76 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



juove to be exceptions, and not the rule. Experiments, to be of much value 

 as constituting a general rule with respect to any culture, should have been 

 numerous, conducted under a great variety of circumstance, and spread 

 over a wide extent of territory. 



Instances are on record of great results obtained from a single or a few 

 pear trees, as in a case presented by Mr. William Bacon of Roxbury, who, 

 from a single tree of the Beurre Diel, eighteen years old, has sold on an 

 average each year, for the last four years, $60 worth of pears — on one of 

 these years the crop being sixty-eight dozen, that sold for $82 ; and from a 

 tree of the Doyenne Sieulle, fourteen years old, the same gentleman has 

 sold yearly, for the last three years, $30 worth of fruit on an average. But 

 it would hardly do to adopt this remarkable case as a result that might be 

 generally calculated on. If either with or without the skill of Mr. B., or 

 his favorable situation for the purpose, a great number of the trees of these 

 varieties should be planted, with the expectation of realizing anything like 

 similar results per tree, the attempt would end, it is believed, in most 

 egregious disappointment. Cases could be pointed out where the cultiva- 

 tion of the pear, on an extended scale, has been attended with profitable 

 results, but the circumstances under which this has occurred should be 

 carefully considered before drawing any inference therefrom. So, too, in 

 cases of failure, arising perhaps from improper treatment, neglect, unsuit- 

 able soil, or like causes, such should be taken into account before condemn- 

 ing the culture. 



If this question — Can we grow pears ? — is to be restricted in its interpre- 

 tation to the literal signification of the terms in which it is conveyed, it 

 admits of but one reply — for that we can grow pears is a fact within the 

 personal knowledge of nearly every man, woman, and child in the Com- 

 monwealth, and that such can be produced in great perfection a few visits 

 to the exhibitions of this Society will determine. But taking it, as no 

 doubt was intended, in an enlarged and liberal sense — Can we grow pears 

 successfully, that is, profitably ? — and it is believed it admits of an equally 

 reliable, if less positive, affirmative answer. 



If the question had been put in somewhat different terms, as. Do we 

 grow pears profitably ? truth might require a reply of a different character. 

 It is true that there are no statistics in reference to the cultivation of the 

 pear that can be much depended on, but in the absence of such — guided by 

 such light as is afforded by a personal experience of some duration, and 

 from such information as can be gathered from some of the more intelligent 

 sources, it is believed, that though instances of success can be found, that 

 such must be regarded as exceptional, and that, taking the whole cultiva- 

 tion of the pear as it has been thus far generally pursued in this vicinity in 

 the aggregate, that it has not only been unattended with profit, but has en- 

 tailed a positive loss. 



But, notwithstanding the length of time that has elapsed since the great 

 interest in this cultivation has manifested itself, it may be said that until 

 now it has been in a state of pupilage — for it has only been by patient 

 observation and long years of trial that knowledge has been acquired of the 



