1878.] 



/i NB HOR TICUL TURIST. 



175 



Fruit and Vegetable Gardening. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



QUALITY AND CULTURE OF PEARS. 



BY GEN. "W. H. XOBLE, BRIDGEPORT, CONN. 



And first, no pear, new or old, should cum- 

 Ijer our lists, not in tree, fruit or pretty nearly 

 equal to the best of its season (say, for Sum- 

 mer) to those luscious favorites which crown 

 your table, till the full ripeness of the late 

 Autumnal varieties into which they glide. 



Second. A pear should be either at home 

 everywhere, or named as partial to some locality. 

 Some are as whimsical as humans about the soil 

 in which they dwell, or the winds that blow on 

 them, or the latitude of their home. Many 

 kinds are as sensitive to the situation as are 

 those European grapes, which on one side of a 

 mountain yield a wine the pride of princely 

 tables, whose vintage on the other slope makes 

 but the common drink of the peasant. 



Third. The world has no room for small pears, 

 nevv or old, that do not grade pretty closely up 

 to the ver}' best of their season. There is no 

 market for small pears much below such a 

 standard of excellence as, say for Fall pears, 

 the Seckel. Big kinds, which do not grade quite 

 up to that high level, may do. Fruit dealers 

 buy no small pears when big ones, about as 

 good to eat, are at hand. In fact, small pears 

 must be mighty good to command a market. 



Fourth. However large or good a fruit your 

 tree may bear, to elevate special care or culture, 

 yet it must be hardy in leaf and limb, and a 

 good thrifty grower, not prone to blight on 

 twig or foliage. Its bark must show none of 

 those deep, unseemly cracks and gashes, which so 

 mar the looks and health, and life of some of 

 the very best pears. Unless exceptionally reli- 

 able for fruit, good and large, no tree deserves 

 planting that is tender to over-bearing or to 

 tearing winds. 



Fifth. A pear worthy of the highest grade 

 and large culture, unless a "Winter kind, should 

 ripen readily and slowly, either on tree or in 

 the house, needing no extra watching. Some 

 pears in this regard exact as much care as young 

 turkeys, or bees in swarming time. There are 

 others whose very wind-falls are good, and 

 which keep on improving up to full maturity. 



There are pears which if not picked just at the 

 right time, will rot at the core ; others are prone 

 to take on general decay, or to become mealy 

 and insipid, unless picked and house-ripened; 

 even then, if not eaten at the very moment e^f 

 maturity they are worthless, or rot. There are 

 some that give no such trouble, which, on the 

 tree or the house, will hold good and sound, and 

 slowly ripen till all are gone — pears into which 

 the roots of the rot fungus make no headway, 

 and about which you need not worry much more 

 than over your apple or potato croji. 



Now, how many of the pears, recommended 

 for each season, come up to these standards, in 

 tree or fruit ? Take the Summer kinds. The 

 Madeline is the earliest ; yet who ever had a 

 good one ? The}' pass because they cook well, 

 and are early; but they are astringent and 

 choke. The Bloodgood is hardly better. Tlie 

 Summer Doyenne is too little for market, and 

 only sought because so early and so pretty. Os- 

 band's Summer, one of the earliest and hand- 

 some, though sometimes very good, needs early 

 picking and good house care; bat then it is 

 small and uncertain, and does not crop well. 

 The Giffard is as yet the only fine, full standard, 

 very early pear that I have eaten. It often 

 overbears; but in deep soil, and not loaded Avith 

 too big a crop, it is a very tine fruit, and a good 

 deal above medium size. It is never insipid, 

 ripens well on the tree, though better in the 

 house. The tree is healthy and thrifty, and 

 with early pruning gains a graceful form. One of 

 de Shurtlift"s seedlings, the Pemberton, a full me- 

 dium summer pear, would be most desirable, as 

 it is the most beautiful of fruits, were it not for 

 its proneness to leaf-blight. I am not going 

 over the list of this class; but there is ample 

 room for better large Summer pears, I'ullilling 

 all the terms of our rules. "We need not slight 

 even mediums as good and large as well grown 

 Dearborn Seedlings. 



In face of such fickleness and defects in kinds, 

 and the crude and untaught tastes so common, 

 it is plain that pomological judges and fruit 

 fanciers should hold as well for pears, as do the 

 poultry-men, a scale of points; up to those stand- 

 ards every fruit should score pretty closely, to 

 gain acceptance. Its record or its ofier for sale 

 should state that score. The Fall kinds, new or 



