46 HAMPSHIRE, FRANKLIN AND 



summer to late winter. Within the recollection of many mem- 

 bers of the society, it would have been difficult to find a dozen 

 varieties of pears in this vicinity ; now, in some parts of the 

 Commonwealth, a single cultivator is able to exhibit two hun- 

 dred varieties, all valuable, and more or less worthy of cultiva- 

 tion. 



The mode of dwarfing, now almost universally adopted in 

 cultivating the best varieties of pears, is worthy of general adop- 

 tion. It brings the trees into bearing in much less time after 

 planting, greatly improves the fruit, and enables the owner of 

 small premises to cultivate quite a variety of this excellent 

 fruit. 



The four best varieties of early pears, are the Bloodgood, 

 Dearborn's Seedling, Bartlett, and the Julienne, in some locali- 

 ties. 



The six best common varieties of autumn pears, are the 

 Doyenne, two varieties, the White and the Gray ; Beurre Bosc, 

 Beurre Diel, Seckel, Dix, Louise Bonne de Jersey, and many 

 others, nearly or guite equal. 



The four best winter pears, are the Beurre d'Aremberg, 

 Knight's Monarch, Prince's St. Germain, and Winter Nelis, 



The committee feel, in common with every lover of good 

 fruit, who attended the exhibition, great pleasure in witnessing 

 the increased interest felt and manifested, from year to year, in 

 the cultivation of fruit. The display of apples far surpassed 

 any former exhibition, and yet many fruit-growers in the neigh- 

 borhood did not even know that there was to be an exhibition 

 of fruits; and others did not present their fruit, because they 

 had no rare varieties, or extraordinary specimens. 



In many parts of the Commonwealth, monthly exhibitions of 

 fruit are held a large part of the year ; in others, the annual 

 gathering of fruits brings together amateur 'cultivators from 

 neighboring counties and remote districts, loaded with fruits, to 

 swell the catalogue of the reports. Here, Ave have no foreign 

 aid ; a few towns furnish all the specimens presented. We can- 

 not, therefore, give so long a list of names of contributors, or 

 such an array of specimens, as can be found in other places. 

 We, however, have just reason to be proud of our own fruits, 



