232 PEAR GROWING IN CALIFORNIA. 



CHAPTER II. 



VARIETIES. 



In California where most of the pear acreage Ls of one variety and 

 where the average planter thinks only of the Bartlett when he considers 

 the planting of a commercial orchard, there may be those who would 

 consider a discussion of other varieties superfluous. Admitting that the 

 Bartlett is best for general-purpose planting in the state, the ques- 

 tion is exceedingly important from the standpoint of data regard- 

 ing varieties that are well adapted for cross-pollination purposes. 

 The Bartlett in California is generally considered to be self-fertile. 

 While it is a fact that it is self-fertile to the extent that large areas will 

 produce well year after year with no other varieties close by from which 

 they might receive the benefit of pollen other than their own, this 

 variety, along with all other varieties of pears, is considered in most 

 locations to be practically self-sterile, and is not recommended for 

 planting in blocks by itself. Thus we find the two conditions repre- 

 sented by self-fertility in one section, and self-sterility wholly or in part 

 in another, and the only reason we can assign for this state of affairs is 

 that when grown where every condition is favorable Bartlett is self- 

 fertile in a certain degree ; in the absence of certain factors whiclj have 

 not been determined it is more or less self-sterile. Between the two 

 extremes of self-fertility and self-sterility we can imagine innumerable 

 degrees of fertility, and possibly in California, where the Bartlett is 

 thought to be self-fertile and where uniformly good crops are produced 

 year after year remote from other varieties, it possesses a high degree 

 of fertility with the possibility of an increase to a still higher degree 

 when subjected to the influence of foreign pollen. There is considerable 

 evidence to substantiate this theory. Warren P. Tufts of the 

 University of California Farm School at Davis, in a recent letter gave 

 the following information : 



"Experiments on rather a small scale have been conducted by the 

 writer during the past two seasons in the University Orchards at 

 Davis. The results of these tests seem to indicate that the Bartlett 

 under the interior valley conditions of California will set a com- 

 paratively light crop with its own pollen, but that if interplanted 

 with the proper varieties, the per cent of blossoms setting fruit 

 will be increased five or six times. From conversation with growers 

 in the Sacramento Valley, I find that it has also been their obser- 

 vation that Bartlett pears in close proximity to other varieties 

 regularly set a larger crop than other trees farther removed from 

 the interplanted pollinizers. 



"Under conditions existing in the foothills, progressive and 

 observing groM^ers commonly regard interplanting of pear varieties 

 for purposes of cross-pollination absolutely essential. 



"Taken on the whole, I am inclined to believe that in the valleys 

 of California and assuredly in the foothills, interplanting of varie- 

 ties Avill yield goodly returns. Naturally, the valley grower will 

 want to plant as many Bartletts and as few pollinizers as possible. 



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