TOO Commercial Gardening 



2. PEARS TO GROW FOR MARKET 



As in the case of Apples, the list of Pears in the catalogue of a nursery- 

 man is bewildering in the number of varieties offered. The market 

 gardener growing Pears wants the earliest he can get, and should have a 

 succession up to the beginning of November. If he has Pears that require 

 keeping longer than that, he will find the constant looking over which will 

 be necessary sw^allow up the profit in expenses, unless he happens to be 

 in a situation with soil and climate so specially adapted that it pays him 

 to make Pears his speciality. The ordinary market grower will find that 

 a Pear which crops, though dismissed by experts like Mr. Bunyard as 

 " second " or even " third class ", will pay him much better than the 

 " delicious ", " melting ", " first-class " varieties which only deign to produce 

 a crop when all conditions are quite favourable. 



The Duck Egg". This is an old-fashioned Pear, the mention of which 

 will make the expert reader smile. It is, nevertheless, a useful variety 

 for the market grower. Its growth is upright and compact, it is a good 

 cropper, sells well for the barrow trade, and can be put on the market in 

 the home counties at the end of July. It is only suitable for the Pear 

 stock, and makes a good wind shelter for the rest of the plantation. 



Jargonelle. This old Pear is still unbeaten for an early market fruit. 

 The tree is very vigorous in growth on the Pear stock and often a puzzle 

 to prune. It takes five to seven years to come into bearing, but then it 

 nearly always bears and the fruit sells freely. It is early-flowering, and 

 its large white blossoms borne in trusses of six or eight make it quite the 

 most beautiful of all Pear trees. It is apt to canker on cold soils; on such 

 it should receive frequent dressings of lime and spraying, when dormant, 

 with the copper sulphate spray recommended for Apple canker (p. 90). 



Lammas. This early variety seems always to meet with a ready 

 sale in London; it is one of the oldest Pears in cultivation. Some trees in 

 Middlesex are probably 200 years old. It is a heavy cropper, the fruit is 

 small, the colour yellow, and the flesh " flocky ". It is ripe at the end of 

 July. The tree wants age before coming into bearing. 



Hessle. This is a hardy Pear freely grown in the home counties. 

 It is a free bearer and flourishes on a wider range of soil than most Pears, 

 although to get its pretty spotted skin clear from rust it must be planted 

 on deep light soil. Many thousands of bushels of this pear are sent from 

 London by sea to the north of England and Scotland during the first weeks 

 of September. It sold ripe in London in 1910 at 7s. per bushel. The 

 tree easily takes an attractive shape, and after the first few years requires 

 little pruning. Although classed as a common Pear, to use an old aphorism, 

 it will buy the horse while some so-called better varieties are buying the 

 harness. 



Calebasse BOSC. A long brown pear with russet skin and tree of 

 slender, weeping growth. When planted on light deep soil it is a profuse 



