3d February, A. D. 1898. 



ESSAY 



BY 



ARTHUR J. MARBLE, Worcester, Mass. 

 Theme: — Pear Culture. 



Mr. Pres^ident, Ladies and, Gentlemen: — I was in hopes that 

 something might be said today on the cultivation of pears that 

 would be of benefit to some of our Society, but when I look 

 upon those who are assembled here l)efore me, and see the 

 venerable and gray heads, I feel that there can be more said 

 perhaps in the audience in the way of instruction in pear culture 

 than can be said from the speaker's table. It might be asked 

 why we should stop at the present time to consider this question 

 of pear culture. Those of you who attend our exhibitions have 

 noticed perhaps that in some of the more popular varieties there 

 are exhibited from thirty to forty, and sometimes from forty to 

 fifty plates. The first in the order of merit and rank of the first 

 ten of these plates are usually very fine specimens, and as has 

 been said by one exhibitor, " And when you go beyond that, the 

 majority of the plates are useful to us only as an object lesson of 

 what we ought not to raise, and if any prize at all were to be 

 awarded, it would be what is sometimes called the booby prize." 

 Again, the difiference between the fine specimens of fruit which 

 are exhibited here and what you so often see heaped upon the 

 fruit-stands and in the market is very marked. You and I, at 

 least I, frequently when standing in the hall, have heard people 

 say, " Well, why don't we find such fruit as that in the market? 

 Why do we not see it on the fruit-stands?" This goes to show 

 that there is a difference, and a great difference, in fruit culture 



