92 Commercial Gardening 



5,644 cwt.; and the Cape, 5,202 cwt. While the imports from Belgium and 

 Holland have declined somewhat since 1907, they have gone up in leaps 

 and bounds from the United States, which only sent us 24,000 cwt. in 1907 

 against 132,924 cwt. in 1911, an increase of 108,946 cwt. in four years. 



Pears are grown very much in the same way as Apples and Plums, 

 but are probably more mixed with these two fruits. Taking as a basis 

 for computation 160 Pear trees to the acre (there are probably twice 

 that number), it would mean that there are at least 1,575,000 Pear 

 trees in the United Kingdom. Assuming an average crop of 2 bus. of 

 fruit to each tree, the annual crop of British pears would be something 

 like 3,150,000 bus. or about 56,000 tons about twice as much as the 

 imported produce. At the rate of 10 per ton the annual value of the 

 pear crop would thus be about 560,000, somewhat more than the declared 

 value of imported fruit. 



It is stated in Mr. Bunyard's Fruit Farming for Profit that the 

 average yield per acre for pears is 2 tons. This seems to be a curiously 

 small crop in normal seasons, averaging only 28 Ib. per tree at 160 trees 

 to the acre. If a greater number of trees to the acre than 160, the 

 average yield per tree would of course be much less than 28 Ib., and 

 would not pay any market gardener to grow. We have known some 

 Jargonelle Pear trees, well established and with plenty of space, yielding 

 an average of 8 bus. per tree for many years. 



The annual receipts and expenses from an acre of established Pear 

 trees may be estimated as follows, reckoning 160 trees to an acre, and 

 not taking into account undercrops: 



EECEIPTS 

 160 trees, 2 bus. each, at 3s. 6d. per bus. = 320 bus. 56 



EXPENSES 



56 



Like all other estimates, the only fairly sure thing about the figures is 

 the expenses. If market gardeners could rely every year upon a crop 

 of pears yielding 56 per acre, they would probably be happy. But it 



