110 THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 



cannery is a splendid safety valve to the pear industry in this State. Pears 

 are not dried commercially in New York as they are in California, although 

 it would seem that here in the center of the apple-drying industry of the 

 world pears might also be dried with profit. 



Most of the pear crop of this region is now sold to local buyers or on 

 consignment to city dealers. Co-operative methods are just beginning 

 and promise much. There are several reasons why the pear, even more 

 than the apple, which is more and more going to the markets through 

 co-operative associations, should be handled by organizations of growers. 

 Thus, an association could load a car quickly, which few individual growers 

 can do; pears are not now, but would be, graded and packed under one 

 standard; more favorable transportation rates would be secured; and, most 

 important of all, the pear crop would be distributed to the great markets 

 of the country without the disastrous competition that attends individual 

 marketing. If the pear industry is to grow in the State, pears must be 

 largely marketed through the central packing associations that are now 

 being rapidly organized to sell fruits. 



No reliable data can be obtained to show what the costs are in growing 

 pears in this State. It would be hard to obtain such data, for pear-growing 

 is now a game of chance from start to finish. Good pear-lands are not hard 

 to obtain, and the risks to tree and crop attendant on weather are not great, 

 but the trees are everywhere subject to blight; which, despite the recom- 

 mendations of plant pathologists, cannot be controlled, and which annually 

 destroys thousands of trees, ruins others, and sooner or later upsets calcu- 

 lations of costs and profits in almost every pear-orchard in the State. Other 

 pests, as psylla, the scab-fungus, and codling-moth beset the pear and make 

 profits uncertain. When all goes well, the costs are about the same as 

 in growing apples, while the profits are somewhat greater.^ But with 

 blight to contend with, most of the economic factors are inconstant, and 

 calculating costs and profits is guessing pure and simple. 



DISEASES OF THE PEAR 



The pear is attacked by a half dozen or more diseases in New York, 

 of which two, at least, need treatment every year, in every orchard, and 

 on nearly every variety. One, pear-blight, is about the most malignant 

 of the diseases of the orchard, for which there is no antidote and no allevia- 



> For costs and profits in growing apples see Bulletin 376, New York Agricultural Experiment 

 Station. 



