Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1895-09-05
nrect Of Fertilizing on Pears.

fertiliZing as pears, and where old va
rieties seem to be running out a new
lease of life is given to them BIZ apply
ing ground bone and potash. saws
writer in the California Cultivafoy
Without doubt these are the two "a
sential constituents of the soil that the
pear trees exhaust, and when they can
no longer draw them from their sur-
rOundings they refuse to produce sal
able fruits. Asser many years Of ex-
perience cal safely say that all of
the pear trees of an old orchard ran
be revived almost beyond recognition
by the annual application OF potash
and ground bone. The process I have
found the most seryiceable is to aDDlv
about 400 pounds of muriate of pofasb
with 500 pounds of ground bone per
acre each year. Onehalf of this mix
ture is applied in fall. and the other
half in the spring at blowing time.
Crimson clover seed is sown with the
fertilizer in order to give the necessary
nitrogen. This repeated years in sue
cession brings the orchard up to a con-
dition where excellent crops of pears
can be depended upon every season.
Lately many of our standard pears
have been degenerating, and even upon
good soil they fail to produce the pay
ing crops that they should. The fruits
are small, tasteless and apt to be knotty
and poor generally. Our fall fruits are
unusually poor and insipid and if better
pears could be produced at this time of
the year there would be better general
demand. Our fall and winter pears are
susceptible of higher and more deli
cious fiavors if we only give them the
right cultivation and fertilization. The
comparative difference between the
fruits of the same variety of pears
taken from two orchards is sufficient
to convince one of the truth of this re-
mark. Not few are so poor that one
can hardly believe that they came from
the same stock as the. other delicious
specimens plucked from trees that
have been fertilized for several years.
Herein lies the difference.
1t is a crying need of the times that
orchardists should get out of the old
ruts, and educate the public up to a
love for better fruits. In this way the
consumption will increase. We can
only do this by abandoning the idea
that apple, pear and other orchard trees
Will take care of themselves. They
will not. and never did. properly. They
lSEJliiZdIiOU 1uSI
as truly as do vegetables. grain or 9TH
er farm products. Fruit growing re-
quires as much scientific study as grain
growing or cattle breeding, and the
sooner this is generally recognized the
better it viii be for the industry.
Close Planting of yarieties.-The
idea of mixed and close planting of
varieties may be carried too far and in
the wrong direction, unless a study is
made of the secondary effects. My at
tention was first attracted to the posi-
biIity Of influencing the size and quail
ty of plums h '4e use of the right
pollen by the following fact. which
alone is accountable for in no other
way than except by the direct influence
of foreign pollen; A chance Seeding
was planted on my grounds, almost
under the leaning top of a tall Weaver
plum tree; for several years the fruit
was large flattish. oblong freestone
of good quality and very productive.
The plum being so much better in quail
ity than the Weaver, the Weaver tree
was cut down the next season and ever
since the fruit has been smaller, nearly
round and perfect clingstone. Last
spring / applied pollen from the Wea-
yer to a few blossoms, and the fruits
clearly showed the effects of the Wea-
yer pollen.-C. W. Heidman.
Vegetables from Florida. -Advices
are received to the effect that the COM
ing vegetable crop of Florida will be at
least twice as large as last years and
the melons ten times as large. The
main cause of this is the necessity of
farmers turning their attention to other
crops. when the freeze of last December
and January practically destroyed the
orange crop and shut off the receipts
from this usual profitable production.
The effect of this large increase in the
output in melons and vegetables will be
to cheaper these articles in the various
markets of the north. but at the same
time it will open a profitable channel
to the Florida farmer and enable him
to recuperate from the losses of the
severe winter. If the recent disaster
to the orange crop leads them to greater
diversity in farming and shows them
how to take advantage of their OPP
portunities, the freeze will be worth to
them more than it cost.-Ex.
Currant Worm.-The European cur
rant WOEAu Is Ou manu- anu, III he is let
alone, will destroy the currant crop
and eventually kill the bushes. This
worm is of a greenish gray and about
an inch long, and is usually found on
the under side Of the leaf close to the
edge, often several on one leaf and
he eats the whole of that leaf and then
goes to the next, until nothing is left
Look carefully at the lower part of
the bushes, for the worms generally
start there and work upward; turn the
bush SO that you can see the under side
of the foliage. I'1e White Hellebore,
which is most easily applied with the
insect powder bellows. There
need be no fear of poison. as the rains
will soon wash the powder off, and be-
sides it loses all its quality soon by ex-
posture to the air. Some say that salt
about two tablespoonfuls to. pail OF
water-will kill them.-Ex.
Moles.-MoIes are enormous eaters
and the worms and the undeveloped