The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1890-10-02

of full height and with unabbreviated
branches, but purchasers should order
one year old trees only, and cut back
to Is or 30 inches OF the roots. Ii
this is not done at the nursery, freight
has to be paid on worthless wood, and
the purchaser rarely has nerve enough
to do the cutting back as effectively as
it should be done, to the lasting in
jury of the tree.
Give your orders to the nearest re
liable nurseryman, and only buy from
u distance what cannot be got near
home.
ii farmers would give little more
atten ton to fruit growing they would
find it pleasant and profitable occu-
patton. 1t is amazing the indifference
of the average farmer on this subject
The typical Texas farm orchard
contains about dozen stuuted,
untrimmed peach trees, varied
now and again with few ragged
plums, which have developed into
respectable thickets.
The owners of said "orchards" seem
to have thought their whole duty
ended when they ding a post hole and
stuffed the roots of the growing tree
in. 1t is not reasonable to expect good
results from such methods. Before
planting, the soil should be deeply
plowed and thoroughly pulverized.
rhe hole should be large enough to
allow the roots to be spread out i'll
their natural position and deep
enough to leave the tree one to two
inches deeper than it grew in the
n rsery row. No manure or vegeta-
ole matter should be placed near the
roots, but only fine surface soil. The
roots should be separated as much as
possible by layers OF soil in imitation
OF their original condition. The soil
should be firmly pressed down on the
roots and when all have been covered,
the application OF gallon of water
will be of great benefit, no matter
whether the soil be dry or moist After
watering, finish filling the hole and
the tree will grow. All young fruit
require cultivation and in proportion
to what they receive, so will be their
growth. Cotton, corn or any hoed
crop can be raised between the trees
for the first three years, but after that
time the trees should have the orchard
to themselves.
When trees begin TO bear they
should be fed wi h manure or fertilizer
or the fruit will be short and the trees
soon exhausted.
Fruit is essential to health, and for
that reason alone should be grown
by everyone having space for even a
single tree. The farmer has plenty OF
space and should grow for health and
profit.
There may not be a profitable
market for peaches, but apples and
pears find a ready sale at all times and
at prices that should satisfy shylock
Some varieties of the pear flourish with
us as well as the peach, and they
promise soon to become the most
profitable of all fruits.
Mr.. E. w. Kirkpatrick, president OF
the Texas State Horticultural society,
writing to Texas Farm and Ranch
strongly urges the cultivation of the
the pear. He is my authority for stat
ing that pears this year are worth
$500 to 5000 an acre. Of course this
is an exceptional year, but if they
averaged only 500 an acre yeal by
year, and that is very moderate esti-
mate, and one acre out of every
hundred of Texas soil was planted in
pears, the return would be more than
from all other farm crops combined,
while the labor would be less than
half.
Any soil we'll adapted for cotton will
suit the pear if we'll drained, naturally
or otherwise. Flowing water any
thing less than 80 feet from the sur
face is strong point in favor of the
pear, particularly the LeConte.
The LeConte is not the best pear,
but is the most thrifty grower and les s
subject to blight than any other and
will bear a crop when others fail. The
Keiffer is perhaps the next most
valuable for this section, while the
Duchess and Bartlett succeed in some
localities.
| By all means plant pears,