50 



Mr. Arnold. — The Rutter has been free from blight with me for a good while, and 

 the Goodale also. That pear is a fine grower. It is a good one to look at, and it is a fair 

 pear to eat. I have very little faith in the different kinds of washes. The English 

 Jargonelle is a miserable grower ; when we get the pears they are not fit to eat. They 

 are not the English Jargonelle here ; they crack and go to pieces, and they rot every- 

 where, inside and out. 



Mr. Saunders. — I began an orchard some ten years ago with l&O varieties ; and I 

 feel just as undecided as to what ten or twenty pears I would select if I were going to 

 plant out an orchard again as I was at first, I coincide with what Mr. Willard has said with 

 regard to the Reader pear ; I have never seen it blight. At the London asylum they 

 have nine Dr. Reeder's in a row, and they are as healthy to-day as any trees you could 

 wish to see, while all around them the other trees have nearly all disappeared on account 

 of blight. I thought at one time the Malines was free from blight ; and so it was for 

 quite a number of years ; then there came a blight which took nearly the whole of my 

 trees. Then I thought the Clapp's Favourite was going to be free from blight. They 

 were so for several years ; but at last they nearly all went too. 



Mr. Woodward. — I do not wish to be understood as saying that the Duchesse never 

 blights. It does blight ; but with careful treatment I have avoided it. 



The meeting then adjourned until ten o'clock the next day, when, upon the President 

 calling the Convention to order, the question " Which Pears are the Most Desirable for 

 the Amateur V was added to that which was under consideration the previous evening, 

 and the discussion of the two together was proceeded with. 



Mr. Beadle. — I will name one pear that I think the amateur will like — I do not 

 know anything about its value for market — ^the Josephine de Malines. Somehow I like 

 that pear as the best of our winter pears. I do not know that it is the best ; but I 

 happen to know more of it, perhaps, than of some others. It is a very pleasant-flavoured 

 pear ; and when yovi cut it the flesh has a pretty pink tinge, which adds a little to its 

 beauty. I suggest that that pear would be a desirable one to recommend amateurs to 

 grow for a winter pear. 



Mr. Holton. — I think I remember last year that the President laid some of them 

 on the table here. Can you give us any idea of how long it can be kept 1 



Mr. Dempsey. — I have fruited the Josephine de Malines for several years ; and I 

 was induced to plant it in the first place from having seen specimens of it on Elwanger <t: 

 Barry's grounds at Rochester. I carried some of them home and ripened them carefully, 

 and the fruit was so delicious that I was induced to plant fifty trees of that variety. They 

 come into bearing so very young, and the pear was so very different from what I had 

 seen on their grounds that I top-grafted them. Since then I have been top-grafting them 

 back. They require age ; but the fruit is very fine when the tree comes to be ten years 

 years old — with the first specimens you would be perfectly disgusted. Perhaps I 

 I could not put it in stronger terms than to say I want no other winter pear. After it 

 acquires a little age it is very prolific — sufliciently so, at all events. It bears a good 

 average crop annually. The fruit is sufficiently large ; the fruit is not large, but medium 

 sized, and it ripens easily. . You can throw them in a pail or in a box in the cellar, or 

 you can mix them with a lot of turnips if you like, and every time they come out all 

 right. They are very pretty when peeled ; only they are so juicy they appear to be 

 oily. With care they can be kept until March. If they are kept in a warm cellar they 

 are just in their prime now. The Vicar of Winkfield is very fine this year with us ; but 

 this is the first year, I think, for as many as fifteen that I have had them to mature. 

 It is a very fine pear when you get it in perfection; but you may only get it once in twelve 

 or fifteen years. He who plants Vicars with a view to obtaining a dessert pear is quite 

 certain to be disappointed, as they are very inferior when not properly grown. There 

 are several varieties of pears that were not spoken of yesterday that are doing nicely 

 with us. Manning's Elizabeth, I think, is one of our finest pears. Osband's Summer 

 also ; and I enjoy a good Rostiezer. These are all good summer pears. Another is 

 Beurre Hardy. I think that of all the autumn pears we have, Beurre Hardy stands at 

 the head of the list. It does upon my grounds. I have never seen any of the branches 

 blighted. I do not say any pear is free from blight. I would also name besides these 



