

FITZGERALD’S APRICOTS ARE PROVED BEST BY EVERY TEST a 

GROWING PEARS 
Comes several letters asking about pear growing. 
To me, growing pears has always been interesting 
work. The pear tree is one of the most faithful of | 
all trees. They will grow on more different soils than 
most any other tree. Today, someone asked about 
planting a pear orchard where it was too wet for 
peach trees. They will grow fine in deep sand and 
bear enormous pears if the trees are not allowed 
to overbear. On the other hand, the very first pear 
orchard I ever saw in my life was planted on the 
prairie. And some of the trees are still bearing 
though they must have been there sixty years. 
And there are pear trees in existence four hundred 
years old. But that is not discussing pear culture. 
For many years it was recommended that pear 
trees be set about eighteen feet apart. That has 
proved entirely too close for them. The Kieffer 
and Garber trees ought to be at least thirty feet 
apart. The Douglas, of course, is considered a 
dwarf and can be planted eighteen or twenty feet. 
The LeConte makes as large a tree as Kieffer and 
Garber and it is one of our very best pears. If I 
were setting a pear orchard I would, I think, set 
plenty of Kieffer, Garber and LaConte. And to get 
pears real quick, set a few Douglas. But if the right 
kind of Kieffer trees are set they will bear nearly 
as quickly as the Douglas. In setting pear trees, 
I do not want to set trees that have made an ex- 
cessive growth in the nursery. For instance, I saw © 
some year-old pear trees that were seven feet 
high. Such trees will be five or six years in bear- 
ing. If you can.get trees from the nursery that 
have put in about three years growing seven feet 
they will come into bearing much quicker. And I 
find this in a way applies to all kinds of trees. 
The ones that grow \too fast forget to bear. After 
you have set your pear orchard you want the trees 
headed low say eighteen inches above ground. 
Nursery trees are now mostly started that way 
unless they are straight one year trees. 
Ido not know any way getting by with pears 
better than to give the trees good cultivation 
until they get about ten feet high then keep down 
the grass and weeds with sheep. Sheep will skin 
the trees in the winter time if they are hungry. 
But they will keep down all grass and weeds in 
the summer. We thin our pears and the sheep 
eat the thinned pears. In this way we have bigger 
pears that sell for twice as much money and the 
sheep get a lot of fun eating the thinnings. A few 
years ago we found a strain of the Kieffer pear 
that if kept thinned they developed a beautiful 
red cheek. You can sell these pears when no one 
will even look at the Kieffer as usually grown. 
Pears will grow on poorer land than most any 
other kind of fruit. There are many acres of dead 
sand over Central Texas that will grow good pears. 
The trees can be cultivated so cheaply that if you 
. 
can get fifty cents per bushel for the fruit they 
are a good fruit to set. Pear trees are not bothered 
by nemetodes and if you have land where your 
peach trees have been killed by nemetodes the | 
pear will grow there. Pears do not like alkali in 
the soil but after the trees once get to be large 
they seem to stand alkali better than the young 
ones. This also applies to peach trees. The roots 
go deeper in the soil than many other trees and 
seem to have the ability to get a living where 
many other trees will starve. I know of pear trees. 
planted not far from where I now live that were 
set long ago that bear fruit every year. These 
trees, I would guess, are not less than fifty years 
old. On this same plot of land there are a few 
trees of peaches left but they have just about 
played out. I can remember the time they were © 
planted. Then we did not get nursery catalogs, all 
dressed up, but a man came around in a buggy 
with pretty pictures of the fruit; we gave him our 
order and, in due time, the trees came. Usually 
the salesman made it a point to reach a farm at 
night so he could stay all night. 
After the trees have been set a couple of years 
they should not be pruned any more except in 
June and very little then. Pruning pear trees in 
the winter has a tendency to throw them into 
rapid growth and they might blight; and they, at 
least, do not bear. Some people argue not to culti- 
vate a pear orchard, but if you want to grow real 
fancy fruit it pays to cultivate them. I think from 
personal observation that cultivation in the pear 
orchard should not start until about the first of 
June. They will stand more oats or wheat planted 
among the trees than most any other tree. Pears | 
ripen late in the season and a wheat crop can be 
plowed under. Then if you begin cultivating in 
May or June it is nearly sure to rain enough 
to make good pears. During the last few years we 
have raised a good many Bartlet pears, but for 
some peculiar reason the Bartlett gets too big on 
my place. The fruit does not look like Bartlett 
they get so big. I have tried many new pears. 
There is one that must have come from England; 
it is an espalier pear. It will grow on a wall like 
a vine or if planted in the orchard will grow into 
a fine tree, though the young trees are as crook- 
ed as grapevines. It has borne here for several 
years and does not show a particle of blight. It 
is about the size of the Bartlett shipped in from the 
West and when it comes to quality, go away! The 
pear is claimed to be a neutral fruit; that is, it 
does not have too much sugar nor too much acid 
and it is said that if a man is unable to eat any 
other fruit he can always eat pears. Pears canned — 
without sugar are ideal for the dyspeptic and I 
have often thought that if half the money spent © 
for physic could be spent for good pears the 
world would be healthier and in a better humor. 

FITZGERALD NURSERY - - STEPHENVILLE, TEXAS 
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