38(5 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



RIPENING OF PEARS. 



It is not at all uncommon to hear one person praising up a pear 

 which another condemns. The cause of this does not always come 

 from a difference of opinion as to what constitutes a good pear, but 

 from want of knowledge on the part of one or the other about how to 

 properly ripen the fruit. A pair left to ripen on a tree is rarely of as 

 good a flavor as it would have been if gathered a week or ten days 

 earlier and put away in a close closet. Pears of a dryish nature, such 

 as the Osband's Summer, for example, while passably good for their 

 season if ripened indoors, are almost worthless when permitted'to hang 

 upon the tree too long. The same may be said of all kinds. Olapp's 

 Favorite is very good when gathered early, and good for nothing when 

 not so treated. In regard to the ^lace to keep the fruits after gather- 

 ing, it depends on what time they are desired for use. A temperature 

 of about 45 degrees will prolong the ripening considerably, while a 

 much warmer one, say of 65 degrees, will bring them along quickly. 

 The early winter sorts cannot be kept too long. There comes a time 

 when a pear should ripen, and the fruit seems better for not being too 

 much retarded. There are always some individual fruits of the same 

 kind which show signs of ripening, and these should be the ones 

 selected from time to time for placing in a warmer room. It is fre- 

 quently said in a complaining way that such splendid pears as Olapp's 

 Favorite and Bartlett will not keep. These complaining people forget 

 that no one wants to keep early pears. In Pennsylvania Clapps ripen in 

 mid-August, and Bartletts a month later. These are expected to be 

 used ai once, as there are lots of other good kinds to follow. For that 

 matter some of the fruit of these two, especially the Bartlett, can be 

 gathered fully two or three weeks before it would ripen on the tree, 

 prolonging the season over a period of four or five weeks in all. As 

 an illustration, I gathered a number of Olapp's Favorites on August 

 6th. These were fit to eat on the 9th, and from that time to September 

 '1 the fruit of the tree was in continual use. The Bartlett is a sort 

 which ripens slower, and it can readily be had for use for five weeks. 

 Lawrence is a favorite early winter pear with us, and when gathered 

 just as frost approaches and kept in a low temperature as suggested, 

 it can be had until New Years. Easter Beurre is still later than this. 

 — Joseph Meehan, Pennsylvania, in Prairie Farmer. 



