AN ESSAY 



ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE PEAR, 



BY W. D. NORTHEND. 



184T. 



There is no tree in this Country more worthy of cultivation, or 

 which better repays the labor and expense of rearing than the pear 

 tree. The fruit is delicious, and in better demand in the market, 

 than any other grown on our soil. The superior varieties of this fruit 

 which have been introduced into the country within the past thirty 

 years from Europe, and especially from Belgium, which Downing calls 

 the Eden of the pear tree, have been Avidely distributed and extensive- 

 ly cultivated, so that their scions or stocks budded with them, may 

 be obtained at very little expense. 



The pear tree was not a native of this country, but was imported 

 from Europe; yet there is, probably, no soil or climate in the world, 

 excepting in Belgium, better suited for its growth, than is to be found 

 in most sections of the United States. Downing, in his Horticultu- 

 ralist mentions as an instance of the state of the market for pears, 

 that a single grower and dealer sold in New York city in two years 

 past, $2000 worth of this fruit at nearly $12 per barrel. But the 

 climate and soil in this region is little if any less congenial to the 

 growth of the pear tree than that of New York. The gardens in and 

 about Boston, abound with all the varieties of this most excellent fruit 

 which is cultivated with complete success, and in tliis county there 

 is perhaps more attention at the present time paid to its cultivation , 

 than in any county of its size in New England. The extensive and 

 valuable nurseries of this fruit in the neighborhood of Salem, have 

 been long and very favorably known among pear growers, and more 

 recently, large nurseries have been planted in West Newbury, Tops- 

 field and Hamilton, and very large numbers of young trees sold in ev- 

 ery town in the county ; and it is easy to anticipate that in a very few 

 years this fruit will become more abundant, and our farmers reap 

 rich harvests from their pear orchards. The cultivation of the pear 

 tree, rightly understood, is extremely simple, and with a judicious selec- 

 tion of soil and location, and proper attention after the trees are trans- 

 planted from the nursery, they become as hardy, and bear as certain 

 crops as the apple. 



