24 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Jan. 



HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. 

 BY P. BARRY. 



Remarks on llip t'liltiirc of the Pear, with Figures 

 and Descriptions of Three Fine Varieties. 



An American Author says: "The Pear is un- 

 deniably the favorite fruit of modern times and 

 modern cuhivators. " Tiiis is no doubt cor- 

 rect, as far as relates to places where Horticul- 

 ture has attained a somewhat advanced state — 

 where taste has been cultivated and knowledge 

 acquired on the subject of fruit culture. But, in 

 large portions of our country, it is very far from 

 being the case: even in our region, Western New 

 York, where we claim to have made some ad- 

 vancement, not one out of an hundred of our 

 Agriculturists, who are all fruit growers to a great- 

 er or less extent, has scarcely attempted the cul- 

 tivation of the Pear. This we know to be the 

 case, in many of the gardens in Rochester and 

 immediate vicinity. In some village gardens, 

 and now and again a Farmer's garden through- 

 out the country, we find some of the good old 

 varieties of Pears. 



But amongst the mass of those who cultivate 

 our wonderfully fertile soil, the culture of the 

 Pear, either for domestic use or for sale, is ut- 

 terly neglected. The astonishing improvements 

 which this fruit has undergone within the last half 

 century — the degree of perfection it has attain- 

 ed — the thousand delicious varieties that long 

 years of skilful, patient laborious culture and ex- 

 periment has produced — combining every desira- 

 ble quality — ripening at every season, and adapt- 

 ed to the gi-atitication of every taste — appear to 

 be comparatively unknown, or at least shameful- 

 ly unappreciated. We submit this matter to every 

 cultivator of the soil, who desires to multiply the 

 comforts and enjoyments of his own family — to 

 improve and enrich his portion of the earth — 

 to [)lay properly his part in the great work of uni- 

 versal progress that has become, in fact, the watch- 

 word and spirit of the times. 



" But," say our rigid economists, " we have 

 no time to devote to the cultivation of fine fruits. 

 The trees cost so much, and besides, we don't 

 know much about planting or cultivating, and if 

 we buy trees they will die," &c. &c. These 

 are the objections urged by hundreds of the en- 

 lightened cultivators of America; men from 

 whom we would not expect such mistaken views 

 of economy — such impotent reasoning. 



The experience of every man who has plan- 

 ted a fruit tree — a Pear tree, as we now write of 

 that — and taken proper care of it until it arrives 

 at a bearing state, will go to show it one of the 

 most profitable investments, ;ill things consider- 

 ed, he ever made on his farm. VV'e know single 

 Pear trees in abundance that produce annually, 

 without a shilling's worth of labor, more than the 



actual profits of three of the best acres of land 

 in the rich valley of the Genesee. 



Pears ahvavs command instant sale, in all the 

 principal markets of our country. — $5 per bush- 

 el is not an uncommon price, and $2 is about the 

 lowest for Pears of even ordinary quality ; and 

 yet you cannot spare time to cultivate them, or 

 afford to purchase the trees ! But then we don't 

 know how to cultivate. W^e hold it to be unpar- 

 donable for any man in these days, and particu- 

 larly in this country, to plead ignorance of any 

 branch of his own profession at least. Does not 

 your country abound with sources of informa- 

 tion ? Look at your splendid School District 

 Libraries-your unprecedentedlyc heap periodical 

 publications, teeming with information, scientific 

 and practical, on every point connected with ru- 

 ral industry. See your cheap books offered for 

 sale at your very doors. For the small sum of 

 $1,75 you can purchase Downing's " Fruit and 

 Fruit Trees of America," a work which fur- 

 nishes all the essential information on Fruit cul- 

 ture in this country — presenting to you the very 

 essence of accumulated experience and improve- 

 ments of centuries. You have the '• Genksee 

 Farmer" for 50 cents per volume, of 300 large 

 octavo pages. The "Cultivator" for $1 per 

 year; one of its thousand articles alone is worth 

 the money ; and numerous other works of equal 

 merit and cheapness that we might mention, af- 

 fording to every man, old and young, in the 

 land, the means of knowledge — and yet men are 

 not asliamed to plead ignorance ! But many are 

 so eager, so impatient for a return from what 

 they invest, that they cannot bear the idea of 

 waiting a few years for a tree to arrive at pro- 

 ductiveness. The Pear tree, in particular, is 

 considered as requiring half a lifetime to attain 

 this state, and hence it is out of the question to 

 cultivate it. This opinion has obtained in conse- 

 quence of the tardiness of seedling or natural 

 trees, and most of the old kinds which alone 

 have been cultivated. We wish to abolish this 

 false and pernicious opinion. A large propor- 

 tion of the new varieties of Pears will bear 

 about as soon as an Apple. In 1840 and '41, 

 we planted in our grounds upwards of fifty va- 

 rieties, all of which have already produced fruit. 

 Many have borne the third year after planting. 

 A system of root, pruning, an account of which 

 we gave in the March number of our last vol- 

 ume, is now practised with perfect success upon 

 tardy bearing sorts — of this we will speak at 

 more length hereafter. Wliere early produc- 

 tiveness is chiefly desired, trees can be had in 

 the nurseries grafted, or inoculated on Quince 

 stocks, that will bear the second year after plant- 

 ing — almost certainly. 



The^e ])ossess another very desirable quality 

 of making beautiful compact low trees or bus!ies, 

 branclied from top to bottom. Ttie fruit is easi- 

 ly gathered from them and is not liable to be 



