of Rural Art and Taste. 



87 



land and tlie Middle States, with scattered 

 homes, mainly on farms, know that the 

 apple, eaten at all times and to satiet}^ is 

 the best fruit. The few pear trees soon 

 satisfied the appetite. Hence farmer Quiet- 

 neighbor found that his ten pear trees gave 

 him all his family could eat of pears; and 

 thouti'h he sold now and then a bushel or a 

 peck at prices far beyond any apples to 

 some man whose mercantile or other em- 

 ployment gave him cash and a taste, yet too 

 often it was that Tom Workly-by-the-day, 

 in settling accounts, took ten bushels of 

 grafted apples at thirty cents, and a peek of 

 pears at forty cents — the latter for "family 

 preserves " and for " the wife and children." 

 Now though "the preserves," "wife and 

 children," might have the best flavors and 

 sense of values, yet "in the olden time" 

 this practicality of Mr. Work-out left its 

 impress not yet effaced. And it will be 

 difficult to change it in the general farming 

 population. A farmer of the average men- 

 tal capacity will put out ten acres of apples 

 in his orchard, and ten pear trees in his 

 door-yard. One of less capacity will put 

 out five acres of apples, and one pear sprout, 

 whose fruit is as hard and knotty as an oak 

 knot. The apple he will buy of a traveling 

 pedlar, the pear he will beg or dig up at 

 the root of some old tree, whence it sprouted. 

 It is singular in the opinions and practices 

 of mankind, how many men are controlled 

 by such half traditional, half obstinate 

 ignorance ! Yet even such a man will covet 

 the young trees of Merchant Thrift at the 

 post office, or hire the right to the trees 

 set out by Poor-coot, who once built a log 

 cabin on the hill, bought and planted a few 

 choice trees, died an inebriate, and the log 

 cabin burned up, leaving the rose bushes, 

 shade trees and fruit struggling in the 

 meadow, as it now is of Esquire Buy-up- 

 land, the relies of the once educated taste 

 of inebriate Poor-coot and his disappointed 

 but gentle wife. But such country legends 

 aside, they show the value set by even 

 thoughtless men on the pear. They also 

 *-how us that it is the ever growing literary, 



educated, and those employed not in farm 

 or other produce, who hug and love the 

 pear more than the apple. 



And hence, as these are in all nations 

 more numerous, as the nation grows older, 

 the buyers of pears multiply, even if those 

 who eat apples do not decrease. This con- 

 sumption of pears, then, is mainly in our 

 towns, cities and villages ; and as they ever 

 grow, it renders the large cultivation of 

 pears a certain source of remuneration. 



We call these facts to the attention of 

 the readers of The Horticulturist. 

 With right principles, and with long ex- 

 pectancy, plant the pear orchard. Not to 

 gather early its fruits, but its late, and its 

 certain results of liberal reward. We are 

 glad that a few localities are wise enough 

 for this ; that certain individuals are 

 famous for this their wisdom. We believe 

 many more could be added to the list. 

 Plant, we repeat, wisely. Expect patiently. 

 Gather surclv. 



Pear Culture— Growing Pear 

 Trees. 



BY. M. )!. BATEHAM. 



IN considering the question whether it 

 would not be better for me to plant a 

 large pear orchard, instead of replanting my 

 peach orchards, which were ruined by the 

 past winter, I have come to the conclusion 

 that pears will pay me the best, if I can 

 procure suitable land ; and as the result of my 

 observations for the past twenty years, inOhio 

 and elsewhere, I am convinced that the pear 

 crop is more reliable than any other of our tree 

 fruits — less liable to failure or injury from 

 severe cold and also from attacks of insects. 

 Peaches, of course, are unreliable every- 

 where ; and here in Ohio, as in all the older 

 States, the apple crop is more and more sub- 

 ject to failure, from drouths and the myriads 

 of insect pests, as well as fungoid diseases ; 

 while with plums and cherries the case is 

 still worse. But any one who travels and 

 observes, or reads the printed reports of the 

 crops, will find that even in seasons like the 

 present, when all other fruits are nearly or 

 quite failures, pear trees that are of suffi- 



