Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-09-21
The Pear in Texas.

Mr.. E. w. Kirkpatrick of Mckinney,
Tex writing for Farm and Ranch, says
many thousands of pear trees in the
Lone Star state are bearing their first
fruit this season. The trees, though
Young, are doing well. The fruit, foliage
and growth are healthy on nearly all
varieties.
Those who have planted good varieties
and who have given them moderately
good attention are reapng rich reward.
The pear promises the most profitable
returns of all fruits.
People hesitate to plant pears because
they must ''waiC too long for fruit. -
This ls not a good reason, from the fact
they must wait anyway, and again, if
they plant they will have something to
pay them for waiting.
This is al off year in fruit, yet those
who have planted pears wisely and welt
are selling their fruit at $500 to S6OO
per acre.
If one acre in every hundred acres of
Texas soil was planted in pears and made
only 500 per acre, it would amount TO
more than all the farm crops of the state
combined, and the labor would be less
than half In fact, when the horticult-
ural resources of Texas are developed its
annual income will be many times
greater than it is now.
Any good cotton producing soil will
suit for pears or apes. The aspect
should be such Is Will dram well. All
pears do wei in deep clay subsoil.
In choosing varieties Mr.. Kirkpatrick
would recommend KiefeT for all parts of
the state The LeConte is q very valua-
bic early pear near the coast, and over q
belt of about 100 miles in width. The
Duchess is also valuable pear for all
locations. The Bartlett it doing well in
MANY places. The Louise is good pear
for Texas. The CARRIER, Early Harvest,
Howell and others are winning great
fame.
Pear trees should be set deep, say
three or four inches below the graft so
thew may throw out roots above the
graft and thus free themselves from any
incumbrance from foreign stock. The
coil should be well prepared by deep
breaking and narrowing; and the trees
should be well cultivated for three or
four years, and then kept in grass, say
MESQUITE grass. one third of the new
wood NAV be cut off for two or three
wears. After that it Is best to let the
Chinese varieties run up, especially the
LeConte. Mr.. Kirkpatrick does not say
this last, but in our own experience with
the Chinese varieties we have found IL
best. The LeConte will never get fully
10 fruiting until it has ran up and taken
upon itself somewhat the habit OF the
LON hardy poplar.
A good pear tree, SAYS MIR. KIrkpat-
rick, if properly cared for Will pay
interest on ten to twenty dollars, and
some trees less than ten years old are
now paving 10 per cent. on fifty dollars,
md almost without work after the fourth
year. During the first few years cotton
or Vegetables can be raised between the
rows. thus reducing the expense of oultl-
walton to a small amount. The trees
may be planted about fifteen or twenty
feet apart. and in case of crowding they
can be thinned.
If YOU are not able to buy trees, then
get a good stock of cuttings in the fall or
winter. If you are near the coast make
your sciOns about fifteen inches long,
sharpen the lower end with slope three
or four inches. Make your land In
ridges, like you would for potatoes.
Place the cuttings quite close AID SUCK
them down firmly. Cultivate carefully
and you are apt to grow many nice Trees
If you are a hundred or more miles from
the coast you should, in addition to the
sharpened cutting, make an upward in
cision in the outing three or four inches
above the slope and insert sharpened
piece of pear or apple root, wedge
shaped and tied with waxed cotton
thread.
If these CRAFTS are hard to set deep in
the earth @ long coulter will open the
soil sufficiently. These piece roots will
aid in the cutting and cause larger per
cent. to grow.
Here we desire to add something to
what Mr.. kirkpatrick has said with ref
erence TO propagatlng the pear by cut
tlngs. OF course he refers to the Chi
nese varieties, (Kiefer or LeConte,) for
the other kinds cannot be propagated
that way. When the LeConte first got
its booming start at Townsville, Ga.
we went over there for the purpose of
learning something concerning their
methods of propagating it by cuttings.
Following is the sum and substance of
what we learned:
Select for your cutting bed southern
slope, upon which the sun will shine I'M
obstructed throughout the day. Open
your cutting trenches running east and
west Smooth off the northern side of
the trench with spade, having it slope
considerably. Place your cuttings eight
cen inches apart along on this smoothed
side and have them cut so that when the
trench is filled in there Will be not less
than two buds underground and one
above. Throw Il little soil into the bot
tom of the trench, say TIVE inches, and
pound it firmly around the bottom ends
of the cuttings. Add another two or
three inches and pound again, and SO on
till the trench is full.
Seventy five per cent. of LeConte cut
ting put out strictly on this plan will
grow every time. About the 1st of Feb
ruary is the best time for putting them
out in any section of Texas.
II is usual to select a partially sh AIDED
location for cuttings, but such q location
is not best for the LeConte pear-it want
all the sunshine it can get while in the
cutting state. And 1t also wants q
heavy pounding of the soil around it to
prevent drying out.
Improving Wheat
1t lie not an uncommon thing to find