1606 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



ture fruit in mind, the number reduced 

 to tlie proper amount for tiiat size of 

 branch. All imperfect, wormy or dis- 

 torted specimens should of course be 

 picked ofe first, and only those which are 

 expected to make fancy fruit left behind. 

 Unfortunately, no general rule can be 

 given to guide in thinning pears. The 

 rule of one fruit to six inches, which 

 commonly guides the peach grower in 

 thinning peaches, can not be definitely 

 applied to pears. Experience is the only 

 guide, and the grower may expect to 

 allow a few trees to overbear before he 

 learns the lesson of just how much to 

 thin. Thinning not only improves the 

 quality of the fruit of the current season, 

 but it places the tree in better shape to 

 bear the next year. As a rule, greater 

 profits are secured by regular annual 

 crops than by heavy crops during occa- 

 sional years, for it commonly happens 

 that such seasons are the very ones when 

 fruit is plentiful and cheap and the profit 

 in handling it very small. 



M. B. Waite, Assistant Chief, 



Division of Vegetable Physiology and Path- 

 ology, Washington, D. C. 



Fruning Dwarf Pears 



Dwarf pears are as a rule pruned as 

 pyramids. For this reason the nursery 

 trees are handled very difCerently from 

 standards. Branches are allowed to grow 

 close to the ground and a central axis 

 clothed with branches from near the 

 ground to its extremity is maintained 

 rather than a bare trunk to the height 

 at which the head is desired, as in the 

 standard tree. In the pyramid these lat- 

 eral branches are left longest near the 

 ground and shortest near the apex of the 

 pyramid. This method is adhered to from 

 year to year in pruning the annual 

 growth of the tree. The annual pruning 

 of a pyramid is of even greater impor- 

 tance than in the case of the standard 

 pear, for upon it depends the symmetri- 

 cal development of the tree. 



It is well known that orchard -trees in 

 general tend to make their greatest 

 growth near the extremity of the leading 

 branches. In other words, the leaders 

 are the strongest growers and it is fre- 



quently a difficult task to stimulate lat- 

 eral branches to grow sufficiently to pre- 

 serve a symmetrical development in the 

 tree. The manner, therefore, of cutting 

 back the annual growth on the various 

 parts of the tree must be carefully 

 studied in order to preserve the sym- 

 metrical development desired. In remov- 

 ing the annual growth from pyramidal 

 trees it should be the aim to cut back 

 to an inside bud each year. This will 

 tend to make the growth of the tree more 

 upright and more compact, while with a 

 vase-formed tree it should be the object 

 to cut to an outside bud each year. 



L. C. COBBETT, 

 Washington, D C 



Pruning Cornice Pears 



Bogue Biver Valley 



The methods of bringing pear trees into 

 bearing by pruning have often been writ- 

 ten and discussed by authorities all over 

 the country. The conclusions are varied, 

 and necessarily' m, owing to the influence 

 of soil conditions, climate, location and 

 method of handling the trees by the grow- 

 er during their life. It is a difficult mat- 

 ter to make set rules, but a great deal can 

 be accomplished by proper attention to 

 pruning. In fact there is no more satis- 

 factory way of bringing pears into bearing 

 than by a careful and judicious use of 

 pruning. 



Experience has shown to many growers 

 in Rogue River valley that the time of 

 the year does not make so much difference 

 in the matter of pruning for fruit as the 

 method of doing it and the age of the 

 tree to be pruned. It is an easy matter 

 to induce wood growth in young pear 

 trees on good soil, but it is not always so 

 easy to bring them into bearing. 



Several years' experience with Bosc 

 and Comice pears growing on good soil 

 and in a climate especially adapted to 

 these varieties have induced me to believe 

 that most growers are prone to overprune 

 their young trees. In order to get the 

 best results the trees should be carefully 

 planted and from then on must be care- 

 fully pruned each winter, cutting well 

 back to induce a healthy, stocky growth 

 of wood. For four or five years the trees 



