174 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[June, 



surely "handsome pear,'- but "voted" at its 

 season about as good as any. The ballots are 

 cast by those who know pears. 



Some one near Worcester, Mass., knows how 

 to raise them and to ripen up their painted glo- 

 ries. He supplies them largely to the New 

 York market. "We have them in our fruit shops, 

 and they are sought in the holidays not only for 

 their good and tempting looks, but because they 

 are good eating. 



Many pears suffer like ill name, which either 

 other localities or better care present as luscious 

 fruits. Not long since, a rural paper sat down 

 on the Bartlett as an antiquated, out-of-date 

 fruit, which better new kinds were driving out 

 of culture. When they succeed in that Bartlett 

 exodus, the pear market will be stocked. An- 

 tiquity will have a large representation. There 

 are more Bartletts planted hereabouts than of all 

 other kinds. You may say they are not good, 

 that there are lots better, etc., but the masses 

 stick to the Bartlett ; and a good part of those 

 "select" who know pears largely prefer them. 

 I don't, but such are in my household. 



Now not only some localities refuse to a pear 

 the excellence which other soils yield, but good- 

 ness and tameness are both often due to the way 

 you grow and the way you handle fruits. Some 

 pears in heavy or sparse bearing cases, picked 

 green, or ripened on the tree, always come to the 

 front in fair and passable condition ; but others 

 you have to grow and pick and care for rightly to 

 bring out their full merit. Of such are two of 

 our largest and very good pears, the Clairgeau 

 and the Vicar. I never saw a small pear of 

 either worth a cent. I never saw a big one of 

 either kind well ripened that was not a joy for- 

 ever. I do not doubt that the Clairgeau may 

 have its favorite climate and footings ; but I 

 know that its Worcester grown and ripened 

 fruits, large and glowing with beauty, have rich- 

 ness inside of their gaudy coloring. Of the soil, 

 of their home, or of the exact method of their 

 growing or handling, I know nothing, but I do 

 know that they fill the bill of a fine eating pear. 

 Just so with the Vicar (by no means as attrac- 

 tive in looks as the B. Clairgeau) when you get 

 it large, full grown, picked pretty late and well 

 handled so as not to wilt. It well merits what 

 some pomologists of wide experience say, that 

 " if they could have but one pear they would 

 have the Vicar." Yet I have seen loads of 

 it that were fit only for the cattle or the pigs, 

 small, a'^tringent, never gaining buttery flesh 



or tempting flavor. Now the moral of this 

 is : Decree not banishment to the Beurre 

 Clairgeau, till you get in all the votes. 



BEURRE CLAIRGEAU PEAR. 



BY A. C. L., MADISON, IND. 



In the last number of your journal some one 

 bears down heavily on the Beurre Clairgeau 

 Pear. For the past ten or fifteen years I have 

 grown and ripened perfectly, as delicious pears 

 from the Beurre Clairgeau trees, as we ever 

 gathered. For one or two seasons I had much 

 the same impression concerning the variety, as 

 your correspondent, but I had made up my 

 mind that so handsome a pear as that must 

 have a better future. First of all, the tree 

 should have no manure placed at its roots after 

 it begins to bear fruit. A top dressing of bone 

 meal (ground bones) mixed with some leaf 

 mould, three or four pounds of bone meal to a 

 tree twelve years old, and dug in in the Spring. 

 In October when the fruit begins to fall, all 

 of it must be carefully gathered and put in a 

 basket for three or four days, and then picked 

 over. Now have a box lined, or double-lined 

 with blankets. Into this place the pears and 

 cover them completely with the blankets ; put 

 on the cover just as close as possible. It is bet- 

 ter to have a large box, say three feet long, two 

 feet wide, and two feet deep, and this lined with 

 blankets or old comforts, or anything that will 

 keep the air out. I make use of an old impro- 

 vised ice chest, made for the purpose of trans- 

 porting prairie chickens shot in August, on the 

 prairies, in years past. Into this were packed 

 the chickens with alternate layers of ice and 

 birds. It has carried thousands, and not one 

 spoiled, and now it is just as useful in ripening 

 fruits. Pack the fruit in small boxes, 15x20 

 inches, as close as possible, and lined with 

 something. Into the larger box place the 

 smaller ones, there to remain ten days or two 

 weeks. Then examine to see that all is right. 

 The ripening can be hastened or retarded by 

 placing the box in a warm or cool place. The 

 best place is a cool dry room. When they are 

 ripe, it is a sight that would make Mr. Field'a 

 eyes sparkle with pleasure, for every color is 

 brought out to perfection, and the flavor can 

 scarcely be surpassed. The Beurre Bosc ripened 

 in this manner, is almost equal to the Seckel or 

 Tyson. Let any one try this plan ; there is 



