The Canadian Horticulturist. 59 



NOTES ON EARLY PEARS. 



gj F the more common varieties, Summer Doyennd stands at the head of 

 the list for earliness. Old trees that are heavily loaded with crops, 

 give smaller pears with deficient flavor, as compared with the 

 thinner crops on young thrifty trees, but they ripen a week or two 

 earlier. A tree of this variety, more than twenty years old, stood in 

 ^^ the corner of a pasture field; the only attention it received by wa\ 

 of culture was an annual top-dressing. It bore as usual a heavy 

 crop this year, when many other pears failed. One half began to ripen with 

 full red cheeks about the time of wheat harvest, and one half or more of the 

 crop was gathered, selecting these, and leaving the hard and green ones. This 

 gave the remainder more room to mature, and in two- weeks these were all 

 gathered. They had grown so much larger in consequence of the thinning, that 

 the crop would fill as many baskets as the whole would at first, and the pears 

 were at least double the size of the earliest, with greatly superior flavor ; thus 

 adding another fact to the well proved truth that those who do not thin the fruit 

 on their crowded trees, suffer a great loss as to the quality, and gain nothing 

 in quantity. This is especially the case with Summer Doyenne^ the flavor of 

 which, on crowded trees, is apt to be quite deficient. 



After this in a few days comes the Giffard, one of the finest of all summer 

 pears, but less raised and cultivated on account of its slender and crooked 

 growth, a defect which we entirely obviate by grafting standard height on straight 

 growers. This is followed in a week or two by the Tyson, the loaded trees of 

 which promise a fine crop before the end of August. This fills the gap till the 

 Bartlett's season, early in September. These four — the Summer Doyenne, 

 Giffard, Tyson and Bartlett nearly always give good crops when others fail, and 

 the Bartlett appears to possess the peculiarity of ripening into juicy maturity if 

 picked before full grown. There are several other summer pears which should 

 be mentioned, as Bloodgood, Osband, Madeleine, Dearborn, Rostiezer and 

 others. As summer pears are ripened by the warm weather more rapidly than 

 later pears, it is more essential to pick them in good season, to prevent the loss 

 of their fine flavor by over-ripeness. — Cultivator. 



Watering. — No detail of house-plant management is more important than 

 that of watering. If you cannot appreciate this, visit the commercial plant- 

 grower's houses, and see the trouble taken there to provide just the right amount 

 of water to each plant. In the first place, the plantsman sees to it that every 

 plant in his charge has drainage provided in the pot, so that any excess of water 

 can quickly escape. Then he watches his collection hourly, and at the first 

 sign of dryness among his plants, down comes a shower from his hose or pot. 

 He applies water with a bold dash — that is when a plant needs water at all, he 

 gives it enough to saturate the soil thoroughly. 



