MARKETING PEARS. 



495 



mer pear ; no pear can take its place while 

 it is in the market, but we doubt the wisdom 

 of planting- it for export. We have tried 

 several shipments of it every year for five 

 years past, and failure has resulted more 

 often than success. Under ordinary con- 

 ditions failure is certain ; but, if a low 

 temperature can be guaranteed from start to 

 fi.nish, success is probable or almost certain. 

 Last September, for example, we forwarded 

 1 120 cases of Bartletts to Glasgow for our 

 shipping- company, and the loss, considering 

 our markets here, was nearly Si a case, and 

 all without o-overnment sfuarantee. The 



trouble seems to have been a defective link 

 in the cold storage chain. 



But when we forwarded firmer varieties, 

 such as Duchess, Anjou, Louise, Bosc or 

 Clairgeau, success and satisfactory returns 

 usually followed. Such varieties as these, 

 therefore, should form the principal part of 

 all large commercial orchards. 



A neighbor, Mr. D. J. McKinnon, has 

 shown his confidence in commercial pear 

 growing by planting out 9000 trees of such 

 varieties, and he is maintaining them at a 

 large expense of cultivation, with an assur- 

 ance that he is makiner a safe investment. 



MARKETING PEARS. 



fHE methods used in marketing pears 

 vary so greatly in different parts of 

 -^i the country that it would be impos- 

 sible to describe them all in detail here- 

 The season of the year, whether summer or 

 winter, the distance from market, the pur- 

 pose for which the fruit is intended, as well 

 as many other conditions peculiar to the 

 markets of different cities, all have their 

 effect in determining the methods used by 

 the successful pear grower. The California 

 grower packs his pears, mostly wrapped in 

 paper, in neatly constructed boxes, shipping 

 them in carload lots to New York, Boston, 

 or other eastern cities, or perhaps to London. 

 The fruit is sorted and packed directly after 

 it is picked from the trees, and is expected 

 to ripen in transit and open up in prime 

 condition for eating 3,000 miles or more 

 from the orchard. The grower of the Le 

 Conte and Kieffer pear in the Gulf States 

 also packs his fruit in wholesale methods, 

 using barrels or boxes, and ships it in car 

 lots or sometimes even in train lots, to 

 northern cities. On the other hand, the 



Eastern gardener may ripen up a few bush- 

 els in his house and deliver them direct to 

 his retail or wholesale customers. Large 

 quantities of pears are consumed by the can- 

 neries, both on the Pacific Coast and in the 

 Eastern States. The large crop of Kieffers, 

 which is now getting to be such an impor- 

 tant factor in the pear market of Eastern 

 cities during the autumn months, is very 

 largely taken up by the canneries, especially 

 in Baltimore, and the trade in canned Kieffer 

 pears is very rapidly increasing. For the 

 canning trade the pears are almost always 

 shipped in baskets of the type of the Mary- 

 land and Delaware peach basket, and the 

 baskets are generally returned to the grower 

 to be used over and over again. The price 

 is often as low as 15 to 20 cents a half- 

 bushel basket, and 25 to 30 cents is consid- 

 ered a good price. At this price Kieffer 

 pear growing is immensely profitable. This 

 can be readily understood when we realize 

 that the yield is often more than 1,000 bas- 

 kets per acre. — Year Book of Department of 

 Agriculture. 



