152 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS ' 



the bigger and better they grow. So the Lawrences of the Hudson 

 River, Rochester, and Waukegan, are a fair and excellent fruit, but 

 several opportunities of comparison enable me to say that, they average 

 much larger and of finer flavor grown along the Mississippi blufls and at 

 Cobden ; while in middle Georgia, they are reported as often weighing a 

 pound a piece, and without any falling off in their high quality. I am 

 not sure that either of these pears will ever be as profitable for market 

 as the Bartlett and other large pears; for that vicious public taste that 

 prefers simple bigness and color to inside qualities, must largely guide all 

 planting for commercial profit. And as neither of these pears grow 

 very large in our State, and are too good by half to please the taste of 

 the demoralized people who buy California pears, rather than something 

 good to eat for one's self, and fit to give to one's wife, I would suggest a 

 cautious planting of them for market purposes. 



There are several other varieties which should receive some mention 

 from me for their merits or demerits — mostly the latter — as they are 

 kept very prominently before the public, but space forbids more than a 

 hasty remark. The Beurre d'Anjou is a pear I think highly of, so far, 

 but I have never yet seen full crops from it anywere, and prefer waiting 

 until I do before commending it to planters. The Sheldon is a high 

 flavored fruit, and its rich bronze color will atti'act buyers. It is a fine 

 growing tree, but with me is not an early beai^er, and don't hold its leaves 

 very well. The Beurre Bosc and Beurre Clairgeau have great beauty of 

 appearance, but as they do not often " put in an appearance " in our 

 markets or even on our exhibition tables, I would not invest in them 

 largely. With me they are among the most tender and faulty of trees, 

 and I have (^ased hoping that I shall ever gi^ow the fruit. The Beurre 

 Easter is a very desirable pear to grow where it will ripen, as its fruit is 

 first-class in flavor, and keeps till spring; but it probably wont ripen very 

 far north. 



I have not named any pear ripening earlier than the Bartlett. I am 

 not satisfied that there is any early variety worthy of much praise. I 

 have for years sought for such a pear for my own planting, and have not 

 yet decided what to plant. There are several kinds which show a little 

 local value, but I have not yet found the variety that will pay as much 

 profit as the Bartlett over any large area of country. I think the Made- 

 leine must be given up altogether. It is about the worst tree in the list 

 to blight, and the fruit cracks badly. The finest orchard of it I have ever 

 seen was at Centralia, two years ago. To-day, there is not one tree left 

 alive. Doyenne d'Ete is a little less hopeless as yet, but the tree is 

 among the most tender I know, and the pears are not often measured by 

 the bushel. Dearborn's Seedling is too small, and the tree is bad. 

 Rostiezer is better for growing fishing rods than pears ; and it is not of 

 much importance that we can't get the fruit, good as it is, as the little 

 copper-colored things wouldn't sell. Tyson is a delightful pear, but a 

 middle-aged inan, yet unmarried, shouldn't plant it for family use. 

 Beurre Giflard is a good pear and a beauty, but it rots quick, and the tree 

 is a provoking grower; I don't think it will ever get nick-named 



