2i8 Pears at the West. 



PEARS AT THE WEST. 



By SuEL FosTEK, Muscatine, lo. 



Pear-culture at the West is growing in favor. I was of opinion, a few 

 years ago, that the apple was the most profitable, from its being more pro- 

 ductive, and the tree more healthy. The latter I believe is true, as a general 

 thing. We are getting more discouraged with dwarf pears than standards. 

 My dwarfs of twelve years' setting are blighting badly this year. I have 

 noticed; that, for several years past, they were blighting more than ihe 

 standards. 



My soil is oak and hickory land, — thin soil for the West, with a stiff, dry 

 yellow clay for subsoil ; no lime or gravel (I think this kind of soil, with 

 limestone or gravel, probably is more suitable for both pear and grape). 

 Be that as it may, they both do well ou my soil. The pear blights to death 

 generally, in a very few years, in the universal deep, rich soils of the West; 

 yet they sometimes get hold of the dry, hard subsoil, and live on and 

 thrive. I think it would pay most of our farmers to make a clay soil for a 

 few pear-trees : but the pear-grower should go where the soil is ready for 

 the tree ; for there is sufficient of it, as cheap as the unsuitable. 



The Bartlett is my favorite ; for it bears the most abundant crops, is large, 

 handsome, and a good market-pear : its quality is surpassed by but very 

 few of my acquaintance. It is true, the tree, in many instances, has proved 

 too tender for our severe winters ; and our Illinois people have been very 

 cautious in recommending it on that account. It is true that I prefer the 

 Seckel for the most exquisite flavor; but my Bartletts produce five times as 

 many bushels as the Seckels. I know of but one variety, out of twenty that 

 I have fruited, that produces more; that is the Vicar of Winkfield : and 

 the quality of that is too poor to be classed among pears, except for cook- 

 ing. I believe I have but two varieties freer from blight than the Bartlett : 

 these are the Flemish Beauty and White Doyenne. I am thus particular 

 in setting forth the merits of the Bartlett : first, because it is worthy ; and, 

 second, because, when I send East to the wholesale nurseries, the proportion 

 of Bartletts is not more than one-fourth enough to suit my customers. 



Second to the Bartlett is the Flemish Beauty. It succeeds nearly as 



