24 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1897. 



Onr seasons are hardly long enough for the Winter Nelis to fully 

 mature ; though by severely thinning the fruit and allowing it to remain 

 on the trees as long as possible without freezing, and when gathered 

 placing it immediately in cold storage, it may be kept from witheiing ; 

 it is of superior quality and the only first-class pear I have ever seen 

 brought from California, where it ripens perfectly. 



Theie should be added to the above for market purposes the 

 Angouleme and Clairgeau, both to be grown in a strong, rich soil on 

 quince stocks. 



Nowhere is the pear more easily grown or better fruit produced 

 than in our own State ; but being more reliable for an annual crop than 

 the apple, requires more care in cultivation and more fertilizers to 

 secure the best results. Most varieties of the pear set more fruit than 

 the trees can mature and produce good specimens, and require thinning. 



This is especially true of such varieties as bear in clusters, notably 

 the Seckel and Dana's Hovey. 



While the standard tree or pear on its own roots will grow and pro- 

 duce fair fruit wherever the apple can be successfully grown, failure 

 frequently occurs in setting dwarf trees in soil not adapted to their 

 growth. Tlie roots of the quince are compact, spreading over a 

 limited space and require a deep, rich, moist soil ; and the pear on 

 these stocks will invariably fail in a light, dry soil, yet the dwarf is 

 indispensable to the best success in growing this fruit. Downing in 

 his time doubted whether the dwarf trees would ever be used to any 

 considerable extent in orchard growing, yet some of the largest grow- 

 ers in the town of Revere set almost entirely dwarf trees; but under 

 their high cultivation they get the benefit of their early bearing, and in 

 the meantime the trees are throwing out roots from the pear stock 

 and becoming to all intents and purposes standard trees. In selecting 

 dwarf trees choose only those that are budded close to the crown of 

 the roots and plant the trees so that three or four inches of the pear 

 stock will be below the surface of the soil. 



The Peach is the most uncertain, as it is the most desirable for the 

 table, of all our tree fruits, and formerly was grown with the least care. 

 Some of us can remember when peaches were so plenty as to be of 

 little or no commercial value. Few gardens however limited in area 

 failed to contain one or more peach trees. There were no special 

 varieties. The trees were seedlings and bore the natural fruit. 

 There were two distinct classes, called Rareripe and Frost peaches : 

 the former varied in size, color and quality ; the latter were a pale 

 green color and remained hard, upon the trees until early frosts, and 



