The Cultivation of the Pear. 118 



ceeded so well ; some old and familiar pears were so large 

 that he could scarcely recognize them. Mr. Vail asked him 

 to look into the garden and see. He did so. He took the 

 walking-stick of a friend, and, at the suggestion of Mr. Vail, 

 ran it into the soil five feet ! His wonder then ceased. He 

 found it was wholly owing to a naturally good soil, trenched 

 and manured five feet deep. He always recommended 

 trenching, to raise fine pears. 



Mr. Stickney commenced the culture of the pear, in his 

 present garden, in 1845. Turned the soil once, subsoiled 

 and manured ; in the spring, set out three hundred trees. 

 The next spring, set out three hundred more ; and in 1847. 

 another three hundred. Subsoiled among them every year, 

 and well manured and cropped the ground up to 1852. His 

 land was quite sloping to the south, and he ploughed east 

 and west, to prevent the soil from washing down into Charles 

 River. Situation sheltered on the east, west and north. But 

 he found that, in his attempts to stop the wash of the soil, he 

 did more injury to the trees than the value of the soil which 

 might be lost : the water lodged, and the bottom being reten- 

 tive, he lost some trees. Next year, he ploughed north and 

 south towards the river ; he immediately perceived the benefit 

 of this, and has since done so. The trees are about eight feet 

 apart, and in the fall he ploughed the soil towards the trees 

 so as to leave a deep furrow : in the spring it was ploughed 

 back again to fill the furrow up. 



liast year (1852) he made ditches three feet deep and 

 thirty-two feet apart, and laid tile drains ; filled the cavity 

 with charcoal and corn-stalks ; gave a good heavy coat of 

 barnyard manure in the fall. 



The great thing, the foundation of all good cultivation, 

 was to get good trees, — healtliy, and such as will grow freely 

 on the quince, if that stock is used : only a limited number 

 of kinds he had found to grow freely upon it. Unless, there- 

 fore, the right sorts are selected, the cultivator toils and labors 

 and produces nothing. It was heart-sickening to attempt to 

 raise trees from pears grown on suckers or poor stocks. Here 

 was the great failure with many who had attempted to grow 



VOL. XIX. NO. III. 15 



