1596 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



apparent return unless some other crop 

 IS grown in the orchard. By growing the 

 right kind of crop, especially one which 

 requires high fertilization, instead of 

 drawing from the soil and impoverishing 

 it, the result is the enriching of the soil; 

 in other words, the crop becomes a veri- 

 table nurse crop. The only disadvantage 

 comes in a dry season when there is not 

 enough water in the soil for both the 

 trees and the crop, even though ample 

 plant food may have been artificially sup- 

 plied. The nurse crop also frequently 

 prevents the thorough midsummer culti- 

 vation, which is so necessary in a dry 

 season. 



Of the truck crops grown in the pear 

 orchard, almost any of the low-growing 

 garden crops may be cultivated, such as 

 cantaloupes, sweet potatoes, Irish pota- 

 toes, and cucumbers, as well as cabbages, 

 beans, peas, beets, turnips, etc. Crops 

 which have to be dug late in the season 

 with a plow or other implement, such as 

 Irish potatoes and sweet potatoes, are 

 probably less desirable than such crops as 

 cabbages, peas, beans, and similar crops. 

 During the first two or three years the 

 truck crops can be planted in the first 

 row 4 feet from the row of trees, and the 

 tree row should receive the same cultiva- 

 tion or even more than the truck crop. 

 After the third year, when the roots of 

 the trees have begun to spread out 

 through the soil and the tops cast a 

 larger shade, the truck crops should not 

 be planted quite so close. At five years 

 of age it is usually best to abandon the 

 outside row entirely, leaving a space of 

 8 feet. Most pear trees at six years of 

 age begin to bear heavily and need all 

 available soil moisture and plant food. 

 Corn may be grown in the richer soils 

 for the first year or two; but on the 

 whole, any plant of as rank growth as 

 Indian corn can not be considered a de- 

 sirable crop. Wheat, rye, or cereals, 

 which do not allow cultivation during the 

 spring and early summer, are decidedly 

 objectionable. Unless the soil in the pear 

 orchard is overrich, which is not apt to 

 be the case, it should always be the rule 

 to apply more fertilizer to the nurse crop 



than the crop itself removes. The crops 

 should not be planted within 4 feet of the 

 trees. This practice of growing other 

 crops in the orchard is often condemned 

 by writers and fruit growers on theoret- 

 ical grounds, but in a practical way, if 

 the above conditions are properly com- 

 plied with, there are no serious objections 

 to it. The young trees themselves require 

 some fertilizer, but this will be consid- 

 ered later. By skillful management, the 

 growing of vegetables or other crops in 

 the young orchard for four or five years 

 preceding bearing may be made to pay 

 the cost of the improvement of the soil. 

 The cultivation of young trees them- 

 selves is not very different from the cul- 

 tivation of any other tender plant, and, 

 as everybody is familiar with corn cul- 

 ture, we may lay down this lule: Culti- 

 vate the pear tree just as you would a 

 hill of corn if you were trying to grow a 

 specially fine hill of corn. Great care 

 must be used to keep from injuring the 

 trees. Hired help who have not had ex- 

 perience in cultivating trees, even though 

 they have had experience in cultivating 

 corn and other crops, are not apt to real- 

 ize the injury that a touch of the single- 

 tree or parts of the harness may inflict on 

 the tree. When growth starts in the 

 spring, the young trees, if struck in this 

 way, are likely to be very seriously dam- 

 aged. To avoid this, a careful and expe- 

 rienced man should be employed to plow 

 the first furrow around the trees. The 

 singletree should be extremely short, as 

 short as possible for the horse to conven- 

 iently work in. Unless some special de- 

 vice is used for fastening the tug at the 

 end of the singletree, it should be protect- 

 ed by wrapping a piece of old sacking 

 around it, so that in case a tree is struck 

 it may not be seriously injured. Even 

 with the utmost care, however, the young 

 shoots are frequently broken off, when 

 they are from 3 to 6 inches in length, by 

 a mere touch. 



In the plowing of the ground in the 

 spring for the young orchard, it must be 

 borne in mind that the dwarf pears do not 

 thrive as well if the earth is plowed away 

 from them as when back-furrowed around 



