The Canadian Horticulturist. 397 



SUMMER PEARS. 



^'•MONG the early varieties Clapp's Favorite has proved the most 

 profitable, and where a succession of pears is des'red, there is no 

 better list than this early variety, followed by Bartletts and Seckels. 

 The first should be nearly harvested before the Bartletts are 

 ready for shipment. The trouble often is with Clapp's Favorite 

 that it is not picked early enough. For market use this pear must 

 be picked before it is ripe, or else it will rot quickly at the core, and prove a 

 failure. One needs some experience with this pear to know just when to pick it. 

 It ripens so quickly after it reaches a good size that one may suddenly find his 

 whole crop over-ripe before half harvested If for home use the pears can be left 

 on the tree all through August, but when raised for market the whole crop 

 should be gathered early in August. The supply ought to be off the trees before 

 the 20th of the month, and yet I have seen people just starting in to pick them 

 at this time. Generally the pear is ready for harvesting on the first day of Aug- 

 ust, and I have started in to pick them on the 25th of July. 



The crop of Bartletts should not be touched Until the Clapp's Favorite are 

 about out of the way. I do not believe in sending half ripe Bartletts to the early 

 market. The time has gone by whdn people would buy these early inferior 

 fruits simply because they were the first of the season. The Bartletts are poor 

 fruit unless properly ripened. 



I believe that farmers and fruit-growers would realize much more profit 

 from their pears if they had cold storage on the place. Bartlett and Seckel 

 pears would especially pay the growers for their cold storage house. It is all 

 right to ship the Bartletts to market when the prices are good, but as soon as 

 the glut begins (and it comes every summer now) I should advise growers to 

 hold on to their fruit. If the pears are picked before they are ripe, carefully 

 wrapped in paper, and kept at a freezing temperature, they will keep for months. 

 Later, when the season is nearly over, prices go up again and profits are doubled. 

 If we do not adopt the cold storage system the speculators and commission mer- 

 chants will. When the market is glutted they buy up the fruit by the carload 

 and store them for future use. 



What is true of the Bartletts is far more so of the Seckel pears. These 

 naturally have better keeping qualities than the Bartletts, and by putting them 

 into cold storage they can be kept until after Christmas. As we have no winter 

 pear that begins to compare with them in quality, they meet a handsome winter 

 sale. Boston makes a specialty of ice house Seckels, and they are quoted in 

 the markets until mid-winter. The Lawrence is later than the Seckel, and can 

 be kept longer, but it has no such general demand as the old favorite Seckel. — 

 S. W. Chambers, in Rural Canadian. 



