UNIVERSITY FARM SB373 UCO LIBRARY V * 1KOUP OF FINE SUMMER, AUTUMN AND WINTER PEARS. . >-tf>f ami , ST. NITIIOLAS; OR DUCHKSSK D'ORLKASS. No. 6, KOSTIKZER. CULTURE. A MANUAL PROPAGATION, PLANTING, CULTIVATION, AND MANAGEMENT THE PEAR TREE. DESCRIPTIONS AND ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE MOST PRODUCTIVE OF THE FINER VARIETIES, AND SELECTIONS OF KINDS MOST PROFITABLY GROWN FOR MARKET. THOS. W. FIELD THE golden-dropping Pear, the reddening glow Upon the cheek of Beauty, and the Peach, Hnve common oource and end. The Divst We till, we are. The nodding flower, the Elm, Aj-chirig in cloisters and in vaulted aile, Are man, or boast, or worm, in other forma. No marble dumb, or crumbling tomb shall rent Their ple chill wnlls o'er me. The tree I plan Shall monument my dufit itoelf ilie tree, Refined in leaf, and fruit, and flower: that when The immaterial pnrt puts mttor on Again, it is more fit for Heavn. A. MOORE. AGRICULTURAL BOOK PUBLISHER, 140 FULTON STREET. fcntered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, BY A. O. MOOKE, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of 3 1 w fork. is 00}t is TO MY FRIEND O TJ I S E_ B Eli O Kl 3^ A. 3NT S, MASK OF AFFECTION AND RESPECT. THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. THE pleasure with which I have, for several years, pursued the labor of collecting and arranging the matter of this Book, melts away, as I approach the tribunal which is to pronounce upon the result of that labor. The Public which an author fears most is, after all, very small it is those of his own craft, who will easily discover his failure ; and it is precisely that small Public whose favor I am most anxious to deserve. Cardinal DE RETZ once said : "He who is in good repute among his own order, can not easily be overthrown." It is from intelligent Pomologists that I shall receive censure with the most humility, and praise with the most gratification ; and it was in hope of earning the latter that I have oegun and completed this work. There is so little that is really original in any work, that the unguarded and jealous critic, in reviewing some humble author, is in imminent danger of launching his bolt at some great and standard authority. When charged, by a critic of such rank, with imperfections, I shall only be able to answer : " Sir, the best Pomologists have contributed the most perfect results of their investi- gations to this work ; and the insensible plagiarism, by which another's idea is reproduced in my brain, ought not to create prejudice against the idea," So much of what is excellent in this work may, by long residence in my own brain, seem to have had its origin there, that it would VI PREFACE. be vain to attempt, at this late hour, a restitution of ideas to the proper owners. When known or recollected, the authority whose matter has been quoted is noticed in the body of the work. It requires to be distinctly stated, that the plan of this book does not admit of that extensive description of varieties which would be desired by an amateur of long experience in the cultivation of the Pear. Its design is to answer, in a clear and intelligible manner, the oil- repeated questions of the novice : " What kinds of Pear Trees can I plant most profitably ? and how shall I treat them, to insure a return of the investment ?" The Author has indulged no higher ambition than to answer these queries satisfactorily and does not claim the ability to instruct those experienced Pomologists, whose lives have been spent in patient investigation of the most minute phenomena attending the Propagation, the De- velopment, and the Fruiting of the Pear Tree. In constant communication with Horticulturists, the want of a Manual of Pear Culture, so often suggested by them, originated in my mind the idea of collating the experience of the best cultivators ; and stimulated by my own hearty love of the subject, I have executed the work now offered to the lovers of that noble fruit. If it shall result in a more intelligent treatment of the beautiful but dumb companions of the Horticulturist, and thus obviate much of that disappointment which has flowed from ignorance of the peculiar requirements of the Pear Tree, and of the varieties to be selected, the Book will have performed the office for which it was written ; and the Author will not regret his work. CONTENTS. PART I. Preparation of the Soil Draining Plowing and Cropping the Ground Trenching Manuring Digging Holes Digging Trees Soils for Pears Transporting. PART II. The Seedling Planting Seed Obtaining new Seedling Varieties Hy- bridizing Leaf Blight of Seedlings Propagation by Layers and Cuttings Quince Stocks Cost of preparing Ground and Planting Manures for Nursery Stocks Methods of Grafting Budding. PART III. Selecting Pear Trees from Nursery Causes of the Failure of Nursery Trees Proper Age for Planting Pruning and Root Pruning before Planting Replanting the Pear to form Fibrous Roots Heeling in Treatment of Withered Trees Planting Plan of arranging Pear Grounds Cultivation of the Pear Orchard Mulching Special Manures for the Pear Invigorating Old Trees Grating Large Trees. PALT IV. Office of the Quince-stock Causes of the failure of the Pear on the Quince Advantage of the Quince Stock Rules for Growing the Pear on Quince Double Working. ( vii ) Vlll CONTENTS. PART V. PRUNING. Advantages of Pyramidal Shape Approach Grafting Pruning to a Bud Renewing the Wood of old Dwarfs Summer Pinching Fruit Spurs, and Treatment Forms of Training Rules for Pruning Root Pruning. PART VI. DISEASES OF THE PEAR. Winter or Frozen-Sap Blight Signs of the Disease Insect-Blight Leaf-Blight. PART VII. INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE PEAR. Scolytus pyri Scale Insect The Pear Slug Caterpillar, Canker, Worm, &c. Means of destroying. PART VIII. VARIETIES. Conditions which affect the Quality of Fruit Terms relating to Quality Qualities required for Market Cultivation Vari- eties for Market Cultivation to be grown on Pear Stocks Varieties that may be grown on the Quince. PART IX. GATHERING, MARKETING, AND FRUIT-ROOMS. Soils as affecting Quality of Pears Thinning Fruit Gathering Marketing Pears Coloring and Ripening of Summer and Autumn Pears Ripening of Winter Pears Fruit Rooms Mr. SCHOOLET'S Plan of Fruit-Room Cata- logue of Native Varieties Catalogue of Foreign Varieties and Synonyms. PEAR CULTURE. "WHILE revolution and conquest were disturbing tho equilibrium of the political world, during the last twenty years, bringing dread and terror in their san- guinary train, another revolution was progressing, more enduring as it was productive of happiness, instead of misery. This was, the revolution in the culture and produc- tion of everything which the generous earth yields to man's cultivation ; but more particularly manifested in the propagation and perfection of fruits. Our fathers required the whole of their long lives to eat of the fruit of the tree they planted. But by the new arboriculture, the youth may pluck fruit from the tree he planted when a child. In none of the fruits is this peaceful revolution so striking as in the culture of the Pear. From the long period of twenty or thirty years required for the fruit- ing of the tree, we have deducted more than four- fifths, and reduced the time to three or four. The introduction of the French method of propa- gation upon the Quince stock has given such an 14 INTRODUCTION. impetus to the cultivation of the Pear, that the sales from a single nursery in this country reach the enorm- ous number of half a million trees in one year. It is undoubtedly true that the propagation of the Pear on the Quince, by its early production of this noble and beautiful fruit, will be the source of more unalloyed pleasure, and more innocent and healthful gratifica- tion, than any discovery in the arts and sciences for the last twenty years. The origin of this method of propagating the Pear must not be looked for in very recent times as trees more than a hundred years old" originally upon the quince stock, may be found growing in France. The history of its introduction into this country would not be difficult to trace ; but I have been able only to ascertain sufficient to induce me to believe, that Mr, PERKINS, of Boston, was among the first to introduce it, nearly forty years since ; soon after, MARSHALL P. WILDER, of Boston, and Mr. MANNING, of Salem ; and later still, Mr. HOVEY, of Cambridge, commenced the cultivation of quince-rooted pear trees, which may be seen in those places more than thirty years of age. Mr. MANTEL, of Astoria, was for some years in opposition to Mr. A. J. DOWNING, the earliest advocate of its general cultivation ; but it was not until within the last eight or ten years that the planting of the trees had become very common. Indeed, it is only within a year or two that the theory was broached, which governs the whole constitution of the com- pound tree, viz. : that the office of the Quince is entirely as root, and not as a trunk. That we shall arrive at a point of excellence in the INTRODUCTION. 15 propagation of the Pear which will enable us to dis- pense even with the Quince in great part, is not doubted by good pomologists. In the original introduction of the Pear as a fruit into this country, the French Huguenots bore a pro- minent part. In preparing for their exile, they doubt- less selected the seeds of their best varieties, and planted them around their homes in the New World. This is evidenced by the multitude of aged trees (many of them producing fine varieties) in the im- mediate neighborhood of their first settlements, par- ticularly on Long Island and at New Rochelle, in Michigan and Illinois. It is not a little curious to observe how the taste and preference for this fruit has survived in the coun- tries through which the Huguenots passed in their flight, or where they temporarily sojourned. Belgium and Holland have produced more fine varieties, and more eminent cultivators, of this fruit than all the rest of the world. There are many questions relating to the Pear, which are still little understood, although discussed for a long time by men of talent. Among these are : the decline of certain highly-esteemed varieties, which can no longer be grown in localities where they formerly ranked as the highest and best ; the excel- lence of many varieties in particular places, and their inferiority when grown in others ; the refusal of some varieties to grow upon the Quince stock. These, and many other mysteries, which have caused as much disappointment and chagrin to the cultivator, from his inability to account for them, as from his 1 6 INTRODUCTION. failure to obtain the fruit, cannot, from the limited character of this work, be discussed at length. The Pear has proved, by experience, to be adapted to as wide a range of territory in the United States as the Apple ; and on the lighter soils of the Atlantic coast, to be much more productive. We are beginning to learn, too, what varieties are adapted to special local- ities and soils ; and amid the great multitude of excellent kinds, it will not be difficult to find some that will succeed, with ease, in the most unfavorable location. We are not confined now, as formerly, to a single variety, that ripened in August or September, whose evanescent excellence vanished in a day or two ; but by a skillful selection of varieties, we extend the enjoy- ment of this king of fruits over a period of eight or nine months or from August to May. A great advance has also been made in the quality of the fruit ; for in place of the dry and mealy Sugar- Pear, the insipid Jargonelle, and the griping Winter- Bell, we have obtained the Flemish Beauty, the Duchesse, and the Easter Beurre. That we shall continue to make great progress in the knowledge of varieties, their propagation and improvement, can hardly be doubted, as long as such intelligent and enthusiastic men as DOWNING, WILDER, BEKCKMANS, HOVEY, BARRY, THOMAS, and BKINCKLE, continue to cultivate the Pear. To them the pomolo- gists of this country owe a large debt of gratitude ; and to them I am indebted for much that is valuable in this treatise. PART I. PREPARATION OF THE SOIL. To the tree-planter, the author would say, in the commencement of this treatise, as its most important and best fortified proposition : that the most complete and thorough preparation of the soil is by far the most economical and productive. Let none, therefore, be deterred from its performance by the labor of preparation, as its neglect will per- petually . remain a source of regret. Defects or neglect in this matter can never be entirely remedied by any future nursing or manuring. The thorough pulverization, deepening, and mixing of the soil before planting, will insure a healthy and vigorous growth, which the best subsequent system of manuring, trim- ming, and cultivation, can never equal. The satisfaction and delight that one feels in grow- ing a beautiful tree, are enhanced by the knowledge of having been the instrument in supplying a soil and cultivation intelligently adapted to its perfection. The nurseryman is called upon to answer no ques- tion oftener than the vexatious query : " How large holes shall I dig for planting my trees ?" It can only be answered wisely by saying : "If you have one hundred trees to plant, dig but one hole for them all 18 PREPARATION OF THE SOIL. in other words, dig the whole field as thoroughly as you would the space for a single tree. If tree- planters would observe this rule, few of them would suffer the disappointments which often attend trans- planting. So few persons, however, can find courage to invest this amount of labor in the mere planting of a tree, that it is a little to be feared that some will be disinclined to attempt anything, when so much is demanded for perfection. To such it can only be said : " Undertake less than you intended, but per- form that little in the best manner." The processes for the important work of thorough preparation of the soil are : first, Draining ; second, Plowing and Cropping the Ground; third, Trench- ing fourth, Manuring. DRAINING. Thorough drainage has become so much a matter of faith with intelligent agriculturists, that it is con sidered almost heresy to doubt its value or necessity in all soils. "Without questioning the truth of this extreme doc- trine, it is sufficient for us to say : that all soils, pos- sessing any of the following conditions, must, to secure a healthy growth of the pear tree, be first thoroughly drained. 1. Those composed principally of clay. 2. Those which rest on an impervious subsoil. 3. Those generally upon which water remains more than an hour after rains. 4. Those in which springs, or springy ground ap- pears. DRAINING. 19 5. Those which lie at the base of a hill at some distance below the summit. 6. Those which lie so nearly level that, although porous in their character, do not allow the water to flow off readily from the surface. On any of the varieties of soil mentioned, without draining, the pear tree i-s peculiarly subject to serious diseases. The winter or -sap blight finds its most numerous victims upon them, while in the worst con- ditions of such soils the growth of the tree is slow and stunted. In soils at all retentive of water, thorough drainage is the only safeguard against these evils, and many positions, not suspected of this defect, will be found upon examination to be sadly in need of this remedy. If the plot of ground lies at the base of a hill, or on its slope, at some distance below the summit, the water percolating through the soil from the higher ground will find its way to the surface along some saturated strata ; and the least that can be done will be, to cut a ditch of from four to five feet in depth along the upper line of the ground, thus intercepting a part of the descending waters. This ditch should be laid with tile, or a rude but effective channel made of rubble stone, and in both cases should be half filled with the latter, when pro- curable ; upon which a thick layer of straw should be placed, and the earth pressed firmly in to fill up the ditch. For more minute directions relating to the condi- tions of soil requiring drainage, and the various 20 PREPARATION OF THE SOIL. methods of effecting it, the reader is referred to the works upon that subject. It is sufficient for this place to say, that there are but few soils that would not derive great advantage from thorough under-draining. PLOWING AND CROPPING THE GROUND. When the planting of an orchard can be anticipated for a year or two, the ground should be prepared by growing some hoed crop upon it ; as the proper treat- ment for a good crop of corn, or potatoes, forms an excellent preparation for the growth of trees. By this plan, the soil is reduced to a fine tilth, the weeds are subdued, and if the crop has been well manured, the ground is rich enough for the first year. If the soil is clayey, or otherwise retentive of moisture, the plowing should be performed in the fall, and left in ridges ; but if at all sandy and light, it should be left as compact as possible at that time, and not plowed until spring. The ground should be double plowed, by turning a deep furrow, and following in the bottom of that furrow either with a subsoil or common plow. If there is such a thing possible as stirring the soil for eighteen or twenty inches in depth, it should by all means be accomplished, for this reason : a hole dug in a soil, more or less compact, is in effect a cistern. This, while it loses capacity, does not lose any of its power to retain water, by being filled with loose Boil, in which a tree is planted. The invigorating effect of water upon the roots of plants is probably uearly exhausted in the first few moments of its con- PLOWING AND CROPPING THE GROUND. 21 tact with them, and becomes less and less valuable, the longer the same particles remain, until it is a cause of absolute injury. If the hole, therefore, is dug deeper than the sur- rounding soil is loosened, the lower part of it will retain water for an unhealthy action upon the roots planted in it. But if the earth is loosened over the whole field, as low as the bottom of the deepest hole, the drainage from that hole is perfected, and the otherwise stagnant water will flow oif, provided an outfall from the field is secured. An excellent plan for those who are pressed for time is, to plow five or six furrows, twice deepened, or subsoiled, in the line where the planting of a row of trees is intended, and omit the intervening spaces until a later period. Let these furrows be run, if possible, in the direction of the slope of the ground, to act as drains. Those horticulturists, however, who intend perform- ing their work in the most thorough manner, should take this rule as their standard. Pulverize the soil of the whole field to a depth greater than the longest roots will be planted, and this can only be well done by TRENCHING. As frequently performed, the best results of trench- ing are not attained. The true design of its perform- ance is, to add to the depth of the soil, without destroying its capability. When the fertile earth near the surface is thrown 22 PREPARATION OF THE SOIL. to the bottom of the trench, and cohered ten to twelve inches deep with sterile soil, which has never been aerated by frequent stirring, in contact with the atmosphere ; either a very large quantity of manure must be applied, or, with ordinary treatment, some years must elapse, before the soil can become fertile, or capable of sustaining trees in a healthy condition. A trench, two or three feet wide, should be dug to the proposed depth, across the end of the ground designed for trenching, and the earth deposited on the side of the ditch opposite to the space intended for treatment. The soil thrown up should now be dressed into an easy slope, so that other earth cast upon any part of its face will not fall to the bottom of the trench, but remain where it is placed. A single spade's-width should now be taken from the surface soil, and scattered evenly over the sloping breast of loose earth, forming a layer of three or four inches in thickness, from the bottom of the trench to the top of the bank. Over this should be thrown the next spade's-depth of subsoil, forming a somewhat thicker layer ; and this again is to be covered with part of the adjoining surface-earth ; and lastly, over this is placed the third spade's-depth of subsoil. The bottom of the trench may now be simply loosened by the spade, without throwing up the earth, unless it is determined to trench deeper than two feet. The manure to be used should now be spread evenly, so as to form another layer from the top to the bottom of the sloping bank, and the alternate strati of fertile earth, barren subsoils, and manure, continued to the end. TRENCHING. 23 The object to be attained is, so thoroughly to mix, as well as pulverize, the two soils thrown together, as to dilute the good earth with the inert ; but it will be perceived, that they have only interchanged positions, without commingling. The layers of soil and manure declining at an angle of about forty-five degrees, and which now exhibit their edges at the surface, may be thoroughly inter- mingled by one or two deep plowings. It will at once be seen, that a soil deepened in this manner will demand much more manure than when cultivated to the ordinary depth. When the trenching of a plot of ground is finished, a ditch will remain, which must be filled with the earth first thrown out at the other extremity of the field. The cost of trenching an acre of ground will de- pend greatly upon the character of the soil, and the depth it is worked. The trenching of my own ground may not afford a fair criterion, but it will furnish a basis by which calcu- lations may approximately be made of the expense. The soil was a sandy loam, deepened to an average of nearly three feet, with the surface earth of the adja- cent streets, and though very free in its composition, had been very much hardened by the passage of the carts in filling. LABOR ON ONE ACRE TRENCHED fHIRTT INCHES DEEP. Plowing, one day $3 00 Seventy-two days' labor, at $1 72 00 One day carting soil from the first trench to the last one, 2 men 3 00 Removing stones thrown out 1 00 $79 00 24 PREPARATION OF THE SOIL. From some comparison of the amount of labor upon other grounds, I am convinced that the above would prove nearly an average cost, although the trenching of heavier and more stony lands would cost as much as $100 per acre. "Where the labor of preparing an acre at once, appeared too formidable a task, a number of amateurs have practiced the following plan at my recommendation with good results. The ground intended for planting is divided into lour equal parts ; and if the whole plot contains an acre, and is a square, each fourth will contain almost 11,000 superficial feet, and its four sides be each 105 feet in length. A more convenient plot, for spacing the trees accurately, would be, 100 by 110 feet. Extending these lines to 220 feet by 200 feet would inclose but a trifle more than an acre. One of these quarter-acre plots should be thoroughly trenched and manured, to receive all the pear trees intended for the entire acre. None of these trees need be removed before the end of the second year, when another plot has been prepared for the reception of every alternate tree in each alternate row. At the end of the third year, another square having been trenched, remove every alternate tree from the rows, which at the last removal were untouched. The origi- nal square will now contain one half of the whole number of trees, or double its quota ; and the removal of every alternate complete row to the fourth unoccu- pied square, in the fourth year, will place the trees at equal distances throughout the entire ground. Some- what more than the exact number of trees necessary to complete the plan should be planted in the first TRENCHING. 25 year, in order to be able to compensate for the loss of any, by substituting trees of equal size and vigor. This plan presents advantages which will be more largely discussed, but of which the following is a synopsis. 1. It divides the labor into practicable portions which do not discourage the planter by their magnitude, and the work is better performed than if more were demanded at once. 2. Manure, which would be difficult to obtain in sufficiently large quantities, for preparing the whole ground well, may be easily procured for one-fourth the area. 3. In the best selected lot of trees, there will, from various causes, be some that fail in the first two or three years, and if planted in an orchard, would leave an unsightly blank or require the planting of a tree that will always break the harmony of the ground, by its smaller size. But trees taken from the near supply will scarcely lose any vigor, by a careful second trans- planting, and not one in a thousand should be lost. 4. The root-pruning occasioned by removal hastens the bearing of pear-trees, on both pear and quince stocks, many years. 5. All the nursiiig which young trees especially require is brought within a small compass, and the labor is materially lessened. The mulching, the hunt for insects, and the washing of the trees, are all per- formed in a small area, and without the fatiguing labor of travelling long distances. The pear tree, above all others, is especially fitted for frequent removals, and 2 26 PREPARATION OF THE SOIL. is, indeed, benefited by them in acquiring capacity for early fruiting MANURING. Undoubtedly, the most thorough preparation for an orchard or fruit ground would require the enriching of the whole soil nearly as well as most cultivators do the space immediately around the tree. As it is intended that the entire body of earth within the limits of the fruit ground shall be occupied by the roots, it is important that it should contain sufficient nourishment for their sustenance. During the first few years, it is true, they would be supplied with the pabulum they find immediately around the tree, and that in a light soil much of the nutriment at first supplied would have escaped before the trees were fitted by age and growth for its appropriation. But for such a soil, the manure should be adopted to its peculiar condition, and be composted with a large bulk of clay, or swamp-muck, or other organic matter, which will enable a hungry soil to long retain the fertilizing agencies applied to it. A soil, however, which has been naturally supplied with but a moderate proportion of vegetable mould or cla} r ey loam, will not forget for many years the influence of a manure which has been deeply deposited. Used in this manner, manure will exhibit its influence upon the growth and fruiting of the pear tree in a much greater degree than in any subsequent application. It. not unfrequently occurs, that sufficient manure for the whole space of ground to be fertilized is not readily obtainable at the time of planting. * MANURE FOE PEAR TREES. 27 To economize tlie quantity for present use as much as possible, a partial application, that will serve tem- porarily, may be made along a line of five or six fur- rows in width, thoroughly plowed in, and inter- mingled with the soil. After the holes are dug along this line, well-rotted manure should be strewn in them, and covered with soil. Occasionally, as the hole is being filled over the roots, more manure should be well pulverized and shaken in, but in all cases, in such a manner as to prevent its direct contact with the roots. In deepening a soil for any purpose, it must be remem- bered, that as the quantity of earth to be enriched is greatly increased, a much larger amount of manure will be required. If it be desired to increase the depth of a soil of nine inches to eighteen, and the manure is thoroughly intermixed to that depth, it will require more than double the quantity of the latter, which would be needed to fertilize the first nine inches of depth, as the subsoil is nearly devoid of nutritious matter. But, as the escape and loss of this is upward into the atmosphere, the deepened soil will retain the volatile constituents of manure much longer than a shallow one. MANURE FOR PEAR-TREES. It is a general truth, that the manure that will produce a good crop of corn or potatoes will perfect a crop of fruit ; but while special manures are to be jealously criticised and tested by experiment, still something should be learned from the special demands of the plant. In the ashes of the pear and apple wood or fruit, and in the potato stalk and tuber, a very 28 PREPARATION OF THE SOIL. large amount of potash is found, and the theoretical deduction from that fact, that potash or ashes would add largely to the growth and fruiting of these varie- ties of trees and plants, is found true in practice. But in the ashes of wheat, comparatively little potash is discoverable, while in its place is seen a large amount of phosphates ; and, accordingly, we find the various salts, of which phosphoric acid is the base, exercise a great influence in increasing the wheat crop. Now it would be blindness or mulish obstinacy to neglect these facts, and apply manures without atten- tion to the special wants of a plant or tree. Farmers and gardeners who scout contemptuously the teachings of science in regard to manuring, daily practice the most scientific and special theories for manuring plants, to produce perfect vegetables and flowers. Well-rotted stable-manure is without doubt the safest, and ordinarily the most convenient, form in which nutriment can be conveyed to trees, but it is not always attainable in sufficient quantities, nor does it alone produce the highest result. Guano is a con- venient manure, though temporary in its action, unless combined with twenty times its bulk of charcoal-dust, plaster, or partially, dried muck. From two ounces to half a pound may be applied to each tree at planting ; varying in quantity according to the area and depth of ground in which it is distributed. But in no case should it be placed so that the roots will have less than three to six inches of earth, protecting them from its caustic influence. Guano affords an admirable liquid-dressing for trees (especially when exhibiting a languid growth) applied at the rate of an ounce or MANURE FOE PEAK TREES. 29 two in a pailful of water, distributed for a space of three or four feet around the tree. Of the more concentrated forms of manure, ground bones, horn shavings, etc., are decidedly the best, especially when dissolved in sulphuric acid. "When used without this treatment, the bones should be a mixture of the finely-ground bone-meal and the crushed half-inch bones in equal quantities. The first will decay rapidly, and afford immediate nutriment to the roots, while the latter will last longer, and yield their virtues when the finer bones will be completely exhausted. But even these generous and excellent manures have a better effect mixed with coarser manures, such as stable-litter, horse-dung, swamp- muck, and other decomposing organic matter. Summer applications of stimulating manures have a tendency to produce late succulent growth that does not ripen, and which the winter blights or kills down, endangering the life of the whole tree with its poisoned sap. Late spring applications of manures also stimu- late wood-growth to such an extent in midsummer, as to induce the tree to throw off the young and half grown fruit. In the grounds of the author, during the last season, a Bartlett Pear tree, three years from the bud, set 520 pears. "When the fruit had acquired the size of mus- ket-balls, the tree was supplied with guano and super- phosphate of lime, dissolved in large quantities of water, in order to ascertain how great a number of fruits a tree six feet high, and one and a half inches in diameter of body at the ground, would L r