THE COUNTRY HOME [CHAPTER 
every weak shoot cut out. The pear tree is har- 
dier than the apple, and needs less care — except 
to see that it does not get choked or checked in 
growth. However small your homestead may be, 
don’t try to get along with less than three or four 
pear trees. Plant them near the house, and in sod 
land; but, as I have directed, thoroughly mulched, 
and annually forked about. When you have be- 
come a thoroughly naturalized countryman, and 
possibly a market gardener, you can plant your 
pears in rows and plow among them. 
For a country home you can afford to plant 
peaches quite freely, even where there is very un- 
certain fruitage. JI have best success with Car- 
man, a noble and beautiful very early peach; fol- 
lowed by Waddell, one of the best in the whole list; 
and this by Champion, a nearly white freestone of 
magnificent quality. Seedlings of early Crawford 
are very likely to give you satisfaction, and old trees 
of Crosby are nearly as hardy as Green Gage plums. 
This variety needs thinning out very sharply, to 
give you a decent feast. Those who have never eaten 
peaches right off the trees know much about 
them. [I rarely find one in market that comes near 
the notch of that juicy, rich, sweet, absolutely sat- 
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