304 THE CULTIVATION OF THE 



cultural Fair, and it is in this way premiums are taken. 

 Such hand-thinning would be neither practicable nor 

 profitable in large field orchards, and for them is not to 

 be recommended. 



PICKING THE CROP. 

 Most pears when ripened off the trees, color up 

 better, have a finer perfume, and are of much richer flavor 

 than when ripened on the trees. Yet many will ripen 

 well on or off the trees, as the Bartlett, but the Clapps 

 Favorite, for instance, will be disappointing if permitted 

 to remain on the tree until mellow. It must be gathered 

 at just the right time, kept in the right place, and eaten 

 at the right time, or it will rot at the core and be worth- 

 less. These points will serve to show how much judg- 

 ment and experience must be exercised in gathering the 

 pear crop. The early varieties, as the Summer Doyenne 

 and Bartlett, and Manning's Elizabeth, must be gathered 

 early, in order to get them into market and anticipate 

 the northern growers, and the peach competition. A 

 Bartlett pear, two-thirds grown, will ripen off the tree 

 with good flavor, and usually can be gotten to market 

 before peaches come, but there are exceptional years, 

 when the season is late, and they come in with Penin- 

 sula peaches, much to the disadvantage of the pear. 

 The season of 1885 was thus an unprofitable season to 

 the growers of Bartletts, the fruit coming in with early 

 peaches. Later pears must not be gathered too soon or 



