166 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



get the early l)earing of the dwarf and afterward to change 

 the tree to a standard it may be easily done by a process 

 called lipping, which consists in removing the soil around 

 the trunk to the depth of two or three inches, when it will 

 be found that the pear stock has overgrown the quince por- 

 tion, forming a callous. By puncturing this with a narrow 

 gouge or pocket knife, raising narrow lips of the bark, and 

 pressing the soil between the lips of bark and the wood in 

 six or eight places equidistant around the trunk, returning 

 the soil around the tree and covering with a light mulch, 

 roots will strike out from the incisions made and an even- 

 balanced standard tree will be secured, with roots more 

 evenly distributed than on a nursery-grown tree. 



The grower for market, as in the apple, will find more 

 profit and less difficulty in disposing of his crop by confining 

 himself to a limited number of varieties. The Bartlett, 

 Sheldon, Seckel, Bosc, Angouleme, Dana's Hovey, Clairgeau 

 and Anjou, the first and last grown in larger proportion than 

 the others, would furnish as desirable a list as could be se- 

 lected for our markets at the present time. For the amateur 

 a longer list would be desirable, covering the entire sea- 

 son when the fruit can be had in good condition for the 

 table. The following list, with ordinary care, would furnish 

 the table with the most desirable varieties from the middle of 

 July to the following March, named in the order of their 

 ripening. Summer Doyenne, Giflard, Clapp's Favorite, 

 Bartlett, Seckel, Sheldon, Bosc, Comice, Angouleme, Dana's 

 Hovey, Anjou and Vicar. The improved cold-storage houses 

 have proved a great benefit to the pear-growers, as the 

 October pears may be kept in good condition for the Thanks- 

 giving, Christmas and New Year's trade, and at any time 

 when there is an oversupply of the earlier varieties a portion 

 is placed in cold storage, thus relieving the market and sus- 

 taining prices. There have been put in cold storage in 

 Boston twenty-two thousand bushels the present season. 



The pear is perfectly hardy in our climate and longer lived 

 than any other of the tree fruits. There are several trees in 

 the suburbs and around Boston more than two hundred years 

 old, still bearing fruit, and the famous Endicott tree, in 

 Danvers, planted by Governor Endicott in 1630, still con- 



