110. TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILT.IXOIS 



Dr. Schra'der, of tlie same committee, was tlieu called on for 

 his report. He said he had intended to prepare a paper on Pear Cul- 

 ture but had neglected to do so, and would give a short talk instead. 

 Ladies and Gentlemen: I am a victim of pear culture. I am sorry I 

 did not know as much about it twenty years ago as I do to-day. It 

 would have saved me much money: $2,000 I have spent in experi- 

 ments with nothing to show for it. We Germans like pears because 

 they are grown in Germany at one-fourth the cost of apples. I once 

 got five hundred selected trees of E. Moody, of New York, and 

 planted them on different slopes. Many of them died with blight — 

 some two hundred or more. Some of these sent up two or three 

 shoots from the ground, which have done well, and are now bearing 

 nice crops. The Flemish Beauty is a favorite of mine, and does well 

 now. The Tyson has done well with me, but is overladened with 

 fruit on the western slope. Madeline does well on the lower slope 

 near a stream of water, as also does the Rostiezer. Professor Budd 

 found pears growing in the north of Europe where the mercury sinks 

 to fifty degrees below zero; it is not, therefore, the cold that kills our 

 trees. We should continue to plant pear trees, but be careful to se- 

 lect varieties adapted to our soil and location. 



Question — Would you advise to plant pears all over the State? 



Answer — Yes. 



Question — As a nurseryman? 



Answer — No, sir. 



Brof . Budd — I think, with a proper selection of varieties, pears 

 may be grown profitably over most of the State. Mr. Avery, of 

 Burlington, Iowa, is a very successful pear grower. 



Report of Committee on Currants and Gooseberries was next 

 called for, and Samuel Edwards, of Mendota, responded by reading: 



CUKRANTS AND GOOSEBERRIES. 



Currants and Gooseberries constituted, in the days of my boy- 

 hood, the list of small fruits in more than nine-tenths of farmer's 

 gardens in Central New York. For raspberries we went to fence 

 corners of the fields and new clearings. Strawberries were not culti- 

 vated. It was never my fortune to find wild ones enough for a good 

 taste, and the first bountiful mess of them was enjoyed at " The 

 Evergreens." 



No fruits are more easily grown than currants and gooseberries. 

 After planting they are very generally left to themselves, and in con- 

 sequence come far short of their capability in quantity or quality of 

 the fruit produced. 



