86 THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 



below —1 5 F., for while winter-killing of the wood does not always occur 

 at this temperature it sometimes does, and even occasional injury to the 

 tree is almost fatal to the profitable growing of fruit. Fruit-buds of the 

 pear are a little more tender to cold than the wood, and a season's crop is 

 often ruined when the temperature drops to — io° F. Pears in the nursery 

 are more tender to cold than trees in the orchard, and unless the wood is 

 thoroughly mature or protected by a heavy covering of snow, nursery 

 stock is likely to be injured by any temperature below zero. The injury 

 of nursery stock is manifested in the well-known " black heart " of young 

 pear-trees subjected to severe cold. 



Happily, there is some flexibility in the constitutions of varieties of 

 pears, as with all fruits, and a degree of cold that will kill a variety under 

 one set of conditions may not under another. While, therefore, it is not 

 safe for commercial fruit-growers to gamble with the weather, those who 

 grow pears for their own use may do so with the expectation of losing 

 trees or crop now and then but of having them in most seasons. A little 

 can be done to prevent winter injury by carefully selecting sites protected 

 from prevailing winter winds, and by planting on warm soils on which 

 the wood matures more thoroughly than on cold soils. Careful cultural 

 methods, especially the use of cover-crops, may be helpful. Not much can 

 be done in the way of coddling pear-trees from cold. They cannot be laid 

 down as is sometimes done with peach-trees, nor can they be grown low 

 enough, even as dwarfs, to count on much protection from deep snow. 



Happily, also, there are varieties of pears endowed with constitutions 

 fitted for very different climates. Varieties of pears from central and 

 northern Russia show remarkable capacity in resisting cold, heat, dryness, 

 strong winds, and other peculiarities of the climate of the Great Plains, 

 and some of them can be grown in the coldest agricultural regions of New 

 York. A few hybrids, as Kieffer, Le Conte, Garber, Douglas, and others 

 of their kind can be grown in the Gulf States where the common pear 

 cannot withstand the hot summers. Cincinis, Le Conte, and Garber thrive 

 as far south as central Florida and southern Texas. There is considerable 

 variation in the hardiness of the common pear. Tyson, Flemish Beauty, 

 and Beurre Superfin are much hardier than Bartlett, Seckel, or Clapp 

 Favorite, and may be chosen to extend the culture of this fruit to any 

 part of New York in which the Baldwin apple can be grown. It is most 

 surprising to find occasionally these hardiest of the common pears growing 

 in some of the coldest parts of the State, usually as demonstrations not 



