THE PEAR. 93 



remote from the seaboard could engage in more profitably than 

 apples ? Pears do not do so well, but apples do even better 

 there than here. There are formidable enemies to the apple, 

 about cities, especially the canker-worm. This pest remains 

 for a time, and then disappears. I know that the caterpillar 

 has got to be a formidable enemy in some places, but a little 

 vigilance (yes, a good deal is required sometimes,) will relieve 

 us of that. I can show you whole orchards of a thousand trees, 

 where not a nest can be found ; but they belong to industrious 

 men, who are up in the morning looking after their trees. I 

 believe these things can be remedied. 



We need more light on the failure of the apple. If there are 

 reasons which have operated, and will continue to operate, 

 against the raising of apples, it is important we should know 

 them ; and if there is no reason why this failure is to continue, 

 then it is important we should know that, for it is a fact, that 

 there are fewer apple trees planted in Massachusetts now than 

 ever before, and the result will be, if we go on discouraging, as 

 some have during the past few years, the growing of apples in 

 different parts of the State, we shall be obliged to send our 

 money out of the State for this fruit, which it seems to me we 

 ought not to do. 



Mr. Brown. How is it with regard to pears ? 



Mr. Hyde. This year has been one of the worst years for 

 pears that I remember. Certainly, I never have experienced a 

 worse one since my orchard has been in bearing. I have a 

 small orchard of 400 standards and 600 dwarfs, and the pears 

 were so poor in flavor as not to be worth anything ; and the 

 same was true of thousands of other orchards, in different parts 

 of the country. In Southern Illinois, they had the same trouble. 

 I think it must have been owing to the wet season. I have 

 never known pears to crack as they did this year. Clapp's 

 Favorite, a variety only about twelve or fourteen years old, 

 cracked in my place badly. You will see that age cannot be 

 the reason ; there must be something besides that. Take the 

 Belle Winsor. That does not usually crack, but it cracked this 

 year badly. I never knew it to before. The Buerre Diel 

 cracked all to pieces, so that you could actually see the seeds. 

 Why was it ? I cannot tell. I think it was owing to the pecu- 

 liarity of the season. I cannot give the philosophy of it, I 



