The Book of Pears and Plums Part 4

2. The Blister Moth makes brown blisters on the leaves. It may be kept from laying eggs on the tree by syringing occasionally with soap-suds.

Spraying with Paris Green just after the fruit is formed will do good.

Half an ounce of best paste to 10 or 12 gallons of water, with some fresh lime added, will suffice for small gardens. Spray only in fine weather just after the petals have fallen. Paris Green is a.r.s.enic, and may poison bees if used too soon. The sprayer should avoid breathing over the mixture when making it up, should use gloves, work from windward, and not allow any spray to reach his flesh. A second spraying for this and other insects is often useful. Blundell, Spence & Co.

(Ltd.), Hull, supply good paste. Price lb. 1s., less for larger quant.i.ties. See also No. 3.

3. The Pear Leaf Mite causes small blisters on the leaves, but not the tunnels or galleries of the Blister Moth. It winters in the bud scales, and emerges in the spring. If the trees are washed and syringed, the attacks will be lessened. In (2) and (3) collect the blistered leaves as soon as seen, burn them and spray or syringe at once.

Miss Ormerod recommends a dilute paraffin emulsion sprayed over infested leaves. Dissolve lb. of soft soap in a gallon of water, add this while boiling to two gallons of paraffin, churn the whole with syringe or small pump for ten or fifteen minutes to make a perfect mixture. For spraying add 12 gallons of water to each gallon of the emulsion. Stir well while spraying, and try the mixture on a branch or two lest it be too strong; if so, add more water. This emulsion is good for the Blister Moth and the Slug-worm.

4. The Slug-worm is so called from the similarity of the larva of this sawfly to a small black slug. The worms feed on the upper surface of the leaves. Dust with quick lime two or three days in succession, or syringe with strong soap-suds and some tobacco water. Clean with pure water in a few days. The paraffin emulsion (No. 3) might also be used. Quick-lime scattered around the roots and forked three or four inches into the soil may destroy their coc.o.o.ns. But beware of excess. The remedy may be worse than the disease.

Insects that attack leaves will also eat the skin of the young fruits if conveniently placed for them.

5. The Pear Sucker is a jumping plant-louse which early in the season sucks the juices of the tree about the axils of the leaves. They are covered with the exudations of the sap, which often drops on the ground.

The visits of the ants should call attention to this pest. Syringe well with soft soap and water, lb. to 4 gallons, and add tobacco water.

Remove all rough bark (their hiding-places) in winter.

6. The Pear Gnat Midge (_Diplosis pyrivora_) may readily ruin a crop if unchecked. It is a recent importation among us. Both here and in the United States it is spreading with alarming rapidity. It is a small two-winged fly, with a black body having lines of yellow hair. The female pierces the flower-buds and lays her eggs in them. These soon hatch, and the young tiny grubs eat their way into the embryo fruit, keeping to the fleshy part, leaving the core and seeds alone. The pears turn brown, and then black. Cut them open, you will notice maggots. The fruit bursts or falls, the maggots form silken coc.o.o.ns in the soil in which they pupate, and remain till the blossoms begin to expand next spring. Mr J. Fraser (editor of _Gardening World_) has kindly sent these details, and recommends (1) that the injured fruit be gathered and burnt; (2) that two inches of the ground beneath the trees should be taken up and burnt; (3) that kainit should be distributed round the trees in autumn. Kainit is said to keep off wireworm, and is recommended in the United States as a preventive against this pest. I think the mixture No. 2 or No. 3 should also be used, as insects may be deterred by the scent. Lime and soot spread over the ground in winter would probably do good.

7. Weevils devour leaves, buds, young shoots, even the skin of fruit.

They feed by night, and may be shaken into a cloth off bushes. Lime and soot may lessen their attacks, either as a wash No. 2 or 3, or spread lightly round the stems, or as a powder over the leaves.

A special bellows for distributing any dry powder (as sulphur, lime, soot, etc.) can be had from De Luzy Freres, 44A Harold Street, Camberwell. The price is 7s. 6d., carriage paid.

As a general rule insecticides should be applied in the evening or after the sun is down. Early and late visits to the trees are best for finding them feeding.

8. _Wasps_, after a dry spring, may be very numerous. Their nests often hold many thousands. Large numbers may be destroyed thus: place a hand-light upon bricks, make a small hole in the top of this, and over it put a sound and closely-fitting one. Fruit cut open should be thrown beneath the lower light. The wasps often go up through the hole, and do not return. Their buzzing attracts others. Destroy by burning sulphur beneath, or by drowning. A gla.s.s destroyer on a similar principle is sold in china-shops. Open-mouthed bottles filled with beer sweetened or water sweetened with treacle will lure many to destruction. Queen wasps in spring and wasp-nests must be noticed and destroyed. Fasten a piece of cloth soaked in a solution of cyanide of pota.s.sium (a small quant.i.ty dissolved in hot water), and put it in the nest; all the wasps will be killed. Dig out the grubs. This is a deadly poison, and should be handled only by an expert. The emanation from the solution must not be breathed. Tar does almost as well. A nest may be partly dug and flooded at night. A clean wine bottle (half-filled with water) inserted in the place of the nest (the top of the neck level with the surface of the ground) will probably capture all stragglers. Some make a heap of injured fruit and syringe the wasps with nicotine soap, eight ounces to a gallon of hot or cold water. This plan kills quickly, but the fruit no longer attracts. Squibs a half-inch in diameter, three inches long, made of gunpowder moistened with water, one-fourth of flowers of sulphur added, mixed into a paste, wrapped in brown paper, and tied at one end, are good for the work. After dark, light the squib, push the lighted end into the hole, put a sod over, and ram it in to confine the fumes. In a few minutes dig up and destroy the grubs, then fill up the hole. If the nest is high up, attach the squib to a stick, light, and keep it close (while burning) to the entrance. Young gardeners enjoy this squibbing process.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FAN-SHAPED PEAR TREE, ONE YEAR AFTER GRAFTING, SHOWING THE LENGTH OF RESULTING SHOOTS]

THINNING FRUIT

If you wish for fine fruit or a crop every year, trees must not be overworked, especially in their earlier days. Thin whenever there is a large crop, but do not begin too soon, as some fruits are not fully fertilised, and may fall. Never let fruits touch each other. As the fruits mature, give any grub-eaten to the pigs, and use inferior pears for cooking purposes. Grub-eaten fruit must not lie on the ground.

SUMMER, WINTER, BRANCH AND ROOT PRUNING; LIFTING

Summer pruning rests chiefly on the principle that the trees should always be open more or less while in leaf to the sun, the light, and the air. So cut out _at any time_ branches that crowd the tree or threaten to cross other boughs. Cut from below, so as not to tear bark away.

Pears do not bleed from being cut. In July, when the growing time is almost over, cut back to six or seven leaves any strong shoots springing from a main branch, or in cordons, from the stem. If they shoot again, they should again be stopped. In late autumn or winter look over the trees, reduce the shoots to two or three eyes, taking care not to remove bloom buds. Early in the summer, and at any time, remove from the trunk and boughs any shoots threatening to crowd or shade the centre. Keep the tree (especially the centre) open to sun and light. Even large standards are improved by summer pruning. Tree-pruners should be used where the shoots are out of hand-reach. Root pruning is also essential in strong soils where trees are too rank in growth and produce wood rather than fruit. Trees of all kinds may be root pruned with advantage in such soils, and also where the lower soil is bad. Open a trench 20, 30 or 40 inches from the stem (according to size of tree) until the coa.r.s.e roots are reached. One-third the distance from the stem that the trees are in height is a rule suggested by a recent writer.[8] Cut back such roots with a sharp knife; drive the spade under the stem (if possible) to cut the tap roots, and any others going downwards. Open a trench half round one year, and if necessary attack the other half next year. Be careful not to prune too hard at first, or to injure the fibres. Begin in mid-October. If the ground below is very dry, give warm or rain water.

Fruit blooms will probably appear next autumn. If young trees grow very luxuriantly, they may be lifted at the end of October with advantage.

Cut the tap root and replant at once. Exposure of the roots is dangerous to vitality. Persons who prune their trees only in winter usually grow wood rather than fruit.

MARKETING AND PACKING

Marketing depends greatly on the neighbourhood. Colour, size and quality ensure a sale everywhere, but only a constant supply of good fruit will attract retail dealers or the London salesmen. Poor stuff will not sell at a good market. The early fruits may be sent in flats (with tops) lent by the salesmen. But these are often lost and involve trouble and expense. Non-returnable boxes to contain half a bushel or a bushel are now in use, but such boxes are too large for the better fruits.

Californian pears come to us in good condition in boxes containing each a few dozen fruits, each fruit being separately packed in tissue paper.

French pears are also sent in boxes evenly graded and packed in one, two, or three layers. Small boxes bought by the gross are not dear. The following list is taken from Watson, vol. v. p. 369.

Gross.

Length. Width. Depth. S. D.

11- in. 10- in. 7- in. 32 6 15 " 6 " 7- " 31 6 15 " 11 " 7 " 50 0 15 " 13 " 4 " 53 6 16 " 8 " 4 " 28 6

--BLACKNELL.

In the larger boxes, strong paper should be put round inside to prevent bruising. All fruit, however sent, should be even in size, of good quality, not diseased or bruised. Pears are more attractive when well packed than apples. Placed with their heads against the two opposite sides in two rows with the stems toward each in a box of suitable size, they may be made to fit closely so as to travel safely. The better and later sorts should be bedded in wood-wool and wrapped in tissue paper, white or coloured, with a sheet of paper between each layer, and the whole firmly packed. Loose fruit are sure to suffer. The contents of each box must be made so firm as not to be moved in the slightest degree. The G.E. and other railway companies provide cheap boxes of a suitable size and allow similar boxes also to be used if nailed. They must not be corded. Wire hinges and a fastening in front have been suggested. Nos. 3, 4 and 5 (G.E.R.), 2s. 6d., 3s., and 4s. per dozen are the best sizes. They will hold 18 to 24 fruits. On G.E.R. 20 lbs. can be sent for 4d. to London; 1d. extra is charged for every additional 5 lbs.; delivery is included. Such boxes could be readily stamped with the grower's name. The companies a.s.sist growers by publishing the names of those who have produce to sell.

PEARS IN AN UNHEATED ORCHARD HOUSE

With skill and care pears may be successfully grown in an unheated orchard house. They may have apples for their companions, but not cherries, peaches, plums or apricots. The most convenient house is a span-roof from 20 to 24 feet wide, 10 to 12 feet high to the ridge of the roof, and 4- to 6 feet at the sides. Ventilators should run round the sides 18 inches wide, and hinged at bottom; the top ventilators should be 3 feet wide by 15 inches, 7- feet apart, on alternate sides of the ridge (Mr T. Somers Rivers, in _Royal Horticultural Journal_, vol. xxv., parts i., ii.). A good length for this breadth is 50 to 60 feet. A half-inch wire protection over the ventilators and an inner wired door may be as necessary (as a protection against birds), as it is for cherries. There should be a path made hard with clay and gravel through the centre. Some advise a concrete floor; others prefer to plunge their pots inside as well as out. A lean-to house from 6 to 9 feet wide against a south wall may be of great service. Cordons can be grown on the wall, or planted outside and trained indoors, like vines, near the gla.s.s. Trees in pots can also be placed there. With either house, some ground to which the trees in pots can be removed when all danger from frost is over is required. It should be warm and well sheltered. Maiden plants may be put into 8 or 10-inch pots in September, and cut back later on, but time is saved by purchasing older trees of nurserymen; 15 to 18-inch pots will be needed in a few years. If there is a concrete floor, the pots must be raised on bricks, that surplus water may pa.s.s off. If the pots are plunged, care must be taken that the water can run away. In June take them into the open air, plunge them in the ground within three inches of the rim, to keep them warm and moist, and to protect the trees from the wind. After the fruit is gathered, the trees should as a rule be repotted. Prepare a fresh pot with broken flints, etc., at the bottom, place a piece of turf on them, next a handful of soot, and some fine soil on that. Have ready some new soil made chiefly of good turfy loam, to which old mortar rubbish or road sc.r.a.pings, wood ashes, guano, and bone-dust have previously been added.

The whole should be well mixed. Then take the tree out with a ball of earth, remove the soil all round the ball with a pointed stick, shorten the rootlets around, and cut any coa.r.s.e roots away with sharp pruning scissors. Place the topmost roots an inch and a half below the rim, then shake this compost among the roots, finally ramming the soil hard down into the pot. In two or three days soak the ball with rain or warm water. The trees are better in the house until re-established. Sprinkle the leaves daily with soft water. Close and keep the house moist. The pots can then be taken out and plunged once more. The house will probably be wanted. They must be carefully protected in severe weather; place ashes, earth, or manure around them. Another plan is to lay the pots on the ground and cover them with mats. Take them back to the house before the buds begin to move. Shape the trees in winter, and summer prune as may be necessary. They require syringing as well as rich feeding when carrying a crop. A mixture of poultry droppings or night soil (half a barrowful) added to the same amount of sifted soil and of wood ashes, with a peck of soot and a peck of bone dust, all made into a compost a few days before use, is a strong surface-dressing. A layer half an inch thick when the fruit is swelling should be given two or three times, and be watered down with a fine rose. Messrs Bunyard recommend cow manure mixed with malt combings, and (as an artificial) sulphate of ammonia.

Liquid manure (not strong nor cold) must also be given two or three times a week. The fruit must be thinned, and the trees never over-cropped. Large trees in 16 or 18-inch pots need the annual renewal of the soil rather than repotting. The flowers should be fertilised by the admission of bees, by shaking the trees in fine weather about mid-day, or by pa.s.sing a light brush gently over the blooms from flower to flower. Change of diet as well as air, and frequent syringing with clear water (say Messrs Bunyard) are very necessary ("Modern Fruit Culture," p. 23). But a dry atmosphere is best when pear and plum trees are in flower. Syringing in the open air is good for all trees in dry weather after the fruit has set. The following is a good wash to be applied when the trees are brought into the house in January or February. Put a peck of fresh soot into a coa.r.s.e sack, and hang it in a tub containing 30 or 40 gallons of water; leave it there for eight or ten days; then remove it and throw in half a peck of fresh lime. Mix well, then take off the surface sc.u.m. A decoction of qua.s.sia made by boiling 2 or 3 ozs. of chips to a gallon of water for twenty-five or thirty minutes (or steeped in soft water for twenty-four hours) added to the above is a useful insecticide. Syringe with this before the buds appear, but not again until the fruit is set, then once a week, or oftener, as occasion may require.

_N. B._--Never repot until you have learnt that the ball and roots of the tree are thoroughly moist. Soak the ball, if necessary, for twenty minutes. In surface-dressing leave a s.p.a.ce near the tree open, that you may see what water is wanted. Never give _strong_ liquid manure. As severe frosts and dull weather sometimes occur in March when the trees are in bloom, some hot-water pipes (two rows of 4-inch) may be added if means allow. A span-roof house should run north and south. Only the choicest sorts should be deemed worthy of a house, such as Bon Chretien, Souvenir du Congres, B. Brown, B. Superfin, Louise Bonne, B. Hardy, Marechal de la Cour, Marie Louise, D. du Comice, Josephine de Malines, Winter Nelis, Pa.s.se Cra.s.sanne, Bergamotte Esperen, and others.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ESPALIER TRAINED TREE CUT BACK FOR GRAFTING--THE GRAFTS INSERTED AND CLAYED OVER]

OLD STANDARDS

Old Standards that have ceased to produce good fruit should be cut down to within a few feet of the stem. The young wood will soon bear better quality. The trunk should be well cleaned and washed.

IRRIGATION

Wherever possible, irrigation should be applied in dry weather. An aero-motor pump or engine of some kind may raise the water to a tank. It should be allowed to run over the ground for some distance to be warmed and aerated. Apply in strong soil only when the growing season is over.

LABELS

Labels add greatly to the interest and pleasure of a garden. Acme labels are popular. Those sent out by John Smith, Label Factory, Stratford-on-Avon, are also good. They may be attached by his copper wire, but those of the form of the rose labels with the name affixed at the top of a long spike are less likely to be lost.

AMERICAN PEARS

The chief pear in the States is the Bartlett, corresponding with our Bon Chretien. A schoolmaster named Wheeler, of Aldermaston (Berks), raised it about 1770. A nurseryman named Williams brought it out. In 1799 one Enoch Bartlett, of Dorchester, near Boston (U.S.), introduced it into America, and now it is cultivated so widely that it is on sale for three or four months in the year, and exported also to England. Seckle, a good October pear, but small, we have from the States; the original tree is said to be near Philadelphia, about 100 years old. Clapp's Favourite (August) comes from Dorchester, Ma.s.sachusetts; Dana's Hovey, "a veritable sweetmeat" (November and January), also comes from the same State. It is sometimes called Winter Seckle. Most of our good sorts are grown in the U.S., and Californian pears are now coming to us in great quant.i.ties. They are sent in wooden boxes, properly graded and packed.

Every fruit is in paper, with the name of the grower on it, and the name of the variety on each box. The excellent quality and careful packing ensure a good demand at a high price. Good American sorts are Lawson or Comet, Block's Acme, Sugar Pear, Bloodgood, and others. Our growers may learn a useful lesson from Californian pears in the London market.

NOTES ON VARIETIES

Emile d'Heyst is said to be equal to Marie Louise in quality, to be hardier, and to be a better bearer. It is not a grand grower on the Quince, nor does the fruit keep long (October, November).

Althorp Cra.s.sanne is often a first-rate pear. Mr Knight (very eminent a century ago) called it the best of all. It lasts from October to December. The tree is hardy, and a good bearer, but the fruit is hardly large enough for exhibition.

Brockworth Park, almost identical with Bonne d'Ezee, was once a pear of great repute, being large and showy, but the flesh is coa.r.s.e (November).