The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
A  Market  for  Christmas  Trees 
It  would  .seem  to  me  that  there  would  be.  a  fair  busi¬ 
ness  in  the  future  growing  Christmas  trees  for  city 
trade.  The  Christmas  tree  “habit'  is  sure  to  be  kept 
up,  and  the  demand  seems  likely  to  grow,  while  the 
supply  of  good  trees  is  failing.  I  should  think  it.  would 
pay  to  plant  the  little  trees  and  giro  them  good  care. 
The  Christmas  trees  may  be  thinned  out  from  year  to 
year,  leaving  the  best  to  grow  into  timber  What  va¬ 
rieties  are  best,  and  how  are  they  handled?  n.  s. 
St.  Catherines,  Out. 
IIRISTMAS  trees  such  as  can  be  grown  in  the 
vicinity  of  St.  Catherines  would  be  furnished 
best  by  Norway  spruce,  white  spruce  or  balsam  fir. 
All  of  these  species  can  be  readily  grown  from  seed. 
The  seed  may  be  collected  from  the  cones,  which 
mature  itt  the  early  Fall,  or  they  may  be  pur¬ 
chased  from  various  seedsmen.  In  commercial  nur¬ 
series  they  are  sown  in  carefully  prepared  seedbeds 
l  ft.  wide  and  8  ft  long,  and  to  the  extent  of  about 
nine  or  10  ounces  of  seed  to  such  a  bed.  The  sow¬ 
ing  is  usually  done  in  the  early  Spring,  and  the  lit¬ 
tle  trees  are  allowed  to  grow  for  two  years  in  the 
bed.  During  the  first  year  they  need  to  bo  carefully 
watered,  and  especially  carefully  shaded  a  gain'd  ex¬ 
cessive  sunlight.  After  two  years  the 
seedlings  can  be  transplanted  directly 
to  the  proposed  Christmas  tree  plan¬ 
tation,  or  can  he  grown  for  another 
year  or  two  in  transplant  beds  under 
cultivation.  This  additional  growth 
under  cultivation  results  iti  more 
sturdy  root  systems,  and  usually  in 
more  vigorous  growth  When  finally 
set  out.  These  kinds  of  trees  will 
grow  on  tiny  well-drained,  reasonably 
moist  site.  They  prefer  a  northern 
slope,  and  do  not  do  well  on  a  hard- 
packed  old  pasture  site.  Such  land 
should  he  broken  up  before  being 
planted  to  spruce  or  balsam.  Christ¬ 
mas  tree  stock  can  he  planted  2  ft. 
apart.  If  at  right  angles,  as  with  a 
cornfield,  it  will  take  4,840  plants  to 
cover  an  acre.  Under  ordinary  circum¬ 
stances,  where  two  or  three-year-old 
stock  is  used,  some  individuals  will  he 
ready  for  cutting  by  the  end  of  the 
sixth  year.  The  main  crop  will  not  be 
ready  until  about  eight  years. 
Eased  on  wholesale  prices  of  15  to 
20  cents  per  tree,  with  interest  at  0  per 
cent  upon  the  cost  of  preparation  and 
planting,  and  the  value  of  the  land  not 
to  exceed  $30  an  acre,  together  with 
accumulated  taxes,  it  is  possible  to  fig¬ 
ure  the  proposition  as  being  worth  an 
annual  profit,  over  a  period  of  10  years, 
of  $45  to  $50  per  acre.  -  I  would  sug 
gest.  however,  that  before  starting  out 
on  such  a  proposition,  you  make  a  men¬ 
tal  reservation  of  10  to  20  per  cent  be¬ 
low  this  figure  The  growing  of  Christ¬ 
mas  trees  on  paper  is  like  the  theoret¬ 
ical  raising  of  chickens  in  the  back  of 
a  city  lot;  it  can  be  made  to  look  most 
attractive,  hut  there  are  often  enemies 
in  the  way  of  diseases,  insects,  windstorms,  fire, 
theft,  etc ,  which  are  difficult  to  forecast. 
r  would  heartily  discourage  any  attempts  to  grow 
Christmas  trees  for  the  big  city  markets,  such  as 
New  York.  Buffalo,  etc.,  unless  you  are  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  the  ways  of  certain  wholesale' 
places.  Ordinarily  the  trees  which  are  shipped  in 
to  such  places  are  cut  in  the  north  from  laud  of  lit¬ 
tle  value,  and  represent  merely  the  cost  of  cutting 
and  shipping.  They  are  sold  on  a  very  narrow  mar¬ 
gin.  For  a  market  in  a  reasonably  small  town  or 
in  a  large  town  where  you  are  acquainted,  1  believe 
there  is  an  opportunity  to  dispose  of  a  considerable 
number  of  trees  each  year.  o.  H.  c. 
Pear  Growing  in  New  York 
Part  II. 
OIL  for  the  pear  must  be  fertile,  hut  not  too 
rich  Rich  land  tends  to  produce  green,  vigor¬ 
ous  growths,  which  are  susceptible  to  pear  blight  : 
vet  because  of  the  slow  growth  and  weak  stand  that 
most  pears  make  the  soil  must  not  he  so  low  in  fer¬ 
tility  that  it  will  not  produce  good  crops. 
STOCK  AND  PROPAGATION. — With  no  other 
fruit  is  good  stock  more  necessary  than  with  the 
pear  Trees  in  the  nursery  are  very  susceptible  to 
blacklieart,  a  form  of  Winter  injury.  Trees  with 
this  trouble  should  be  discarded,  as  they  never 
make  good  orchard  plants.  Well-ripened,  two-year- 
old  trees  of  short,  stocky  growth  are  to  he  pre¬ 
ferred.  The  pear  is  usually  propagated  on  seed¬ 
lings  imported  from  Europe,  though  it  may  he 
grafted  .hi  the  quince  as  a  dwarfing  stock.  But  the 
planting  of  dwarf 'trees  in  commercial  orchards  has 
been  discontinued  in  New  York.  For  the  amateur, 
however,  they  are  worthy  consideration,  especially 
since  some  varieties  do  better  on  the  quince  than  on 
pear  roots.  Varieties  that  make  good  dwarfs  are 
Beurre  d’Anjou,  Duchesse  d’Angouleme,  Howell. 
Lawrence.  Louise  Bonne  de  Jersey,  Elizabeth,  and 
White  Doyenne.  Other  varieties,  like  Bartlett  and 
Seek  el,  grow  much  better  on  pear  stocks,  while  still 
a  third  class,  including  Beurre  Bose,  Sheldon  and 
Winter  Nelis,  usually  fail  on  quince  unless  double- 
worked.  In  double-working,  a  variety  that  will  take 
is  grafted  on  the  quince,  and  the  resulting  tree  is 
later  top-worked. 
PLANTING  METHODS.— In  New  York,  Spring 
planting  is  always  better  than  Fall  planting.  The 
distance  apart  to  plant  varies  with  the  variety  and 
the  methods  of  cultivation  and  pruning.  Ordinarily, 
pears.arc  sot  ISxIS  ft.,  or  20x20  ft.,  although  in  the 
case  of  such  strong-growing  varieties  as  KielTer, 
Eeurre  d'Aujou.  and  Flemish  Beauty,  they  may  well 
bo  set  22  or  even  25  ft.  Broken  roots  should  he 
Destructive  Work  of  Pear  might.  Fig.  tJfl. 
trimmed  before  the  tree  is  set,  otherwise  the  less  the 
root  system  is  interfered  with  the  better.  The 
ground  should  be  well  prepared  and  the  tree  set 
slightly  deeper  than  it  stood  in  the  nursery, 
II, FADING  THE  TREE— Since  flic  root  system 
has  been  greatly  reduced,  it  cannot  be  expected  to 
furnish  the  unreduced  top  with  all  the  food  ma¬ 
terials  that  it  needs.  Consequently  the  top  should 
he  reduced  in  turn.  For  the  most  part  this  matter 
takes  care  of  itself  in  the  pruning  necessary  to 
proper  heading  and  training.  Pear  trees  arc  headed 
lower  than  apple  trees,  as  they  are  especially  sub¬ 
ject  to  sunseald.  and  are  generally  upright  in  habit 
of  growth;  24  to  30  in.  is  a  safe  height  at  which  to 
start  the  scaffold  branches,  all  shoots  below  this  be¬ 
ing  removed.  With  the  more  spreading  Beurre 
d’Anjou.  the  head  ought  not  to  he  so  low  as  for  the 
upright  Bartlett  or  Clapp  Favorite.  Once  the  three, 
four  or  five  branches  are  selected  for  the  frame¬ 
work  of  the  tree,  as  little  cutting  back  should  he  done 
as  possible.  Too  much  pruning  induces  a  rank,  suc¬ 
culent  growth,  susceptible  to  fire  blight.  Moreover, 
too  great  a  reduction  of  leaf  area  is  as  bad,  if  not 
worse,  than  too  little  More  often  it  will  he  found 
best  to  leave  the  scaffold  branches  unpruned. 
CULTIVATION.— Clean  cultivation  should  be  the 
rule  in  the  pear  orchard.  Pear  trees  are  none  too 
certain  of  life,  and  anything  that  helps  to  conserve 
moisture  and  increase  the  supply  of  available  plant 
food — yet  not  over-supply  it — should  he  carefully 
observed.  For  most  orchards,  clean  cultivation  and 
cover  crops  keep  up  soil  fertility  sufficiently.  The 
cover  crop  seed  should  be  sown  at  a  time  when  there 
381 
is  promise  of  plenty  of  moisture  for  its  ■  germination 
and  is  covered  the  last,  time  the  orchard  i>  culti¬ 
vated.  Buckwheat,  oats,  rye.  wheat,  clover,  vetch, 
all  make  good  cover  crops,  ('over  crops  add  humus 
to  the  soil,  lessen  the  loss  from  leaching,  and  help 
to  ripen  the  wood  of  the  trees  and  put  them  in  bet¬ 
ter  simps  to  go  into  the  Winter,  an  important  con¬ 
sideration  in  pear  growing.  Early  the  next  Spring, 
or  late  the  same  Fall,  the  crop  should  be  plowed 
under. 
PRUNING. — As  a  rule,  young  trees  are  pruned 
too  much,  and  more  often  than  not  bearing  trees  are 
over-pruned,  it  is  being  recognized  that  the  more 
the  tree  is  allowed  to  grow  in  its  natural  way  the 
more  fruit  it  will  produce.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  fruit  is  borne  on  1  lie  spurs  found  on  two-year- 
old  wood,  and  in  the  case  of  the  pear  these  spurs 
branch  and  rebranch  and  bear  fruit  over  a  consid¬ 
erable  period  of  years.  The  main  object  in  pruning 
is  to  give  these  spurs  the  most  favorable  condit'ous 
in  which  -to  develop.  Some  growers  feet  that  it.  is 
better  to  remove  all  suckers  and  shoots  arising  from 
the  main  limbs  as  a  matter  of  insurance  against 
blight.  They  say  that  it  is  better  to 
cut  away  some  fruit  than  to  run  the 
risk  of  blight  running  down  *a  young 
shoot  and- infecting  tin*  main  branches 
of  tile  trees.  The  loss  of  a  few  young 
shoots  is  not  to  be  compared  with  that 
of  a  large  limb.  So  far  as  the  trunk  is 
concerned,  there  is  no  question  that  all 
young  growth  should  he  removed  at 
once,  and  *most  shoots  that  arise  from 
vulnerable  parts  of  mature  large  limbs 
should  also  be  taken  off.  But  if  the 
tree  is  properly  trained  when  young 
this  danger  is  obviated.  In  short, 
then,  if  the  attention  of  the  primer  is 
paid  to  removing  blighted  branches 
and  those  that  interfere  and  cross,  and 
to  shortening  those  that  are  much  out 
of  proportion,  he  Avill  find  that  his 
pruning  problem  has  been  solved  for 
the  most  part. 
POLLINATION. — This  is  of  especial 
concern  to  growers  of  pears,  not  be¬ 
cause  there  is  more  self-sterility  in 
pears  than  in  other  fruits  hut  because 
the  varieties  most  grown  are  commonly 
self-sterile.  Bartlett,  Beurre  d’Anjou. 
Clapp  Favorite,  Lawrence,  Winter 
Nelis,  are  all  reported  mostly  or  com¬ 
pletely  self-sterile,  while  Seekel  and 
Kieffer  are  often  in  the  same  class.  A 
variety  may  lie  self-fertile  in  one  local¬ 
ity  and  self-sterile  or  partially  so  in 
others.  In  fact,  there  are  solid  Bart¬ 
lett  orchards  on  record  apparently 
self-fertile.  That  is  to  say,  climate, 
soil,  insects,  weather  at  blossoming 
time,  and  general  health  and  vigor  of 
the  tree  play  a  large  part  in  self-ster¬ 
ility.  There  is  evidence  that  even  \ie 
self-sterile  varieties  are  benefited  by 
cross  pollination,  so  that  in  setting  an 
orchard  two  or  more  varieties  should  be  planted 
for  cross  pollination.  Some  growers  prefer  to  plant 
a  pol Ionizer — that  is.  a  variety  that  blooms  at  about, 
the  same  time  as  the  variety  in  the  orchards — at 
the  center  of  each  group  of  eight  trees,  so  that  each 
tree  in  the  orchard  is  immediately  adjacent  to  a 
source  of  pollen  for  fertilization. 
TIME  TO  PICK. — The” qua!  v  of  no  fruit  is  more 
dependent  on  time  of  picking  than  the  pear.  Most 
varieties,  if  ripened  on  the  tree,  develop  soft  cores 
and  a  mushy  texture,  and  may  he  wholly  worthies-*, 
even  though  apparently  sound.  They  should  or¬ 
dinarily  be  harvested  when,  upon  lifting  the  fruit, 
the  stem  snaps  from  the  branch.  Winter  pears  can 
be  left  on  the  trees  longer  than  earlier  sorts,  us 
Winter  varieties  demand  a  very  long  season  in 
which  to  mature. 
INSECTS  AND  DISEASES.— If  a  grower  can 
control  fire  blight,  pear  psylla  and.  in  the  Hudson 
Valley,  pear  tlirips,  his  cost  account  ought  to  show 
bis  pear  orchard  on  the  credit  side  of  the  ledger,  for 
codling  moth,  leaf  spot,  scale  and  scab  are  of  minor 
importance  by  comparison.  Of  all  diseases  common 
to  fruit  trees,  pear  blight  has  been  more  discussed, 
with  less  progress  in  its  control,  than  any  other.  It 
is  caused  by  a  bacteria  which  attacks  blossoms, 
twigs,  leaves,  branches  and  fruit,  though  it  is  most 
common  on  the  new.  succulent  growths.  Here  it  is 
recognized  by  the  dried  and  blackened  leaves  and 
the  discolored  wood.  On  older  wood  it  forms  dark, 
sunken,  cankered  areas, 
CUT  OFT  BLIGHT. — The  remedies  suggested  are 
thorough  and  systematic  cutting  out  of  infected 
