PEARS, VARIETIES— CULTIVATION. 61 



seldom a good eating pear, but is good for cooking. One great 

 difficulty with it is that it overbears, and the growers fail to 

 thill it. 



For market purposes and profit merely, wo should recommend 

 the planting of not more than six or eight varieties, and those 

 should be Clapp's Favorite, Bartlett, Swan's Orange, Beurrd 

 d'Anjou, Doyennd Boussock, and Buffum. If we were to add 

 two more we should select Sheldon and Lawrence. No pears 

 should be allowed to ripen on the tree ; many of them, if so 

 left, become worthless, while others are not half as good as 

 though picked and ripened in the house. This does not apply 

 to most fruits ; apples, like peaches, should ripen on the tree. 

 Many persons planting pears for profit have made a grand mis- 

 take in setting out too many varieties, and those, too, that have 

 not been fully tested for general cultivation. It is all very well 

 — in fact, of the highest importance — that the pomolog-ist should 

 test them all, but it is far from profitable. 



We have often heard pear growers express their regrets that 

 they ever planted over five sorts. Those who have many 

 varieties can graft such as are not valuable with little loss ; for 

 scions set in bearing' trees will produce fruit by the third or 

 fourth year. Many ignorant persons suppose they have only to 

 plant the trees, whether in grass or ploughed land, and in a few 

 years they will have an abundance of fruit ; but such are quite 

 likely to find out their mistake. Trees must have constant 

 attention, or they will not flourish. There is a great difference 

 on different soils, but the same law holds good here as every- 

 where else — if one would secure good results he must work. 

 With all the conditions favorable, it will not be a difficult task 

 to raise the fruit. Care must especially be used in tliinning and 

 picking it at the right time, assorting and packing it for mar- 

 ket, so that it may yield the largest returns, or, if intended only 

 for home use, that it may possess the very highest qualities that 

 the variety is capable of yielding. When pear orchards are 

 judiciously planted and well cared for, one may reasonably 

 expect the trees to live to a good old age. We know of trees 

 which we have no doubt are more than a century old that are 

 yet giving their annual crops of fruit, while the Bartlett, which 

 is one of the shortest-lived trees, will produce in great abun- 



