When the crop is harvested, t!ie knd will be in 

 escellent eoiiditioa for planting, which may be done 

 in the fall or the following spring, as circumstances 

 iiiay dictate. I select the fall in most cases, for the 

 reason that we have more leisure, and the soil is 

 usually in better condition. There is one draw back 

 however to fall planting : except the trees are closely 

 pruned at the time of planting, the heavy winds by 

 swaying the tops, may seriously injure the roots. Fur 

 persons not hurried by other work, having the con- 

 ditions equal, I would advise spring planting ; but 

 ■under no consideration to set out a pear tree while 

 the ground is wet or soggy. 



Land that will produce twenty-five bushels of 

 wheat, fifty to sixty bushels of shelled corn, and 

 fronri one hundred and seventy-five to two hundred 

 bushels of potatoes to the acre, will, when prepared 

 in the way described, yield satisfactory crops of fruit, 

 and with a little care and attention in pruning, and 

 Slot allowing young trees to over-bear, the orchardist 

 will be well rewarded for his labors. When the in- 

 tended rows are mapped out, it is our custom to 

 run a large size lifting subsoil plow a dozen or more 

 times in each row, until the soil for four or five feet 

 on either side of the line is thoroughly pulverized. 

 When this method is adopted, it makes but little 

 difference how large or small the holes are made for 

 the reception of the trees. 



Selecting varieties is always a difficult task, even 

 to those who have had previous experience ; and 1 

 know in our own case, if in making our selection, 

 we confined our list to five good varieties, instead of 

 fifty, we would be several thousand dollars better ofi" 

 to day. 



In another instance that has come under my ob- 

 servation, in an orchard of fifteen hundred trees, 

 the proprietor informed me it made a difference in 

 liis receipts of $3,0G0, in ten years. 



It is much less trouble and more profitable, to 

 dispose of one hundred barrels of any one well known 

 variety, than it is to sell ten barrels of tea dif 

 ferent varieties. In an orchard of five hundred 

 trees I would not have less than one hundred of any 

 one kind. As a matter of course before deciding, I 

 would endeavor to make mj^self familiar about the 

 kinds that were most likely to do well in the locality. 

 In making selections for the orchard, we should 

 always give preference to trees, whose natural habits 

 are vigorous, thus combined with productiveness 

 and good quality, and adaptation to soil and climate, 

 are the requirements we need. There are many 

 choice kinds of poars, on our catalogues, ,' till their 

 habits of growth are so irregular and uncertain as 

 to render them unfit for the orchard. 



I cannot recommend or make out a list of varie- 

 ties, that would be a guide to others located in a 

 different part of the country, for there are so many 

 contingencies that such a list would be more likely 

 to mislead than instruct. Our experience however, 

 has caused us to reduce our list of varieties for 

 market purposes to the following named kinds: 

 Bartlett, Doyenne Boussock, Duchess d'Angouleme, 

 Sheldon, Beurre Olairgeau, Beurre d'Anjou, and 

 Lawrence, 



So far, we have no winter variety that has given 

 us sativsfaction — the Vicar of Winkfield is quite 

 productive, but not always edible. The (xlout 

 Morceau is aot worthy of a place in the orchard in 

 our vicinity. It is the most promising and least 

 productive of any variety that I am familiar with. 



Pears ripening before the Bartlett with us, have 

 not been profitable., and therefore the majority of 

 our early sorts were worked over with later kinds. 



Dwarfs and Standards. — After fourteen years 

 of practical experience, with pears and their culture, 

 and having under my charge part of that time more 

 than one hundred varieties, including all the lead- 

 ing kinds, planted on well prepared soil, I have 

 come to the conclusion contrary to my former views, 

 that with a single exception the culture of the dwarf 

 in the orchard or garden is a failure. This conclusion 

 is not the result of a few days investigation, but has 

 extended over many years ; and as fact after fact pre- 

 sented themselves, I was slow to accept them as 

 conclusive until it became so apparent that to hold 

 out any longer would be obstinacy. For a long time I 

 had reason to suppose that the Angers Quince was 

 well suited as a stock for many of our best varieties 

 of pears, but so far as my experience and personal 

 observation has gone, the number has dwindled 

 down to one variety, that is the Dachesse d'Angou- 

 leme. How long this kind will continue to do well, 

 oa quince-root I am not prepared to say, but if it 

 should fail, I would feel much discouraged, for I 

 have met with but little success in growing this 

 variety as a standard. Every other kind that we 

 have under culture, do better as standards. I find 

 little difficulty in bringing them into bearing 

 the fourth and fifth year from the time of planting 

 by a simple and judicious S57stem of pruning. Nor 

 are the fruit inferior in quality on our soil — although 

 specimens of the same variety are frequently larger 

 on the dwarf than the standard. 



For many years during our early experience in 

 pear culture, we planted trees in the orchard not 

 less than two years old, beli-eving, as we then did, 

 that younger trees would not do as well. On this 

 point we have changed our practice, and now select 



