1871 



THE POMOLOGIST AND GARDENER. 



246 



Dnrarf Pear Trees.— Too Klnch Nnralne* 



By W. II. Yeomans, Columbia, Conn. 



Ed. Pomologist and Gardener: — Within the 

 past few years, .since the introiUietion of dwarf 

 cultivation, very much ha.s been written, many 

 suggestions offered, and directions given, enough if 

 well followed, to have produced failure in nearly 

 every case. It is always desirable to have directions 

 sufficient from those who are supposed to be profi- 

 cient in the particular department which they fol- 

 low, but of all kinds of business there is none that 

 requires a greater degree of sound judgment, and 

 proper discrimination than farming as pur.sued in 

 its different departments, since there are so many 

 conditions that enter into operations which tend to 

 so change the general results, which might other- 

 wise be expected. 



This applies particularly to the cultivation of 

 dwarf pears; and while failure often results, it is in 

 consequence of the mode of operations pursued 

 rather than impossibility of cultivation. As a 

 general rule, other things being equal, the nearer 

 any course jnirsued can be made to produce an 

 effect similar to the general operations of nature 

 the better will be the result produced. It is always 

 best before entering into the cultivation of dwarf 

 pears extensively upon any given tract of land, to 

 experiment upon a small scale, and thus discover 

 what mode is best adapted to such soil, and then let 

 the whole operations be governed by the experi- 

 mental results. 



Reference is here made to the preparation of .soil 

 i&c, rather than to subsequent gcineral cultivation, 

 in which certain general principles must be 

 observed, but which it is believed are as yet pur- 

 sued too regardless of the general good of the tree. 

 It is generally recommended, after successfully set- 

 ting the young tree, to follow up a cUstructive 

 course of pruning, or dwarfing, i e, all the branches, 

 and the top even, must be greatly reduced each 

 year in the early spring, for the purpose of thick- 

 ening up the stock so that it will the better support 

 the fruit that it may be called upon to mature. 



Now this may in cases of excessive growth be 

 advisable, but ordinarily is believed to be destruct- 

 ive to the life of the tree. In the first place it is 

 not advisable to adopt such system of cultivation as 

 will produce such excessive growth as it must be, 

 to require heading back. The whole evidence as 

 furnished by nature, is, that all trees that furnish 

 an excessive wood growth, fail to put out fruit 

 spurs which are absolutely necessary to a product- 

 ive tree. And yet high manuring and cultivation 

 of the soil produce precisely this result, and then 

 being successively pruned as recommended, the 

 chances are that the tree will find a premature 

 death. This has been observed. 



Now on the contrary. If the tree has much less 

 forcing, and is what might be termed somewhat 

 stinted in its growth, so much so as not to require 

 heading back, the wood growth is natural, and con- 

 tinues without the unnatural shock of pruning, and 

 the result in the end is a healthy tree which will 

 live out many more years than in the other case. 

 Nor is this all, its capacity for bearing will be con- 

 siderably increased. This is a matter of experiment; 

 trees of the same ago and condition were planted 

 in a cultivated garden, and in a piece of land 

 allowed to go to grass; in the first case there was a 

 great growth and proportionate pruning, in the 

 second case the trees were left to themselves with 

 occasionally a light manuring, but while the first 

 bore fruit con.siderably earlier than the second, 

 they also a long time since died while the others 

 are still in vigorous condition bearing abundantly 

 of fruit and yet have received scarcely any care and 

 no pruning. This then is evidence that the care 

 and pruning of dwarf pears is carried to excess. 



As in the aniu al kingdom, the disobedience or 

 obstruction of natural laws produces disease and 

 perhaps death ; for if man, who is constituted with 

 a stomach to digest a proper amount of food for his 

 sustenance, overloads his stomach, an obstruction 

 of the laws of digestion is the result, and if con- 

 tinued, di.seased organs follow; on the other hand, 

 a similar effect is produced if the amount necessary 

 to su.stain life is withheld. Thus we learn that all 

 efforts properly put forth in the desire to assist na- 

 ture in its operations, arc legitimately extended ; 

 and so, too, while very frequently it is absolutely 

 necessary for man to change some conditions which 

 are not desirable and which it is impossible for na- 

 ture to change, the accomplishment thereof, results 

 in a more perfect development. So it is with the 

 pomologist, so long as he confines his efforts either 

 in the direct channel or in as.sisting natural laws, 

 success will attend them, but when he oversteps 

 those bounds and instead of assisting throws obsta- 

 cles in the pathway, nature rebels and gives evi- 

 dence thereof in diseased and perhaps dead trees. — 

 Nature is incapable of withstaning so severe a 

 shock as is occasioned by excessive pruning, there- 

 fore it is that the pomologist should exercise great 

 caution in his system of pruning, and carry it only 

 to that extent necessary to the development rather 



than the destruction of his trees. 



» ♦ » 



A California Hedge Plant. — The Santa Clara 

 AyricuUurist recommends the California wild cher- 

 ry — cerasus iUicifol.in, as a very superior jilant for 

 ornamental hedges. It is an evergreen, with a foli- 

 age of a sprightly, delicious green, that sparkles in 

 the sunlight. It is very dense and compact, stanas 

 pruning well, and with its crinkled leaves hides 

 both limbs and stocks. 



