The pears of New York

by U. P. Hedrick

Some disadvantages attend the setting of mixed orchards of pears, and these must be weighed and overcome as far as possible. There are many current statements to the effect that all varieties, whether self-sterile or self-fertile, are more fruitful and produce better fruit with foreign pollen than with their own. To old pear-growers, this seems to be putting it rather strong, but the statements come from accurate experimenters and observers and should have consideration. Cross-pollination, be it remembered, is not a cure-all for failures to set fruit. Unseasonable weather, lack of vitality in trees, various fungi, and no doubt other agencies, may be the cause of unfruitfulness.

As to commercial varieties, the tale is soon told. Only a half-dozen sorts are generally planted in New York orchards. These, about in order of importance, are: Bartlett, Kieffer, Seckel, Beurré Bosc, Beurré d’Anjou, and Winter Nelis. To this short list may be added the following grown more or less for local markets: Clapp Favorite, Sheldon, Beurré Clairgeau, Lawrence, Howell, Tyson, and Mount Vernon. A list for the home orchard should include all of these and many more to be chosen from the major varieties described in [Chapter IV]. The pear flora of the country changes very slowly, and there are now almost no new sorts on general probation in the country.

Perhaps with no other tree-fruits is it more important to begin with good trees, as even with the best it is often difficult to get a good start toward a pear-orchard. Black-heart, caused by winter-killing, is a sign that must be heeded, and a tree badly blackened in its pith, especially if the surrounding wood is discolored, should be discarded. Crown-gall on tap roots affects the tree deleteriously. Trees marked by hail or insects are often worthless. Other marks that commend or condemn trees are: A short stocky plant is better than a tall spindling one. A tree with many branches is better than one with few branches. The roots should be much branched rather than sparsely branched. A tree with smooth, bright bark is better than one with rough, dull bark. Both trunk and branches should be plump and show no signs of shrivelling. A poor pear-tree in the nursery seldom makes a good tree in the orchard. There is great variation in varieties as the trees come from the nursery, a fact to be considered. In New York, two-year-old trees are best.

A good deal of the success that attends the culture of the pear depends on properly setting the young trees and the right care of the young plants. It is superfluous to discuss these operations in detail, but a statement as to proper setting and care will serve as reminders. In this State, pear-trees should always be set in the spring. A young pear-tree should be set in the soil about as deep as it stood in the nursery; in light soils the roots might well be planted a little deeper, and in heavy soils not quite so deep. The soil must be packed firmly about the roots—best done by tramping. Watering is necessary only when the land is parched with drought. When necessary, water should be used liberally. Puddling the roots by dipping them in thin mud before planting serves very well for watering. The surface soil should always be left loose. Rank manure about the roots of young trees is plant infanticide. During the tender nonage of the young pear, cultivation should be intensive; insects and fungi should be kept off; and plants that refuse to grow well must be marked for discarding.

A catch-crop grown between the rows of pears is a profitable adjunct to the pear-orchard for the first four or five years. Few indeed are the pear-orchards in New York that cannot be made to sustain themselves for the first few years by inter-cropping. The crops should be hoed crops, such as potatoes, cabbage, beans, tomatoes, and nearly all crops in demand at the canneries. Along the Hudson, small-fruits are often planted in young pear-orchards, but in Western New York these are not looked upon with favor. Grass and grain are deadly in a young pear-orchard, and no right-minded man would plant them there. This brings us to cultivation.

Cultivation should be the rule; sod mulch, the exception, in growing pears in New York. After pear-trees come into bearing they may be made to produce crops if kept in sod. The grass in sodded orchards should be kept closely mown to form a mulch about the trees. Commercial fertilizers as well as mulch are needed in sodded orchards, and of the several chemical fertilizers nitrogen is most requisite. The man who grows pears in sod must not expect as much fruit, as the crop is lessened in both number and size of the pears. On the other hand, the pears may be better colored, and the trees may be freer from blight.

Tillage is begun in the spring by plowing the land. This operation is followed by cultivation with smoothing-harrow, weeder, or cultivator. There are several reliable guides to tell when and how often a pear-orchard should be cultivated. When the soil becomes dry it should be tilled. A heavy rain should always be followed by the cultivator to prevent the formation of a crust on the surface. At this time, he tills twice who tills quickly. Cultivate when there are clods to be pulverized. Usually a pear-orchard should be cultivated once in two or three weeks until time to sow the cover-crop in midsummer. The depth to till is governed by the season and the nature of the soil. Heavy soils need deep stirring; light soils, shallow stirring. Till moist soils deeply; dry soils, lightly. The time to stop tillage depends on the soil, the climate, and the season. The fruit should be nearly full sized when tillage is stopped and the cover-crop sown.

The cover-crop seed is covered the last time the cultivator goes over the orchard. Clover, vetch, cow-horn turnip, rape, oats, rye, and buckwheat are all used as cover-crops in this State. Combination crops are not popular because of too great cost of seed. The quantity of seed sown is the same as when the crops are grown as farm crops. The crops must be changed from time to time in whatever rotation seems most suitable for the soil. The weather-map must be watched at sowing time to make sure of a moist seed-bed. Whatever the crop, it should be plowed under in the fall or early spring, and under no circumstances should it stand late in the spring to rob the trees of food and moisture. In moist, hot seasons, the cover-crop should be sown earlier than in seasons of slow growth, when, possibly, it acts as a deterrent to blight, and certainly makes more certain thorough ripening of the new wood.

The double nature of pruning must be kept in mind whenever a pruning tool is taken in the pear-orchard. Fruit-trees are pruned to increase the quantity and quality of the crop—this is pruning proper; and to give the trees such form that they are easily managed in the orchard—this is training. Pruning tools are used first when the trees are set, and they should be used every year thereafter as long as the tree lives. The pruning at setting time is particularly important with the pear, since newly set pears are slow and uncertain in starting, and linger in growth for a year or two after going into the orchard. The pruning is much the same as with other trees, but must be done with a little greater care.

The top of the young plant must be pruned to enable the injured root-system to supply the remaining branches with water. The less the roots are injured, the less the top need be cut. Some cut back all of the branches; some remove whole branches and do not head back those that remain. The latter is the better plan for this reason: The top buds on branches are largest and develop first, and the newly set tree will grow best if it develops a large leaf-surface before hot dry weather sets in. Young trees usually have surplus branches; remove those not needed, leaving three, four, or rarely five to form the framework of the tree. A pear so pruned will start growth and acquire vigor more quickly than if all branches are cut back.