No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 423 



early and regularly if plauted on rather high ground in fairly fertile 

 soil, with an open sub-soil, protected from piercing north winds, well 

 cultivated and regularly sprayed to protect it from fungus and insect 

 pests. It is a poor grower and, therefore, must be top-worked on 

 some strong growing sort. It does admirably on the foothills of the 

 Alleghenies, in Blair county, but on the rich bottom lands of the 

 Susquehanna the pears are knotty and the trees subject to leaf 

 blight. 



Lmcrfnce is classed as a winter pear, and when grown on the 

 higher altitudes may be kept all winter in an ordinary cellar, the 

 same as apples are kept. It is very sweet and one of the best desert 

 pears. The tree is a strong, vigorous grower and an abundant 

 bearer. It is a good shipper, and when w^ell grown and properly 

 ripened always commands the highest price. 



Flemish Beauty^ like the Bosc, succeeds best on the foothills and 

 elevated small valleys. It is a beautiful pear, a good shipper, of ex- 

 cellent qualit}', but must be picked just before maturity. It does 

 not succeed well in the Susquehanna Valley on account of leaf blight, 

 which causes the foliage to fall off before the fruit is full grown, 

 unless the trees are carefully sprayed several times during the 

 season. 



Pitmarsden Dutchesse has been tried in Blair county and has done 

 well. The tree is a fairly good, upright, grower and an enormous 

 bearer of large fruit, ripening somewhat earlier thao Duchesse d'Au- 

 gouleme, which it much resembles. 



Madam Seihold is a seedling of some good pear and Chinese sand 

 pear. The fruit resembles in color a golden russet apple when fully 

 ripe. It has a bright, golden color, it keeps well and sells well in the 

 markets of the western part of the State. It has only been grown 

 to any extent in Blair county. 



Kieffer. — The much advertised, much abused Kieffer also has its 

 place. It ie an excellent canning pear, and may be grown with 

 profit in the neighborhood of a canning factory, but the general 

 market is very easily overstocked with them, and unless there is a 

 canning factory within easy reach, they should be very sparingly 

 planted. 



Koonce is a large pear, a regular bearer, quite prolific. Is grown 

 to some extent in Westmoreland county and found to be a profitable 

 market variety. 



PEACHES. 



While peaches can be grown in every county of the State, it is not 

 advisable to plant commercial orchards in regions much subject to 



