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in J a shorter distance from the tree than those 

 of the pear, it requires its food to be brought 

 c'-osely to it. Newlj-planted trees should be well 

 mulched with freah baju dr stable yard manure 

 the first season they are planted ; and in all light 

 soils where the tree is apt to suffer from lack of 

 moisture during drougiitSj annual mulching will 

 be found very beneficial, if not indispensi'.ble. 



The pear requires a better soil and higher cul- 

 tivation than the apple, as it will not thrive in 

 a cold or wet soil, or whtre the subsoil >': a wet, 

 heavy clay. A good loam or clay loam with a 

 porous sutsoil ia the best ; it also thrives well in 

 a rich gravelly s oil, or a sandy loam with a good 

 mixture of lime m the soil, such as will support 

 a good growth of forest trees. Where suitable 

 soils are not to be found, they must be made as 

 near as possible what is required by under-drain- 

 ing, manuring, &c. 



No fruit requires high culture more than the 

 pear; but the thrifty growth and productive- 

 ness of the tree and the extra size and luscious- 

 ness of the fruit will amply repay all the care 

 and expense laid out on it. No one but a good 

 judge of fruit would believe a fine, large, doli- 

 cious pear grown on good soil, properly culti- 

 vated, to be the same variety as the small, astrin- 

 gent fruit grown on poor soil with little or no 

 care. The first may be said to be attaining its ori- 

 ginal perfection, while the latter is degenerating ; 

 and the fruit raised from the seeds of two such 

 specimens would probably be as different in 

 quality as the fruits they were obtained from. 



The principal benefits to be derived from 

 planting dwarf pears rather than standard, are 

 that the fruit is, in general, much larger and finer 

 on the dwarf. It is also more easily gathered 

 without bruising or injury ; and the larger pears 

 are not so liable to be blown off before maturity 

 by storms, as when grown on tall standards. 

 Besides it is believed that where suitable varie- 

 ties are planted, a larger crop of much finer fruit 

 could be gathered from the same space of 

 ground. 



The only variety of Quince on which the pear 

 can b dwarfed, at all suitable to this cli- 

 mate, is the Angers Quince, which is a freer 

 grower than any of the others ; while all varieties 

 of pears succeed better on it. Great disappoint- 

 ment has occurred to fruit-growers by some 

 nurserymen using the Fontenay, or Paris Quince 

 Stock (much used in France), and even inferior 

 varieties for working the pear upon, none of 

 which are at all suitable here. It is needless to 



remark that the Thorn and all other atocka are 

 far inferior for this pvu^jose. 



But it must be borne in mind that there are only 

 some varieties of the pear that will succeed per- 

 fectly on the quince. Many grow slowly and in 

 a few years get stunted, while a few absolutely 

 refuse to grow at all. I have worked npwards of 

 three hundred varieties on the quince, a largQ 

 portion have grown finely, and -uost of the 

 rest moderately, and only some ten varieties 

 have not growi at all. As nearly all these 

 have fruited for several years with me, I feel that 

 I can speak with some confidence on this subject, 

 as far as regards my soil and climate, as also to 

 the relative hardiness of the different varieties ; 

 with regard to which I am also much indebted to 

 Mr. Springle, of Montreal, one of the most intel- 

 ligent and practical cultivators of the pear in 

 Canada, and who has proved a number of va- 

 rieties. I may hero mention that be also ap- 

 proves of very close planting at Montreal, the 

 trees thus forming a mutual protection to cue 

 another. 



About eleven years ago we had three very 

 severe winters, in succession, the thermometer 

 falling to 25 and 30 degrees below zero, which 

 ki''3d or badly injurp.d the very old apple or- 

 chards- along the Detroit river, also the Peaches, 

 Cherries, and Pears. The first of these severe 

 winters, while the thermometer fell so low dur- 

 ing the night, we had a bright sun during the 

 day. I had about ten thousand Standard and 

 five thousand Dwarf Pears, of all the varieties, 

 all well-grown trees from 4 to 10 feet high, kill- 

 ed that winter, the injury being done at the snow 

 line, apparently caused by the thawing of the 

 snow next the stem during the day and its 

 freezing again at night. Some varieties, 

 however, came through this ordeal with- 

 out injury. It was interesting and instruc- 

 tive to see a row of 500 of one variety perfectly 

 uninjured, while the next row, only four feet dis- 

 tant, of a tender variety, would be killed from 

 end to end, and probably the next row more or 

 less injured, according to the comparative hardi- 

 ness of the variety. Since then I have discon- 

 tinued cultivating the more tender varieties in 

 any quantity. 

 Very high manuring in a cold climate, where 



the soil is naturally rich, tends to make too 

 strong a growth of young wood, which grows 

 till late in the season, and ia not sufBciently 

 matured to stand the winter; this should be 



guarded against, mbre especially when the trees 



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