that the more you cut the more wood you get, and after the tree 

 conies into full bearing is plenty of time to head back." A. Cadwell, Petaluma. 



"Our orchard is not in a very windy place, but still it is windy enough to 

 throw our Nelis trees out of form. To get any regularity of shape, we cut 

 off every year all the shoots growing low down on the leeward side, shortening 

 in what are left as occasion may require, to an inside bud. On the windward 

 side we rarely cut any branch out, but shorten in a little to an outside bud, 

 frequently being obliged to cut back a strong shoot to a lateral which is grow- 

 ing outward." Leonard Coates, Napa, 



"It is hard to get a misshapen Winter Nelis tree into shape. Let the grower 

 take his shears and go around the tree and examine the difficulty until he is 

 conversant with it, and then commence to prune, not too heavily, though. Cut 

 the limbs that lean too far leewards back a little with an inside bud, and 

 train all future limbs toward the weather side of the tree; cut the limbs this 



