THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN PEAK SUPPLY. 65 



CHAPTER XI. 



THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN PEAR SUPPLY. 



IN the choice of kinds, most private growers are 

 anxious to keep up a supply for family use throughout 

 the season, having one or more summer sorts, according 

 to the ground at command ; a few first-class varieties 

 of autumn-ripening pears, generally so much finer in 

 flavour ; and some to come in from the middle of winter 

 to the end of spring, often better in all points than 

 any, provided really good and productive trees can be 

 obtained. 



The Jargonelle is perhaps the best early pear for a 

 garden which is small, or of only moderate dimensions, 

 as it is a plentiful bearer, will keep better than most 

 early pears, and is of a good size, juicy, melting, and 

 finer in flavour than any equally early. It will flourish 

 in almost any garden, and on a wall it will produce as 

 far north as pears will grow. It is said to do best on 

 the pear stock, and to be gritty at the core if grown 

 on the quince, and it makes fine, large, well-grown 

 trees, but Mr. Eivers recommends it for bush culture 

 also. 



One fine, productive Jargonelle pear tree gives no bad 

 supply for a family, and there is less objection to its 

 growing tall than in the case of kinds which have to 

 bear autumn wind- storms, for it ripens by the middle 

 of August, and is done with by about the end. It is 

 the Grosse cuisse Madame of French growers. The 

 fruit is greenish-yellow, with sometimes a tinge of 

 brownish-red on the sunny side, rather pyramidal, long 

 and large, with an open eye, long segments of calyx, 

 and a longish stalk, obliquely inserted. If some are 

 gathered before they are ripe, and stored in a cool 

 fruit-room, they will ripen more gradually and keep 

 longer than those left to ripen on the tree. 



