47 



in November happened to strike our grapes at that time before we got them laid down. 

 We dare not attempt to winter them on trellises. Our grapes must be laid down every 

 fall, consequently we suffered severely with our grapes. Some varieties, however, did 

 not get killed. We would find that one variety in a certain locality had suffered scarcely 

 any, while the same variety was frozen to death forty rods away. Among my own seed- 

 lings I noticed that in one place the Burnet was frozen dead, and my number 25 pro- 

 duced, although it was not laid down during the winter ; and in another place it was just 

 the reverse. We never had our small fruits winter so well. The most tender varieties 

 of raspberries came through the winter perfectly, and we did not lay them down. How- 

 ever, I believe you: had a more severe winter here than we had farther east. We did not 

 have that June frost on our own place, but within a mile of us they suffered severely. 

 Our places are both protected, one by elevation, and the other by being beside water. 



MOST PROFITABLE PEARS. 



On the question of which are the most profitable varieties of pears for market, 



Mr. a. M. Smith, said : — I think the most profitable variety for our section is the 

 Bartlett. 



Mr. Beadle. — I would like to draw out an answer to this question :— Do any of the 

 pear trees pay 1 It is really getting to be a question whether they do or not when we 

 look at the destruction which the pear blight has occasioned to our pear orchards. I 

 have been talking to some pear tree planters in our vicinity, and they are about giving it 

 up in despair. They say they do no more than get their orchax'd in nice paying condi- 

 tion"than the blight comes and kills the trees. One gentleman told me he was replacing 

 his pear trees, as fast as the blight killed them, with plums. If this is the experience of 

 pear tree growers generally we have to wait perhaps until we get trees that are blight- 

 proof, or nearly so, before we can make pear orchards profitable. I remember talking to 

 a Mr. Townsend in Lockport a good many years ago, and telling him that I had come to 

 his place on purpose to see his pear orchard. " Well," said he, "you cannot see it. I can 

 .show you where the pear orchard was, but it is not there now. The blight has been there 

 and killed nine-tenths of the trees, and a great many of the dead trees are still there." 

 " Well," said I, "what do you think about it?" " Oh," said he, " I think it has paid 

 me very well for the investment ;"• — whether he ever planted another pear orchard and 

 ran the risk of the pear blight I do not know. 



Mr. Gott. — The first pear, in my opinion, is the Bartlett. It always commands a 

 good price. The next one that we find very profitable as a market pear is the Flemish 

 Beauty. It is very popular. Another pear that we have that is very profitable and sells 

 well in the market is the Louise Bonne De Jersey. Another pear that we are testing, 

 and that we consider to have valuable qualities, is a combination of the two first I have 

 named, called the Clapp's Favourite. It is a very fine pear to look at, and will sell very 

 well. It seems to be a little shy in bearing. It must not be allowed to get too ripe. A 

 very good pear for market purposes, and which will command a good price, is the Easter 

 Beurre. Then comes the Lawrence. The Seckel is considered ahead of the last in selling 

 value ; but to say that it is profitable in the market is quite another thing. It is not 

 profitable with us. We have had little or no experience with the blight. I do not know 

 of an orchard in our section of the country that is suffering from it. I hardly know how 

 to account for that. 



Mr. Orr. — I have between one and two hundred pear trees out, most of them set out 

 within the last five years. There are about fourteen or twenty that are about fourteen 

 years old. They have been bearing abundantly since they were six years old, but the 

 Bartletts were blighted this summer. I think the Flemish Beauty the most profitable. 

 The Bartlett commands the best price, but the Flemish beauty bears twice as much as the 

 Bartlett. The soil where the Bartlett blighted is sand. Where the Bartletts are doing 

 well, and where the Flemish Beauties are, is a loam with heavy red clay subsoil. 



