2& 



ent and until more thoroughly tested, such seem better suited to 

 the purposes of the amateur than the farmer. 



At present, perhaps because they are less plenty, the cultiva- 

 tion of winter pears, when such are raised in perfection, is the 

 most profitable, but perhaps it is the most difficult, requiring the 

 most care in the cultivation, — some varieties demand warm and 

 shehered situations, some to be assisted in ripening by some 

 artificial process, while of none, unless it be for cooking, has 

 their adaptation to orchard culture been perhaps fully tested. 



The proper mode of ripening Winter Pears, is a matter of 

 consequence to growers, and must remain probably for some time 

 to come a matter of experiments. With some varieties, as the 

 Winter Nelis and Beurre d'Aremberg, no care seems necessary ; 

 such arrive at perfect maturity under any circumstances, but there 

 are others, as the Vicar of Winkfield, that appear to require the 

 aid of some particular process. Those requiring such assistance 

 may bs placed in tight boxes, deposited in a cool, moist place, 

 though of course not exposed to frost, where they may remain, 

 until the usual period of the maturity of the variety arrives, when 

 they should be removed to a warmer room. The ripening of 

 some sorts of Pears may be retarded, and their season thereby 

 prolonged, without injury to the quality of the fruit — but with 

 others this can only be done at the cost of loss of flavor, — with 

 them, when the process of ripening has once commenced, no 

 attempt should be made to check it, or delay the period of 

 maturity. 



The preservation of fruits is an important matter, and one that 

 has received much attention : fruit rooms or houses being fre- 

 quently erected especially with reference to this object — such are 

 usually constructed with hollow walls, and these filled in with 

 charcoal dust, chaff, tan, or other supposed non-conductors of 

 heat. In. order to preserve it, fruit is sometimes put on ice, but by 

 this'^method, if effectual for the purpose intended, the flavor and 

 quality of the fruit is frequently injured. To preserve fruit in 

 perfection, it is necessary to maintain a uniformity of temperature, 



