I^uit Topics, 175 



Fruit Topics. 



'Winter Ifettrs. 



THE subject of "Winter Pears " is becoming one of very general interest. Sum- 

 mer pears, sold at prices of $5 per barrel, very soon cool the ardor of fruit grow- 

 ers, and many seriously entertain the idea of grafting over their standard trees, to 

 such varieties as prove saleable, long after the fruit gluts are gone. A young culti- 

 vator, having asked the Country Gentleman what varieties of winter pears will give a 

 supply of fruit, during the two or three winter months, the answer is given as follows : 



"In answer to this inquiry, we may state that we are now enjoying the Anjou, 

 which is unquestionably the best of the season, the Winter Nelis and the Lawrence. 

 These will probably furnish a good supply till about the first of the year — sometimes 

 the Lawrence lasts nearly into February. Very much depends on the manner in 

 which these fruits are kept, and the fitness of the apartments for storing them. Keep 

 the specimens in as cool a» place as possible after they are gathered, and before they 

 are placed in the cellar. A cool outhouse, or a suitable apartment in a carriage 

 house, fronting the north, answers a good purpose. A fruit room, built above ground, 

 on purpose, is best where there are large quantities to be stored ; or, in the absence 

 of this building, an apartment may be divided off by double boarding in some other 

 building, and covering the boxes in which the fruit is packed with chaff or fine straw. 

 This protection will often be sufficient until the time has far advanced into Decem- 

 ber ; and there will be no danger till intensely cold weather sets in, and it will be 

 some days before the frost can pass the barrier of double partitions and the thick 

 stratum of chaff. After they go to the cellar, keep the apartment well ventilated and 

 regulated to a low temperature above freezing by a thermometer. 



" We have mentioned the Anjou as the best early winter pear. If kept in a warm 

 apartment, it will ripen in autumn, even as early as the first of October; but by 

 keeping cool, according to the mode just mentioned, they may be had even as late as 

 the first of the year. There will be some variation in different seasons. We have 

 known the Winter Nelis to ripen fully in November, when the autumn bad been 

 warm, but the period was retarded some weeks by keeping the pears in a cool place. 



"After the Anjou, Winter Nelis and Lawrence, the Josephine de Malines is the 

 best, ripening in January, and keeping till February. Doyenne d'Alencon ripens 

 about the same time, but is not quite as good in quality. It is, however, a hardy 

 tree and good bearer, and is on the whole a desirable sort. The Easter Beurre, 

 when it matures well, will keep into April, and ripen into a delicious fruit, but, on the 

 whole, it is rather an uncertain sort. Josephine de Malines is poor in some places, 

 but is mostly delicious and excellent. It grows well on quinces. 



" We should not omit the name of the Vicar of Winkfield as an early or mid-win- 

 ter pear of value. It is a free grower, and a prodigious bearer — the fruit large and 

 fair. It is occasionally, when well grown and ripened, of good quality for the table, 

 being pleasant and agreeable, although not rich; but its chief value is for baking and 

 stewing. The principal reason why the fruit is so poor is, that it is allowed to over- 

 bear. 



