1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



561 





f^.,\\' 



THE BARTLETT PEAR. 



Among the excellent fruits ■with which a kind 

 Providence has blessed us, is the Pear. The tree 

 and fruit have man)' qualities to recommend them ; 

 the tree, when full grown as a standard, is symmet- 

 rical, but tall, and somewhat prim, and as a dwarf is 

 highly ornamental even in well cultivated grounds. 

 Some varieties of the fruit are exceedingly beauti- 

 ful in form and color, and the well ripened fruit is 

 thought to be nutritious and healthful. The pear 

 tree is of comparatively slow growth, and this fact 

 prevents many persons from setting it ; when en- 

 grafted on the quince stock, however, it soon comes 

 into a bearing state. A good tree, such as may be 

 purchased for seventy-five cents or a dollar, will 

 usually produce fruit in the course of three or four 

 years, and continues to bear annually if on rich land 

 and kept in a proper state of cultivation. The va- 



rieties of the pear are exceedingly numerous, but 

 a choice selection may be made from them within 

 the number of twenty-five, which will afford the 

 family a Buccession of the richest fruit. 



Among them all, however, everything taken into 

 consideration, rapidity of growth, hardiness, size, 

 form and flavor, there is nothing which we should 

 recommend before the Bartlett, as a summer pear, 

 to those who have no trees now growing. Below 

 we give its description from Downing's work on 

 Fruits. 



This noble pear is, justly, one of the most popu- 

 lar of all the summer varieties. Its size, beauty 

 and excellence, entitle it to this estimation, apart 

 from the fact that it bears very early, regularly and 

 abundantly. It is an English variety, originated 

 about 1770, in Berkshire, and was afterwards prop- 

 agated by a London grower by the name of Wil- 



