CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



veiehed four pounds and nine ounces, and was reported by Colonel 

 Wider to be larger than anything previously reported m pear 

 annals * But California has recently done even better, for a pear 

 i near Marysville in 1904 was reported as nine inches high, 

 sixteen inches around the base and five pounds in weight. Notes 

 kept by the writer include five Vicar of Wmkfields weighing four 

 pounds eight ounces; nine Easter Beurre weighing twenty-four and 

 one-half pounds, the heaviest single specimen weighing two and 

 three-fourths pounds ; thirty-five Beurre Clairgeau weighing thirty- 

 seven pounds, the heaviest one, nineteen ounces ; Seckel pears, nine 

 and three-fourths inches in circumference Dowmng's figures make 

 the Seckel five and seven-eighths inches around. 



The pear comes into bearing early if conditions have favored 

 the thrift and development of the tree. It is a long-lived tree as 

 already shown unless it is invaded by the blight. It is the judg- 

 ment of Hayward Reed, whose pear orchards in Sacramento and 

 Yuba Counties have long been among the best known in California, 

 that with variations due to climate, soil, drainage, variety, etc., 

 a pear tree is mature at 12 to 15 years of age and will average eight 

 or nine boxes of 50 pounds each. It will pay for its care at seven to 

 ten years of age. 



LOCALITIES FOR THE PEAR 



The pear has a wider range than the apple in local adaptations. 

 It does as well as the apple in the coast regions, if suitable varieties 

 are grown; it thrives far better than the apple in the interior val- 

 leys; it rivals the apple in the ascent of the slope of the Sierra 

 Nevada, and gains from the altitude, color and late keeping, as 

 does the apple. By rejecting a few naturally tender varieties, or 

 by proper protection against the scab fungus, in regions where its 

 attacks are severe, one can grow pears almost everywhere in Cali- 

 fornia providing pear blight can be held in check, as will be dis- 

 cussed later. 



The choice of location is governed more by commercial consid- 

 erations than by natural phenomena. The same facts which make 

 the Bartlett the favorite variety with planters, also should regulate 

 the choice of locality for growing it. These facts were expressed 

 by the late C. W. Reed, of Sacramento, who was in his time one of 

 the leading pear growers and shippers of the State, as follows : 



In the Sacramento Valley proper there is but one variety of pear that 

 win justify extensive cultivation, viz., the Bartlett. While nearly all va- 

 rieties may be grown successfully, and many varieties may be desirable 

 for home purposes, yet for profitable orchards we have to confine ourselves 

 to this one variety, except in high altitudes, or localities where the fruit 

 only matures very late. The reason for this will be better understood by 

 the inexperienced if explained. The Bartlett pear having qualities that 

 make it a universal favorite for shipping, canning, and for domestic mar- 

 ket, no other variety is wanted while it is obtainable. With the difference 

 in the time of its ripening in different localities that are adjacent, our mar- 



*Tilton's Journal of Horticulture, March, 1871, p. 87. An engraving of this fruit, 

 natural size, was given in the Pacific Rural Press, November 8, 1873." 



