76 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



there are men left that love the fruit and know how to grow it. 

 There is always a market for all you can raise that is in good 

 marketable condition, but it takes a man who loves pears 

 especially to raise them on a commercial scale. 



I have about seventy-five varieties in my private grounds. 

 I love the pear and I like to see them growing. I think the 

 Connecticut Pomological Society can do more than it has done 

 in the past by trying to get people to plant pear orchards here 

 Connecticut. There are some varieties, of course, that amount 

 to nothing; that you could not send to market and get fifty 

 cents a bushel for. That is not the kind to plant. Plant the 

 kinds that you know have an established market. You go 

 right out here today through the streets of Hartford, and you 

 will see pears from California selling for a price so high that 

 you can hardly afford to buy them. We can raise those pears 

 right here in Connecticut, and have those pears in our cellars, 

 if we want them badly enough to plant them and take care 

 of them. 



President Gold : What Mr. Smith has said is largely 

 true. He has left out one item though — that the trees left to 

 take care of themselves are very apt to suffer with the pear 

 blight, and that has always caused a great deal of trouble. 



A Member : I do not agree with what the gentleman says 

 in all respects, Mr. President. There is just as much reason 

 why we cannot grow pears in Connecticut as there is why we 

 cannot. grow prunes. We cannot do it. I do not think the 

 climate and soil is adapted to growing pears here as it is in 

 California and that section. God Almighty made some parts 

 of this country better adapted to certain fruits than others. 

 He made some of it different from other sections, and that is 

 why Connecticut can never do very much with pear culture. I 

 think it is a good deal so in California. That soil is different 

 from ours, and the climate is different, it is better adapted to 

 growing that kind of fruit. i 



President Gold: There is no doubt that the California 

 soil is well adapted to pear culture, and it is up to us to do the 

 best we can on our soil. Those who were in Boston saw some 



