i8 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



Fig. 22:5. The Pear Stem. The bark 

 beginning to roughen (after Craig). 



gins to break up and fall away in scales. 

 Each kind of tree sheds its bark in a manner 



peculiar to itself. The shape of the scales 

 is due primarily to the arrangement which 

 the lenticles take in the young wood. 



The age at which trees begin to shed 

 their bark varies greatly with different 

 species. In the grape vine, the inner bark 

 is renewed each year, and that formed the 

 year before is thrown out in long shreds. 

 The sassafras has rough bark in two or 

 three years, while the sweet chestnut often 

 retains its smooth bark for over twenty 

 years. The bark of the beech never be- 

 comes scaly, because it begins early in life 

 to fall away in granules. 



The apple and pear trees usually show a 

 scaly bark at ten or twelve years of age. 

 Trees that have been well cultivated and 

 cared for retain their smooth bark much 

 longer than those which have been ne- 

 glected. 



THE KIEFFER PEAR. 



i,URSERYMEN will be interested in 

 the following statement by the Rural 

 New Yorker, in response to a query 

 from Benton Harbor, Mich : 



We have been watching the KiefFer 

 pear closely in this market. A few 

 years ago in New York, during its season, 

 the push carts and fruit stands were well 

 covered with it. Many were sold to eat 

 out of the hand, and the result, nine times 

 out of ten, was evidently a disappointment. 

 Gradually the fruit has disappeared from 

 these retail stands, until now it is rarely 

 seen. This is good evidence that the buy- 

 ing public recognize it, and will not buy it 

 for eating from the hand. We believe that 

 its sale will be limited to the demand for 

 canning purposes, and there are few better 

 fruits for this purpose. In order to make 

 sure we have asked some leading fruit 



dealers for opinions as to the future trade 

 in Kieffers." 



Stearns & Brothers, Baltimore, Md. , state 

 that the Kieffer does not bring the prices 

 that other varieties do, and think that too 

 many of them are grown. S. H. & E. H. 

 Frost, New York, say: "The foreign de- 

 mand seems increasing somewhat. This 

 will help to relieve the market, and it may 

 be that large increased production might 

 pay many years to come." 



Brown & McMahon, Philadelphia, say : 

 *• Our opinion is that the Kieffer pear busi- 

 ness is very much overdone, and instead of 

 planting more trees they had better cut 

 some down." Archdeacon & Co., New 

 York : "It may be very good for canning 

 or cooking ; in fact, in the South it is a 

 pear which they prefer to all others, prob- 

 ably because they have no others." 



