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dred and fifty years before the Christian era it was raised, 

 and Theocrastus at such a time speaks of it in a work on 

 Botany. The pear is not indigenous to America, but was 

 brought here. It was first carried from Syria to Greece, 

 and then to Rome, and from there all over Europe, and 

 from there to this country, and within the last two hun- 

 dred years many fine varieties have been produced, some 

 of the best of them being of American oi-igin. Do not set 

 out too many varieties, ten or a dozen being enough, that 

 will yield fruit from the middle of July to January. The 

 Bartlett was brought to this country ninety-four years ago 

 this spring, and is a well known and delicious pear. The 

 pear that takes one year with another in the market is the 

 Clairgeau. Its beauty sells it, not its quality. Some new 

 pears promise well ; many pear trees live to a very great 

 age, some of them being known to be three oi' four hun- 

 dred years old, the well known Endicott pear tree, 

 which still bears fruit, being over two hundred years old. 

 The borer that makes havoc among the apple trees rarely 

 troubles the pear. The lazy man has no right to expect 

 to raise good fruit as eternal vigilance is i-equired to get 

 it. Do not be afraid of a good knife and lop off all 

 the useless branches, and let in light, in peaches it is well 

 to trim off one-half of the last year's growth; pear blight 

 can only be safely treated with the knife. In conclusion 

 he would say that he got lost in the maze of the portico, 

 and did not get beyond the vestibule of that great store- 

 house and, while telling them nothing new, could onlj' apol- 

 ogize for the time taken up. 



President Appleton then made some remarks in relation 

 to insect pests and the method of spraying, laying particu- 

 lar stress on the fact of delicate spraying, not going over 

 the same ground twice, thus washing off what had been 

 previously put on, after which Mr. Gregory spoke on his 

 personal experience in fruit raising, followed by Mr. Man- 

 ning of Reading, and Mr. Foster of Beverly. 



