Rocky Ford enterprise., 1912-03-29

(By @. b. BRACKETT. United States
Department of Agriculture.)
The pear has long been regarded as
one of the must luscious Of the many
kinds of fruit brought under cultiva-
tion. The choice varieties excel most
apples in rich, Juicy texture and deli
cacy of flavor, and for both desert
and culinary purposes, either canned
or in the fresh state. the pear is con-
sidered great acquisition. With
proper selection of varieties and with
careful handling and storing Of the
fruit its season of use may be extend
ed from midsummer to late winter
without resorting to artificial means
of preservation.
Pear trees are more difficult to
maintain in a healthy. productive con-
dition than apple trees and can not be
grown with the same degree of sue
cess over SO wide an area Of country.
Such has been the uncertainty of sue
cess in growing pears in many parts
of the United States that few farmers
have the needed confidence to plant
even the few trees necessary to pro-
vide fruit for home use. This lack Of
confidence too often leads to neglect,
which in many instances becomes
the prime cause of ultimate failure.
The operation of budding, which
must be performed during the grow
ing season, consists in removing a
bud from twig of the desired varie-
ty and inserting it beneath the bark
of the stock or young Seeding which
is to be changed. The inserted bud
is held in place by wrapping 1t fast
with soft cotton twine, bark, or raffia.
In about ten days the bud will have
united with the stock and the wrap
ping may be removed. Then by cut
ting back the stock or limb to near
the inserted bud, the sap Is forced
into the newly transplanted bud and
the growth of new tree of the de-
sired variety is promoted.
A budding knife and the successive
stages of budding are shown in the
illustration.
The main requisites for success in
budding are ~ a healthy growing
condition of the stock on which the
work is to be done and (2) certain
state of maturity of the buds. The
bark of the stock must separate free
ly, so that the bud may be forced un-
der it without injury to the cambium
layer of either bud or stock. The bud
sticks or scions for budding should be
of the current years growth and
should have well-developed buds.
When the scions are taken from the
tree the leaves must be cut off imme-
diately. leaving only short stub of
the leaf stem for convenience In han
ding during the operation of budding.
Tho bud sticks should be kept in
fresh condition by means of damp
moss or a wet cloth, and not more
than one or two scions should be
withdrawn from the package at a
time.
Although budding may be done as
early as well-developed buds can be OBJ
tanned, the common practice of nurs-
erymen is to ins It the buds as late In
the season as the bark Of the stock
will separate freely. By this method
of late budding the bud is allowed to
remain dormant through the following
winter. In the spring the wrapping is
removed and where the bud appears
ready indicated. All buds on the
stock below the one inserted should
be rubbed of as they start to grow, so
as to throw all the sap into the
growth Of the bud inserted.
It is as important with the pear as
with any other kind of fruit tree that
the land, whether for standards or