EXTEXS/O.V OF FRUIT GROWI.XG ^11. 



greatest profit in fruit growing lies in 

 pears ; we have not enough good pears 

 planted to supply the Canadian trade. 

 Pears can be grown as cheaply as ap- 

 ples, our lowest figures so far have been 

 $2 per barrel, net, here on the ground. 

 At this price there is a mint of money 

 in this fruit. 



Everybody says "Oh ! the blight will 

 kill them," and this bogy scares them 

 out of the notion entirely ; but they will 

 go planting potatoes that rot and are 

 destroyed by bugs and that can't be sold 

 when grown during two years now past, 

 or wheat that is winter killed two years 

 out of three and produces five or ten 

 miserable bushels per acre or oats that 

 rust, and are never afraid of these blights. 

 A pear orchard can be grown with little 

 appreciable loss from blight by careful 

 attention It is not the purpose of this 

 paper to discuss diseases, but rather 

 markets. I have said there are not 

 enough pears now grown to supply our 

 own market, some one wishes to know 

 the proof. The proof lies in the fact 

 that scores of car- loads of Bartletts are 

 imported into this country every year. 



Another proof is that we could not 

 find enough Bartlett, Anjou, .Sheldon or 

 L. Bonne pears of first class quality to 

 supply our orders at Winona this year. 

 Another proof is that none of these 

 varieties sold for less than $3 to 4 per 

 barrel in Montreal this year with all the 

 loads of cheap fruit of all kinds from this 

 and foreign countries on our market. 

 But aside from this home market which if 

 supplied with our pears properly put up 

 would use double what we have now to 

 ofTer, there is without a doubt a grand 

 opening in Britain for this fruit, which 

 can easily be laid down there by cold 

 storage. All through the autumn pears 

 brought fabulous prices over there, at 

 least they seem fabulous to us. Think 

 of four cents each at wholesale. The 



following is an extract from a letter writ- 

 ten by W. N. White & Co., Ltd , pro- 

 minent fruit merchants, of London, Eng- 

 land : 



"Pears — Not much doing in this 

 article, in fact, we have never known the 

 market so bare as it is at present. The 

 few coming from France are realizing 

 very high prices, in fact, were it not 

 for their worth here they would have 

 remained at home. We sold Catalacs, 

 a stewing pear, yesterday, 56 in a crate, 

 at IIS the crate, and 96's 15s. Some 

 Californians on the market sold from 

 15s to 28s per bo.x, according to ([uality. 

 If any of your readers have got some 

 good pears, no matter what country Cali- 

 fornia or American, that will stand the 

 journey to this country, they are sure 

 to realize good prices." 



This speaks for itself, no doubt these 

 extraordinary prices were caused by a 

 short crop in France from whence Eng- 

 land draws her supplies, but France may 

 have a short crop again, doubtless often 

 has, and if such prices obtain in years 

 of such low prices for apples, may we 

 not suppose that at least fair prices are 

 obtained other seasons? Unfortunately I 

 have no record at hand, but this I do 

 know ; California growers ship their 

 pears to England, double the distance 

 we have to ship, and sell them at a pro- 

 fit. I know furthermore, we compete 

 with France and every other country, in 

 apples, wheat, cheese, and many other 

 commodities, why cannot we do so with 

 pears, a fruit we can grow to the 

 highest state of perfection and in unlim- 

 ited quantities over a wide area of On- 

 tario and Nova Scotia. Undoubtedly 

 the planting of pears has been badly 

 neglected, as the packing of pears and 

 all our domestic fruits has been. I 

 want to ask a question now, and it is : 

 " Why does California sell fourteen car 

 • loads of fruit in Montreal on a single 

 day when we have fruits infinitely bet- 

 ter in quality and appearance ?" Surely 



