PART IX.— GATIIEEING, MAEKETIXG, AXD 

 FRUIT-EOOMS. 



SOILS AS AFFECTIXO QUALITY OF PEAKS. 



There is nothing more striking in the cultivation of this fruit 

 than the variation of flavor and texture in the same varieties, on 

 dilTerent soils. This causes the vexatious contradictions respect- 

 ing the value of any and every variety. To one, the Louise Bonne 

 de Jersey seems to deserve all the execration, and to another all 

 the adulation, which words can express. 



The color of any variety also varies on diiForent soils, so that 

 the fruit almost defies identification. But this change is as often 

 the result of cultivation. The Louise Bonne de Jer.sey and the 

 Beurre Diel are particularly noted for their superiority on sandy 

 loams, while the Onondaga and Virgalieu are best on strong clay 

 soils. 



The adaptation of soils to difTerent varieties can only be ascer 

 tained by individual experiment. 



TIIIXXrS^G FEUIT. 



Good soils, fine cultivation, healthy and \'igorous trees, and all 

 the other requisites of pear-growing, will often fail of producing 

 fine fruit, if all that sets is allowed to remain on the tree. The 

 fruit of the Bartlett, Dearborn's Seedling, the Louise Bonne de 

 Jersey, and many other varieties, will set in such quantities, that 

 if thinning is neglected, not one half will reach full size, or acquire 

 their true flavor. Besides, these varieties yield fruit so early, that 

 the trees would be ruined by this precocious fruitfulness. Two 

 years after planting, these varieties will commence bearing, and 

 not more than from two to a dozen specimens should be allowed 

 to ripen annually on each tree, until the fifth vear. The period 

 ( '^<n ) 



