54 PEARS AND GRAPES. 



This is eminently true of the Pear and to a large extent also of the 

 Grape. The acquirement of this information has been a work of time, 

 but the difficulty about it is, that almost no one is willing to accept such 

 knowledge at second hand. Each one persists in gaining it through a 

 personal experience, which brings with it, in many cases, disgust and 

 retirement from the pursuit. Almost any grower with an experience 

 extending over a period of more than ten years, will say that the fewer 

 the varieties, if well chosen, the greater and more valuable will be 

 the product. 



Among Pears, after naming the Bartlett as standing at the head of 

 the list for productiveness and profit combined, we shall be obliged to 

 look in vain to find a second, which in a series of years promises to 

 supplant it, and if we are asked to name half a dozen approaching it 

 in these regards, we shall be apt, after consideration, to class the ques- 

 tion among the unsolved conundrums. Among Grapes, the Concord 

 holds the same rank, only if possible, more emphatically. 



To render fruit-growing a successful matter for the country at large, 

 it must be made a success both to the producer and consumer. The 

 one should get fairly remunerated for his efforts, while the other should 

 be supplied with an abundance of fruit at a reasonable price. This 

 can only be done by selecting those varieties for cultivation that 

 yield large and uniform crops, even though their quality may not be 

 quite equal to that of others whose single specimens are the apology 

 for pecks or bushels. We should demand quantity as a first essential, 

 and be ready to exchange only when we are sure of a gain in quality 

 without loss in productiveness. 



Another important obstacle in the way of success is to be found in 

 the lack of knowledge among cultivators of the wants and requirements 

 of their trees or vines ; a knowledge that comes only from long and 

 thoughtful experience and observation, and can not be acquired from 

 books or otherwise only in a partial degree. Dame Nature is appa- 

 rently capricious. One day she will, and the next she won't. Now 

 she promises to tell us a secret, and directly we find that she has not 

 done it. She is ever talking in riddles, and just as we get ready to 

 put our finger on a point we find that it has eluded our touch. The 

 infinite variety of soils and conditions surrounding each plant, renders 

 it extremely difficult — in most cases, impossible— to solve a problem 



