Our Pear Culture all ^lackery . 13 



Whole crop, 4'505i bushels, .... $17,040.01 



Mixed or poor pears, 1,173^ " . . . . 2,641.54 



3,332 bushels good pears brought ^14,398.47 

 Which is an average of $4.32 per bushel. 



Is Dr. Houghton convinced.'' ii73i bushels of poor pears did bring 

 about $2.50 per bushel, and the balance $4.32 per bushel. 



Now, as to the truth of that other statement, that "■ no orchards in the 

 United States can produce twenty-five dozen specimen pears except 

 Bartlctt and Seckel, without completely stripping the crop of all its 

 good fruit." First we must settle what is a specimen. If we take 

 those of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society exhibitions as a sample, 

 then our whole crop arc specimens ; but if we take the Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Society, the case is quite difierent. Yet we ofler the fol- 

 lowing to show that xt'c, at least, had more than that number. 



Sheldon in 1862, 14I bushels. Sheldon in 1866, 20^ bushels. 



" 1S63, 22' " " 1S67, 10 



" 1864, 10 " " 1868, 14 " 



« 1865, 14^ " " 1869, 25 



Of Swan's Orange, Bartlctt, Urbaniste, Abbott, Bcurro Langlier, Law- 

 rence, Boston, Louise Bonne, Lc Cure, Merriam, and Doyenne Bous- 

 sock, our crop varies from twenty to one hundred bushels each. 



After all, the doctor was pretty safe in his statement, for we venture 

 to assert, that besides the Bartlctt, Seckel, Duchesse, and Louise Bonne, 

 no cultivator in the LTnited States, out of the vicinity of Boston, could 

 produce twenty-five dozen good specimens, or poor ones either. We 

 regret that Dr. Houghton did not tell us the owner's name of the " most 

 celebrated orchard in America," whose crop of fine fruit of all varieties 

 was exhausted after sending away twelve or fifteen dozen pears. It must 

 have been celebrated for something besides its fruit. 



Once more as to the production of specimens, according to Dr. 

 Houghton's ideas, for they are undoubtedly high, and the profit in 

 producing them. 



Given a good healthy standard tree, capable of producing two bush- 

 els, — for many of ours bear five to ten, — what is the result in dollars and 

 cents.'' Two bushels of pears, at our average prices, at $3.70 (good 

 and poor), is $7.40. Now pick ofi' twenty-five per cent., and the prod- 



