Pears and their Culture in the South. Jol 



Louise Bonne of Jersey bears earlj' and enormous crojts. If not fed sufti- 

 eiently high the fruit is quite astringent next the skin : if on generous soil ■ 

 and highly fed, the fruit is of fair quality and much handsomer, but the tree 

 is sure to blight 



Flemish Beauty is a handsome fruit, of good size and quality, but the tree 

 is not hardy enough to warrant its cultivation. 



Zepherin Gregoire bears heavy crops of fruit rather below the medium 

 size, but with me the flesh has lumps in it and is so gritty as not to be desir- 

 able. This fruit is very sweet. 



Forelle, a beautiful speckled French pear of moderate quality and medium 

 size, but the tree too tender here. 



Onondaga is a very sweet, delicious pear, of good size and rather handsome 

 but the tree will not last. 



Sheldon is a fine, handsome American pear, but I do not see it in any of the 

 Southern catalogues. I have some trees, six years planted, on pear stock, 

 that look healthy and promise well — will probably bear this year. 



There are several of the older varieties of good repute generally in the 

 South as table fruits, but of which I do not know the market value, such as 

 Beurre Superfin, St. Michael, Bloodgood, Tyson. For a market pear, other 

 things being equal, eai'liness is of great consideration. We want a good fruit 

 of fair size and appearance that shall precede the Bartlett,as it is generally con- 

 ceded that while the Bartlett is on the market it takes precedence of all others. 

 Among the earliest kinds are Madeleine and Doyenne d'Ete, which, in lati- 

 tude 32.1° begin to ripen from the 27th of May to the 1st of June. The for- 

 mer is the larger of the two but hardly of medium size, of a pale or greenish 

 yellow color. Tree, a rapid, upright grower, very liable to blight as soon as 

 the tree has borne one or two good crops. The latter is smaller but rather 

 handsome, frequently with a red cheek; of fair quality for an early pear, and 

 sells moderately well. Tree healthier than the Madeleine. But these are too 

 small to fully meet the views of a grower for market. 



I will now mention one that is rather a curiosity in its way, viz., the Jef- 

 ferson. It is a native Mississippiian, originating in Hinds county, I believe, 

 some forty or fifty years ago. To use brevity, 1 should call it the earliest, 

 largest, handoomest, meanest pear I know of. It begins to ripen with me 

 the latter part of May or early June. It will average about the size of the 

 Bartlett, or nearly so. I have grown an occasional specimen that would 

 weigh a pound. It is obovate pyriform in shape, of a bright yellow color, 

 and on many specimens, where exposed to the sun, a rich crimson cheek, 

 giving it altogether a remarkably showy appearance. It has, moreover, a de- 

 licious perfume. The flesh is coarse, brittle sometimes, at others tough, 

 corky and insipid. It rots badly at the core, and must be eaten before it 

 seems fully ripe in order to have it perfectly sound. The tree is quite hardy, 

 almost ironclad, rather tardy coming into bearing, but yields heavy crops. 

 One pear will satisfy the average customer, less than one a critical connois- 

 seur. I think it would be an excellent variety to use in hybridizing, and of- 



