114 
AMERICA N AG-iRICULTUIlI ST. 
The Orchard. IV. 
[Continued from page 64.] 
PEARS. 
Unlike the Apple, the Pear is not a universal 
fruit of the temperate zones. It is fitful in its 
selections of soil, and climate. In quite exten¬ 
sive tracts of country it will flourish more or less 
—capricious in these, however, always—and over 
other wide belts of country it refuses to grow al¬ 
most altogether. The pear of any kind, has ever 
been a scarce fruit in market; and good pears, 
the scarcest of all. As they have ever been, 
they probably ever will be ; and we shall, before 
we get through, give some of the reasons. There 
appear to be some soils, and some countries pe¬ 
culiar to the pear—Normandy, and a part of 
Belgium, in Europe, for example. There are some 
localities in the United States where they flourish 
with tolerable success. There are some other 
localities where many individual trees of large 
growth, and advanced age are found, but they are 
widely scattered, and not abundant. 
The reasons why so few pear trees are found 
in this country are, mainly, two: the uncon¬ 
geniality of the soil, and the various diseases to 
which they are liable. Of the first, we need not 
go into an analysis, even were we able, as an expe¬ 
rimental trial can be the only satisfactory solu¬ 
tion. Of the second, ‘‘blight,” in its various char¬ 
acter and phase, is the principal; and may be 
sudivided into “ fire,” “bark,” and “ leaf” blight 
—all fatal in their effects, coming from causes 
not yet ascertained, nor understood, and for which 
no effectual cure has been discovered. Here 
some enthusiastic pear-growing nurseryman may 
ask: “Why, sir, how do you know all this 1 
Have not millions of pear trees been grown within 
the past dozen or fifteen years, and distributed 
broad-cast all over the United States, and thou¬ 
sands of pear-orchards established!” To which 
we answer : Very true ; and so have pear trees 
been grown and distributed throughout the country 
for three hundred years. Any number of pear 
orchards have been set out, nursed, cultivated, 
and—died. But show us the very first pear orchard 
containing one hundred sound, healthy trees of 
fifty years growth, as apple orchards exist, and 
grow', standing uniform and regular in their row's, 
and you will show us what, with long years of 
observation, and particular examination for a 
thing of the kind, we have not yet found, and we 
will then confess our error. 
Pear orchards have been planted—long years 
ago—side by side with apple orchards, which, 
with now and then a scattered tree still remaining 
stalwart and vigorous, giving annual crops of 
fruit, testify to a congeniality of the soil, and a 
friendly climate to those individual trees ; yet, 
testifying also, that disease and death have long 
ago borne down the bulk of their companions, 
while the apple orchard, planted at the same time, 
is still full in numbers, as well as vigorous and 
fruitful, with a promise of long remaining so. Such 
are the facts which support our first assertion that 
the pear is a precarious and capricious fruit in the 
United States, and perhaps, with few and far 
between exceptions, will ever so remain. 
Yet, we are not going to talk about the pear 
eimply to discourage the orchardist from 
growing it. By no means. We would encourage 
its plantation by every man, especially where ex¬ 
perience has shown that it will flourish ; and a 
trial of it where that experience is wanting. No 
fruit tree grows so vigorously, or withstands so 
well the vicissitudes of climate, or bears up so 
sturdily under neglect and maltreatment, or lives 
to so great an age, or yields such bountiful and 
continuoMs crops, as the pear when it finds a con¬ 
genial soil and climate, and remains untouched 
by disease; that is to say; the tree in its best 
estate. This fact is abundantly demonstrated by 
thousands of individual trees which can be found 
in various parts of our country ; and from these 
isolated examples, and the great value, and 
delicious flavor of the fruit, we are encouraged 
to propagate, plant, and cultivate them wherever 
we can do so successfully. The knowledge that 
they have grown, do grow, and in all probability 
will continue to grow, with the appreciation of 
their excellence as a luxury for the table, should 
encourage us to continue them, doubtful as may 
be the result, where past trials have not thoroughly 
demonstrated that they will not grow and thrive. 
Thus, then, we proceed to discuss their proper 
soils, and cultivation. 
SOIL AND POSITION. 
The pear thrives in various localities north of 
the cotton growing line, up to 45 deg. east of the 
Mississippi in the United States, and the Canadas. 
It inhabits various soils, from a light sandy, or 
gravelly loam, to a deep, unctuous clay. It thrives 
on nearly a level with the sea, and on mountain 
elevations, a thousand feet above, on a dry bot¬ 
tom, apparently unaffected by altitude or de¬ 
pression, and bears the choicest fruit in each ex¬ 
treme, as well as in intermediate positions, 
showing a decided vitality if in congenial soils, 
temperature, and aspects. Yet, it evidently has a 
choice in these, and although it will root, and 
grow almost universally for a time, latent qualities 
or deficiencies in the soil, or atmosphere, often¬ 
times prove fatal to its continuance. 
The best soil, from all the observations we have 
been able to make, however, is clayey loam, with 
a dry bottom. The most vigorous and aged trees 
we have seen, stand upon such soils. They have 
stood there a hundred and fifty to two hundred 
years, according to tradition, and are apparently 
good for a century to come, still sound, thrifty, 
and in full bearing. , The most prominent of these 
were probably planted from seeds brought out by 
the French Jesuits, who, at an early day, establish¬ 
ed a line of trading posts, and missions along 
through the Canadas, and what were then the 
far Western regions of America, extending from 
Montreal, along the borders of the great lakes and 
rivers, to the Mississippi, below the mouth of the 
Missouri. Here is one of them: “ Henry Ward 
Beecher tells of a pear tree in Illinois, about ten 
miles from Vincennes, Ind., that bore 184 bushels 
of pears in 1834, and 140 bushels in 1840, of large 
sized pears. One foot above the ground, it girths 
ten feet, and nine feet above, six and a half feet, 
and its branches spread over a space sixty-nine 
feet wide. It is said to be about fifty years old.” 
T’he seeds from which they sprung were pro¬ 
bably brought from Normandy, and the trees are of 
the original wildling stock, without graft, or inocu¬ 
lation. Their fruit is fair in size, and appearance, 
but inferior in flavor, and only fit for drying, and 
cooking—not eatable in its natural state, as com¬ 
pared to the improved standard varieties. There 
are also many aged trees scattered throughout all 
the Atlantic States, from Maine to Virginia, still 
hale, and vigorous, but not equal in size to those 
of French ancestry, owing, probably to a less 
fertile soil and congenial position. 
These individual cases, then, establish the 
fact that the pear can be grown on American 
soil, and that we have localities both congenial to 
their existence, and bearing, and where they may 
flourish to the most prolonged period of their na¬ 
tural longevity. We have girted some individual 
trees which were nine feet in circumference two 
feet above the ground, sixty feet high, and whose 
annual crops are fifty to eighty bushels—extra- 
| ordinary exceptions to be sure, but their com¬ 
panion trees mostly measured full two feet in 
diameter, or six feet in girt, are forty to fifty 
feet high, and give annual crops of twenty-five 
to fifty bushels of well grown fruit. But the 
qutstion of such size, and extreme long life are 
unimportant compared with the fact that they 
will live long enough to pay the orchardist in the 
production of their crops for his investment, to a 
certainty. Here, we conceive to be the whole 
pith and marrow of our inquiries. Will pear 
orchards pay 1 And for a solution of the ques¬ 
tion he must rely on his own observation and ex¬ 
perience, enlarged as it may be by the observa¬ 
tion and experience of others having better oppor¬ 
tunities than ourselves to judge. 
Thus, then, we find that a particular description 
of soil, as to whether it be light, or heavy, is not 
the controlling point in determining whether the 
pear will flourish, and endure; nor is the locality, 
or particular temperature of the climate to invite 
or forbid the trial. If one designs to embrace 
pear culture at all, and prospects look favorable, 
he must determine within himself the chances of 
success, and address his energies to its execu¬ 
tion. We would advise him, however, not to in¬ 
vest a pear orchard in any locality which has al¬ 
ready proved unsuccessful; and where untried, to 
move with caution, and to a limited extent, at 
first, in his operations. We know neighborhoods 
where for thirty or forty years the pear flourished, 
and then, by a sort of sudden fatality, almost 
every tree within a few years died out; and al¬ 
though repeated replantings have been made, the 
last soon died out as did the others. Again, some 
localities have been refractory from the start, and 
disaster has followed every attempt at a perma¬ 
nent orchard. Others there are, where from the 
first they have measurably flourished, and still 
yield their fruit on many trees which have survived 
the original plantation, in full success and vigor. 
On the whole, therefore, we may conclude, al¬ 
though the pear is uncertain and contingent in the 
mass of its plantations in the orchards, yet where 
the soil, climate, and atmosphere suits it, a por¬ 
tion of the trees will survive, to an extent, both 
in numbers, and bearing, to richly repay the plant¬ 
er, or proprietor. The main question is, then, to 
determine the point where the orchard is to be 
made, and that succeeding, the question of suc¬ 
cess is solved, and the uncertainties, or chances 
of this, each one must take upon, or judge for 
himself. 
PREPARATION AND CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL. 
These must be treated mainly, as with the ap¬ 
ple orchard. Twenty-five, to thirty feet apart is 
the proper distance, and the manner of planting 
the same, and for the detail of this, we refer to 
the books. 
TREE STOCKS. 
The finer varieties of pear, (as in what we have 
remarked in relation to the apple,) usually hav¬ 
ing a delicate, less hardy, and less vigorous wood 
than the seedling, we would grow in the same 
way, with a seedling stock, and work it branch 
high, relying on the fact that we have seldom 
known a large tree grown from the root, with a 
refined wood ; while in every large and aged tree 
that has come within our knowledge, the trunk 
was a wildling. In adopting this method, the or¬ 
chardist is certainly on the safe ground, while by 
taking the opposite course, his prospects are, to 
say the least, uncertain. 
VARIETIES. 
These are iegion in number; and out of the 
many hundreds which have been introduced from 
abroad into American soil, it is but truth to say 
