1242 



PEACH 



PEAR 



Three to six furrows are made between the rows of 

 trees, and in these the water runs in a small stream 

 24-48 hours for each irrigation. The length of time 

 depends on the soil, some soils taking in water much 

 more freely than others. The amount applied each time 

 should equal a rainfall of 3 or 4 inches. One irrigation 

 after the crop is off is excellent for the succeeding crop. 

 There are four ways of disposing of the crop drying, 

 shipping, local markets and canneries though it is 

 seldom that all of them are available in one locality. 

 The usual net return to the grower is a little less than 

 one cent per pound for the best fruit. 



Drying is the largest opening for the disposal of the 

 crop. The drying is all open-air sun drying, requiring 

 5-8 days to complete the work. The fruit is all well 

 sulfured after cutting. The time required for exposure 

 to the sulfur fumes is 3 or 4 hours. For best results the 

 fruit should be just about ripe enough to eat. Drying 

 without sulfur would make the business unprofitable as 

 market standards now are. The sulfuring preserves the 

 color and quality of the fruit. Eipe fruit dried without 

 it would be black and taste burned. In cooking sul- 

 fured fruit first apply hot water for a minute or two, 

 then pour off, cover the fruit again with water and after 

 half an hour or more pour off again. Fruit cooked in this 

 way may be eaten in quantity without any bad effects, 

 and there will not be enough sulfur even to tarnish the 

 silverware. The usual net price to the drier is 5-7 cents 

 per pound for Peaches dried from large, well-ripened 

 fruit and well sulfured to preserve a fine color. 



H. CULBEBTSON. 



PEACOCK FLOWER. See Poinciana regia. 



PEANUT is described under Arachis hypogcea, but 

 Peanut culture is not included in this work because 

 Peanuts are an agricultural, rather than a horticultural 

 crop. See Farmers' Bulletin No. 25, U. S. Dept. Agric., 

 by R. B. Handy, 24 pp., 1896. 



basin, Pear culture always has been precarious, due pri- 

 marily to the great liability of the trees to blight. In the 

 southern states, the climate is too hot for the best de- 

 velopment of the tree and the best quality of the fruit. 

 In the north prairie states, the winter climate is so 

 severe that the Pear tree will not grow. Some time be- 



1680. The Sand Pear. Pyrus Sinensis (X%). 



PEAR. Plate XXVII. The cultivated Pear, as known 

 in North America, is derived from two distinct sources, 

 the European Pyrus communis and the Oriental Pyrus 

 Sinensis. Pears of the European stock have been grown 

 in North America from the earliest settlement of the 

 country. ( They thrive particularly well in the New Eng- 

 land states and New York, and west to the Great Lakes, 

 and again on the Pacific slope. In the great interior 



1681. LeConte Pear (X%). 



fore the middle of the century the Sand or Chinese Pear 

 (Pyrus Sinensis), Fig. 1680, was introduced into the 

 eastern states, although it attracted little attention. It 

 soon hybridized with the common Pear, and a race of 

 mongrel varieties was the result. Of these hybrids only 

 two have gained great commercial prominence. These 

 are LeConte and Kieffer. Figs. 1681-3. The LeConte 

 was found to be well adapted to the southern states and 

 its general introduction there after the close of the civil 

 war was the beginning of commercial Pear culture in 

 the south. It was first supposed to be blight-proof, but 

 in recent years the orchards have been nearly deci- 

 mated by the blight with the result that the LeConte is 

 gradually lessening in importance and its place is being 

 taken by the Kieffer, although the latter is by no means 

 blight-free. The Kieffer Pear originated with Peter 

 Kieffer, of Roxborough, Philadelphia, an Alsatian gar- 

 dener, who died in 1890. He grew the Chinese Sand Pear 

 and sold the seedlings as ornamental trees, for this spe- 

 cies is of very distinct and handsome growth and the 

 fruit is ornamental and fragrant. Alongside the Sand 

 Pears were Bartletts. Amongst one of the batches of 

 seedlings from the Sand Pear he noticed a plant with 

 different foliage, and this he saved. Its fruit was found 

 to be superior to the Sand Pear, and it was introduced 

 as the Kieffer. The Kieffer Pear is now very popular 

 in many parts of the country because of its great vigor, 

 healthfulness, productiveness, and the keeping quali- 

 ties of the fruit. In point of quality, the fruit is dis- 

 tinctly inferior, but it meets the demands of the market 

 and is an excellent fruit for canning. In the cold prairie 

 countries and other parts of the cold north, Russian 

 Pears have gained some headway in recent years. These 

 are merely hardy types of Pyrus communis. The fruit 

 is usually of low quality, but the trees are considerably 

 hardier than the ordinary Pear. Pyrus Sinensis itself 

 bears a very hard Pear which is inedible in the raw state, 

 but it is excellent when used as quinces are. It is fra- 

 grant and ornamental. The tree is a most vigorous and 

 clean grower. The plant is well worth growing as an 

 ornamental. It is used for stock for ordinary Pears, 

 particularly in the southern states. See Pyrus. 



The Pear thrives on a variety of soils, but it succeeds 

 best on those which are rather hard clay. On sandy 

 and loamy lands it tends to be short-lived. This is due, 

 in part, to the fact that trees grow rapidly on such lands, 

 and are, therefore, more liable to the attacks of blight. 

 It is now generally accepted that trees which are making 

 a strong and soft growth are more susceptible to blight 

 than those which grow rather slow and firm, although 

 all trees are liable to attack. Some varieties are much 

 more immune than others. Caution must be exercised, 

 therefore, in the tilling of the Pear orchard. Whilst 

 Pears profit by the best tillage, as apples and potatoes 

 do, it is easy to carry the tilling and fertilizing so far 

 as to produce too vigorous growth and thereby invite 



