1871 



THE WESTERN POMOLOGIST. 



49 



Pear Culture— Soil and manure — Trees In 

 Gra88. 



We glean the following remarks on pear culturp 

 from an essay on the subject read before the Penn- 

 sylvania Fruit Growers' Society at their January 

 meeting : 



"In regard to the kind of soil and cultivation 

 most suitable for pears, I have only to ' say tl;at the 

 results of my observation and experience are all 

 favorable to "high culture." I mean by that, boun- 

 tiful manuring and constant tilling of the soil. I 

 have no consolation to offer to those who expect to 

 grow good crops of pears in a grass sod. But I do 

 not propose to urgue the question ; it is one that 

 has been already sufficiently discussed, and can 

 be determined only by actual experiment. As it 

 would seem proper, however, to give the results of 

 my own experience, I will state that I give my 

 trees, as a general rule, a good manuring annually, 

 with stable or barnyard manure, and cultivate by 

 plowing alternately, to and from the trees with a 

 light plow. My trees, that have been so treated, 

 have thus far generally produced satisfactory crops. 

 It is proper for me to state, that I have but few 

 trees that have been planted more than ten or 

 twelve years, which is not time enough to establish 

 my theory conclusively, and it may be that old trees 

 wiU not do with this kind of treatment. All that I 

 can say, at present, about it is, that the older they 

 get the better they seem to flourish. 



I would not be understood as contending that 

 pears will never do well in a sod ; on the contrary, 

 I have seen many old and thrifty pear trees bear- 

 ing valuable crops of fruit, that stood in grass, or 

 in situations where they could not be cultivated ; 

 but these have always been in peculiarly favorable 

 situations ; often near the farm buildings, where 

 the drainage from the barn-yard or kitchen found 

 their way , sometimes in city yards, where the roots 

 can seek out rich spots under the pavements of gut- 

 ters and among sewers and foundation walls, and it 

 must be borne in mind that the roots of an old tree 

 run for hundreds of feet, where they find a conge- 

 nial soil. Pear trees in such situations will often 

 thrive and bear good crops in spite of the grass ; 

 but I have yet to see the first pear orchard in grass 

 that was thrifty or productive. 



It is unreasonable to exp ct that a tree standing 

 for generations in one spot, can continue to draw 

 from the same soil, year after year, the ingredients 

 requisite for a large crop of such high-flavored and 

 delicious fruit as a fine variety of pear, unless the 

 soil happens to be of inexhaustible fertility, or has 

 its supply of plant food in some way frequently 

 renewed. It is easy to imagine a tree, (like a pine, 

 for instance) that produces no edible fruit, to thrive 

 and continue to grow for centuries in a soil almost 

 destitute of fertility; but food- producing plants 



require a soil containing an abundance of vegetable 

 matter, or some form of plant f»od. Fruit trees, I 

 believe, require to be fed as much as domestic ani- 

 mals ; everybody knows that. If you would have 

 your dairy cows, for instance, to yield abundantly, 

 you must supply them with a liberal amount of 

 nutritious food ; and I believe this is just as neccs.sary 

 for pear trees. I have been speaking now of mod- 

 erate natural fertility, such as the average soils of 

 Pennsylvania or NeVv Jersey. Of course, the same 

 amount of manuring will not be necessary in deep 

 allluvial or oiherwise unusually fertile soils. 



The question is frequently asked, whether a stift' 

 clay soil, or a very light sandy soil, is suitable for 

 pears. I cannot answer these questions, but am 

 inclined to the opinion that almost any soil that is 

 not two wet will do, if made sufficiently fertile by 

 manuring." 



For Tha Western Pomologist. 



Fruit Culture In Georgla—Wliat -we Want. 



Bv A. C. Cook, Covington, Ga. 



We have a list of apples here at the South that 

 succeed well in the hill and mountain regions of 

 North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. 

 Northern summer apples do well in nearly all 

 southern localities. The apple is seldom injured by 

 frost here in Central Georgia, but on low ground 

 the peach is often cut oft" from this cause — more so 

 than any other fruit, except the apricot. On high 

 ground the peach never fails on account of late 

 spring frost ; the South is the home of this delicious 

 fruit. We have a regular succession of varieties in 

 season from June to November, yet as a general thing 

 hitherto, bivt little attention has been paid to rais- 

 ing fruit here of any kind ; it's cotton all the time, 

 and cotton only ; but a change is going on, and ere 

 long this part of the country will show pomologic- 

 ally. The pear succeeds admirably on well drained, 

 calcareous soils. Duchess d'Angonleme, Flemish 

 Beauty and other leading sorts do well. Hebe, a 

 pear that originated in South Carolina, is quite 

 popular. To attain the best results in pear culture 

 here, both mulch and manure must be used. Good 

 pears bring a good price in all our southern cities, 

 and in these days of expedition in transportation 

 may be sent into the eastern and western markets 

 at a great profit to the producer. 



Figs do well from Texas to North Carolina, and in 

 favorable situations — on the south side of buildings 

 or high brick walls, I have seen them growing as 

 far north as Richmond, Va. The cold of zero will 

 kill the tree dead to the ground ; it will, hov, ever, 

 sprout up from the roots and form a bearing tree 

 again in two or three years. We have the fruit 

 from the latter part of June to November. The fig 

 tree will stand more hard usage and neglect than 



