STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 157 



Judge Brown read a paper, as follows : 



NOTES ON PEARS. 



If the Apple is king of all the fruits, the pear is certainly entitled to share his throne 

 as Queen Consort. In its choice varieties, it is one of the most delicious of all the pro- 

 ■ducts of the orchard. It lias large size, great beauty of form and coloring, and has for 

 its home a very wide range of latitude, withstanding the rigors of a New England 

 winter and ripening, to the highest perfection, beneath the hot suns of Mississippi. 

 It will grow wherever the Apple growls, flourishing under the same kind of cultiva- 

 tion, and, like the Apple, by its numerous varieties, it extends its seasons of maturity 

 through three-fourths of the j'ear. 



The tree is, naturally, thrifty, long-lived and productive, attaining, under favorable 

 conditions, a greater age and larger size than any other of our fruit bearing trees. 



Yet, notwithstanding all this, the pear, even in our most favored markets, is still a 

 luxury attainable by the rich only. There are several reasons for this that will occur 

 to every one, chief of which is the liability of the tree to certain diseases, and especi- 

 ally to that fatal form of blight called, by way of pre-eminence, the pear tree blight. 



I have nothing to add to what has been already said upon the prolific subject of this 

 malady, except to express the belief that the true cause of it has at last been found in 

 the parasitic fungus so well described by our able State Hoi'ticulturist in a recent num- 

 ber of the Prairie Farmer. I may add that this disease can be, to some extent, pre- 

 vented and in a great measure mitigated by the careful cutting away of aflected 

 branches, or by shaving oft' the bark when the fungus has lixed itself.. 



The varieties of the Pear are very numerous, the catalogue embracing many hun- 

 dreds of names. Of these, comparatively few have been fully tested in the United 

 States, and fewer still have been fruited in the "West. Of this latter number, perhaps 

 not more than a dozen kinds have been found , in any given locality, adapted to the 

 wants of the commercial orchardist. Indeed, it is doubtful whether more than half 

 that limited number have been found really profitable in any one locality-in our State. 

 In this respect, however, the Pear is not singular. The same is true, approximately, 

 at least, of the Apple, and indeed of all our orchard fruits. 



A profitable market pear must combine several qualities, in all of which it must be 

 reasonably constant. The trees should be thrifty, and as capable as possible of resist- 

 ing the attacks of the blight; it should be persistent in retaining its foliage throughout 

 the growing season; it should be productive, yielding, with proper treatment, regular 

 and abundant crops. The fruit should be large or of fair size, handsome in form and 

 •color, of good flavor, and not disposed to rot at the core. To those might be added, 

 as a very desirable quality, a tendency to early fruitfulness. The list of varieties that 

 have been proven to possess all these qualities in our Western soil and climate is 

 exceedingly meagre . That it will, in time, be greatly enlarged by the introduction of 

 varieties as yet untried there can be no doubt, and this enlargement is to be most 

 hopefidly. looked for in the numerous new American sorts that are constantly coming 

 into notice. 



It is of the utmost importance that every one who plants pears with a view to profit 

 should know what kinds will best 'answer his purpose, for upon this will depend his 

 success or failure, and this can be ascertained only by experiments made by himself or 



