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ENCYCLOPEDIA OP PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



meal, blood, tankage, and other nitrogen- 

 ous fertilizers, as it is rarely safe to 

 apply more than 200 pounds per acre of 

 any one of these materials Bone, hone 

 tankage, or other slow-acting and insol- 

 uble nitrogenous substances may be ap- 

 plied in the fall and winter if preferred 

 and in larger amounts. To avoid waste, 

 nitrate of soda and other soluble forms 

 should not be applied until about the time 

 growth starts. The danger in applying 

 nitrogenous fertilizers and stable manure 

 in excessive amounts or late in the sea- 

 son arises from the fact that the trees are 

 stimulated to make a late and immature 

 growth of the cambium and twigs, and 

 are thus rendered susceptible to injury 

 from winter-killing and pear blight. 



The methods of fertilizing above de- 

 scribed are intended to push the pear tree 

 into as vigorous growth as possible and 

 cause it to bear the largest possible crops 

 of the best-developed fruits. It is well 

 known to most growers, however, that 

 pear trees forced with stable manure and 

 fertilizers and by good cultivation be- 

 come very susceptible to blight, and when 

 attacked are most severely injured by it. 

 As a result of this, growers are contin- 

 ually restrained in their efforts in fertil- 

 izing their pear orchards, and generally 

 aim to keep their trees in a semi-starved 

 condition. As to the wisdom of this 

 policy, we are not prepared to decide defi- 

 nitely, and each grower must be left to 

 decide the matter for himself; but it may 

 be said that while a moderate restraint 

 in the fertilization may be considered 

 proper as a rule, it is better to take some 

 risk at least, so that if crops are pro- 

 duced the fruit will be of such quantity 

 and quality as to be profitable. 



Pruning 



There is no branch of pear culture more 

 commonly neglected by the average com- 

 mercial orchardist than that of pruning, 

 though the subject has received very care- 

 ful attention from certain men. In for- 

 eign countries, especially in France and 

 Belgium, great attention is given to the 

 details of pruning. Great labor is often 

 expended on the trees in the nursery and 

 in the orchard in developing them into 



geometrical forms. While the extreme 

 conventional forms of trees may properly 

 be looked upon by American commercial 

 orchardists as a waste of time and money, 

 yet the theory is correct. There are prac- 

 tical reasons for pruning bearing fruit 

 trees to certain ideal types. For the 

 American orchardist there are three main 

 types of pear trees to be considered — the 

 pyramidal form, the vase form, and the 

 natural form. Largely through the efforts 

 of Patrick Barry, Marshall P. Wilder, and 

 other leaders in American pomology of 

 the last generation, the pyramidal form of 

 pear tree has been considered as the 

 proper ideal, and is in fact the almost 

 exclusive form for American orchards. In 

 the opinion of the writer, however, the 

 pyramidal form has been advocated to an 

 extent far greater than it deserves. The 

 vase-form tree, while somewhat more dif- 

 ficult of development and somewhat less 

 natural, is in many ways far superior to 

 the pyramidal form. The natural form 

 finds its principal advocates among those 

 who know little or care little about prun- 

 ing, and seem to find consolation in fall- 

 ing back on the theory that nature knows 

 better than man what is best for the tree. 

 They overlook the fact that the fruit tree 

 is an entirely artificial product and is 

 under artificial conditions. Were the 

 theory that nature knows best to be con- 

 sistently followed, we should only plant 

 the seeds of fruit trees, never bud nor 

 graft them, nor cultivate, spray, nor carry 

 on any of the other horticultural opera- 

 tions on which the success of fruit rais- 

 ing depends. 



There are arguments pro and con in 

 favor of each of these three forms. The 

 pyramidal form of tree is with most va- 

 rieties more natural than the vase form. 

 It permits heavy cutting back and thin- 

 ning out without interfering with the 

 general scheme of pruning. This form is 

 so nearly that of the natural tendency of 

 most fruit trees, especially while they are 

 young, that it requires little effort to bal- 

 ance or curb undesirable tendencies. It 

 has the disadvantage of not being adapt- 

 ed to such extremely low heading as the 

 vase form, of having a large portion of 



