68 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



portant as improvements and principles in the 

 various departments of agricultural science and 

 practice, committing them to writing on the 

 spot ; and from these it(;ms to prepare and pub- 

 lish, in tract form, a plain, explicit statement 

 and direction on each one ; and to circulate these 

 little manuals in all the towns, so that each far- 

 mer, V>j means of those and his lectures, may be 

 reached, excited and instructed in a course of 

 visits, to the great benefit of his family and com- 

 munity. This suggestion was made in view of 

 the entire destitution of many families of any 

 reading or lectures upon the subject of their vo- 

 cation, and also of the lively interest that would 

 be kindled up by a visit and paper, tc-lling them 

 what others are doing, and what they may do, 

 that would be a subject of conversation and in- 

 quiry hardly to be expected without such an 

 agency. That was proposed for immediate adop- 

 tion, in view of the maxim, — 



" Greatest good is soonest wrought ; 

 Ling'ring labors come to nought." 



If in this latitude, and with the increase of pe- 

 riodicals and lecturers, something is doing, still 

 an anxious observer will sigh in view of the sIoav 

 progress of ten years, and the languid pulsation 

 of very many yet poor farmers and their boys, 

 like old-fashioned nurseries, never budded. 



These things must be looked at ; let them be 

 talien in hand by the State. Men may be found 

 who can bring head and heart and hand to this 

 work, with proper inducements, whose influence 

 will tell on society as certainly and as strikingly 

 as the operations producing that splendid array 

 of productions fi-om the mechanic's shop, the 

 nurseries and the farms do on our State Fairs. 

 Yours truly, Bexjamin Willard. 



Lancaster, 1854. 



For the New England Farmer. 



CULTUEE OF THE PEAR. 



For more than twenty years has the " pear fe 

 ver,"' as it is called, been raging in this part of 

 New England, and many and solemn have been 

 the predictions that " the thing would be run 

 into the ground," and the market so far glutted 

 by over-production, that pears would not pay for 

 the cultivation. Nurseries have been established 

 in almost every town — thousands of trees have 

 been sold yearly at auction and at private sale — 

 and yet, strange to say, the price of pears in the 

 market is higher this year than it ever was before. 

 A dollar a dozen for handsome dessert pears is 

 an ordinary price. "When it is ])orne in mind 

 that the pear crop is less affected than any 

 other fruit crop of this climate by the casualties 

 of the seasons, the facts here stated are sufficient 

 to show that there is no dangcsr of over-produc- 

 tion. 



A widow lady who owns a small form of fifty 

 acres not fifty miles from Boston, has received 

 more money the past season from the product of 

 two pear trees, than from any one other product 

 of her form. When good fruit of this kind sells 

 as high as !>15, and even $20 per barrel, who 

 can doubt its profitableness over any and all other 

 agricultural or horticultural pursuits? The mis- 

 takt;n idea that it Ucko.s lialf a life-time to bring 

 pear trees into full bearing has deterred many 



from engaging in their cultivation ; while others 

 have gone into the business hap-hazard, without 

 knowledge, or experience, or perseverance, and 

 prt)nounced it a humlnig, because it was with 

 them, as a matter of course, a failure. To those 

 however, wlio have any taste for pomological 

 pursuits, and have patience to learn something 

 from their own observation and the experience of 

 ■ )thers, the pear culture promises a rich harvest. 

 It takes aome years, it is true, for pear trees or 

 pear stocks to come into full bearing ; in fact, 

 the longer fruiting is protracted, the better is the 

 evidence of the healthfulness of the tree, and of 

 its ultimate productiveness. Some fruit-growers 

 consider very early bearing as an evidence of dis- 

 ease in the tree ; and it is often the case that the 

 transplanting of a young tree will set it to 

 fruiting for a year or two, when it will apparent- 

 ly recover its decimated roots, and take upon 

 itself a vigorous growth for a number of years 

 without bearing at all. Let no one discard such 

 a tree. It is only preparing itself for a ten-fold 

 better ultimate harvest. 



There is an impression abroad that all the old 

 varieties of pears are " running out '" or becom- 

 ing worthless. This is a mistake. It is true 

 that the St. Michael or Doyenne, Crassanne, 

 Chaumontelle, and other favorite old jieai-s, have 

 deteriorated ; but this is believed to bo the result 

 of a too high cultivation, rather than any intrin- 

 sic change in the nature of the tree. Certain it 

 is that the Jargonelle (the " Espargne " of Ro- 

 sier, and the " Gross Quisse Madame " of most 

 of the old French writers,) is the oldest pear ex- 

 tant, and is still not only a prolific bearer, but is 

 the best of all the earlier dessert pears. It is 

 believed to be identical with the Pyrum Tarenti- 

 num of Cato, and the Numidium Grcacum of 

 Pliny, and has come down to us through more 

 than two thousand years, 



" Unaltered by the frost of time, 

 Or changing circumstance of earth," 



in all its original delicacy and excellence. Some 

 of our nurserymen, we are sorry to say, have 

 substituted by mistake the Quisse Madame, 

 a pear of English origin, for the Jargonelle — and 

 we see quantities of the former sold under the 

 latter name in the markets. The two very much 

 resemble each other in shape, in the growth of 

 the wood, and in the time of maturing the fruit, 

 but the Quisse Madame is much inferior in size 

 and quality. The true Jargonelle is almost inva- 

 riably reddish next the sun. 



There are other early or summer varieties 

 worthy of cultivation, such as the Julienne, the 

 Burlingame, the Bergamot, the Sucre Verte, the 

 Dearborn Seedling, the Sabine d'Ete, the Belle of 

 Brussells, Souvrain d'Ete, &c. There is also Petit 

 Muscat, the fruit of which grows in clusters, and 

 ripens in July. It takes about a dozen of these 

 pears to nrakc a mouthful, and they arc often sold 

 by the pint or quart at the fruit stands. It is 

 not a v u-y profitable variety for the market. 



For an autumn pear, the first to be named is 

 the Bartlett, or, as it is called in England, Wil- 

 liams Bon Chretin. This fruit is generally be- 

 lieved to have originated in Berkshire, England, 

 and was extensively cultivated by j\Ir. Williams, 

 near Loudon, whose name it bears there. It was 

 first cultivated by Enoch Bartlett, Esq., of Dor- 



