2G4 GATIIERnsG, MARKETING, AND FRUIT-ROOMS. 



cases, with coarse matting around the sides, top. and bottom, so 

 that they camiot shake ahout. 



2. They must be directed plainly to some reputable commission 

 salesman, whose entire business is the sale of fruit, giving him 

 instructions to keep them, until, in his judgment, they would sell 

 to the best advantage. The price thus obtained will usually far 

 exceed that which the grower could procure for himself. 



3. The price of pears is governed by their color and size, as 

 well as by their flavor. The Seckel is the only exception to the 

 rule, that none but yellow pears will command the highest price. 



COLORING AND RIPENING OF SUM:MER AI^D AUTUIVIN 

 PEARS. 



While many varieties will ripen upon the tree with rich golden 

 or crimson colors, like the Bartlett and Seckel, all varieties of 

 pears will attain a richer tint as well as higher flavor by a little 

 attention. For the attainment of the best result, darkness, warmth, 

 and masses of fruit are necessary. The fruit picked green should 

 be exposed long enough to become perfectly dry, and is then packed 

 in cloth-lined barrels and cases. The following, from a report of 

 a Committee of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, exhibits 

 the results of attention to minute particulars : 



" Mr. John Gordon, of Brighton, Mass., cultivates between three 

 and four acres, the most part of which is trenched and under-drained, 

 and almost entirely covered with pear trees, thickly planted, two-thirds 

 of which are on quince stocks. Mr. G. raises but few varieties, and 

 those such as he finds sell most readily in the market, and make the 

 most profitable return. All his fruit is carefuUy picked by hand ; and 

 some five or six days before designing it for market, it is carefully 

 packed away in boxes twenty inches square, and six or eight in depth, 

 with a woollen cloth lining at the bottom, on which is placed one layer 

 of pears ; that is covered with woollen cloth, and another layer of pears ; 

 when the box is covered more thickly with woollen cloth, and placed 

 away for what he calls the sweating process, which gives the fruit a 

 rich coloring," and ripens it for market. Mr. Gordon states that cotton 

 does not produce the same effect, nor ripen the fruit so fast. And that 

 the result of this care is best seen in the prices obtained in marketing ; 

 for while Iris Bartlotts were yielding him ten dollars a bushel in Boston, 



