ROEDING'S FRUIT GROWERS' GUIDE 



11 



THE PEAR 



The pear is a fruit cultivated throughout California 

 and the Pacific States generally, extending into Mexico. 

 Like the apple, there is an endless list of varieties. 

 Unlike any other variety of fruit we grow, there is one 

 variety, the Bartlett, which may well be termed the 

 King of Pears, because it meets every demand for 

 shipping, canning and drying. It has held its sway as 

 the leading, all-purpose pear for a great many years, 

 and where it can be grown successfully, it will undoubt- 

 edly continue to do so for many years to come. It 

 is of English origin and dates back to the year 1770. 

 Its correct name is Williams' Bonchretin, which name 

 was lost after it was introduced into the United States. 

 Enoch Bartlett, of Boston, Mass., cultivated and dis- 

 tributed it and it took his name. 



There are other desirable varieties, of course, many 

 of which are very meritorious and worthy of being cul- 

 tivated. As fruit growing develops, experience and 

 market conditions will cause a number of varieties to 

 be reduced to a point where only those having qualities 

 that will make them valuable commercially will be 

 grown to any extent. The elimination of all varieties 

 of pears not up to a standard perfection, making it 

 profitable for the commercial fruit grower to produce 

 them, is the order of the day. 



SOIL AND SITUATION 



It does well in all soils with the exception of those 

 which are extremely sandy. It thrives better in alkali 

 soils than probably any other variety of deciduous 

 fruit and therefore is being planted in vineyards and 

 orchards where the vines and trees have been killed. 

 If there is any one thing that has militated against the 

 planting of pears on an extensive scale in the great in- 

 terior valleys of California, it has been the blight. Like 

 all fungus diseases, its control has been a very difficult 

 matter and it is only by the utmost care and vigilance 

 on the part of the grower in cutting out the diseased 

 sections of the trees and by the disinfection of the prun- 

 ing tools that the disease can be controlled. In all the 



The method of pruning a one-year-old orchard pear tree. 

 Note the simple device used for pushing the framework 

 branches away from the body of the tree. 



A three-year-old Bartlett Pear tree. Note the strong leader 

 in center and numerous laterals. In later years, when 

 the tree is heavily laden with fruit, the laterals are pre- 

 vented from breaking by supporting them with wire 

 fastened to the strong leader. 



coast counties of California, from the County of Mon- 

 terey northward and west to the Coast Range, climatic 

 conditions are very favorable for the growing of the 

 very finest pears, bounteous crops being harvested an- 

 nually. In these sections the blight has never been con- 

 sidered a menace, because there are orchards in the 

 Counties of Alameda, Santa Clara and Solano, fifty 

 years old which are vigorous and healthy. Experience 

 and actual demonstration are, after all, the best answer 

 to any argument that might be presented against the 

 growing of pears in the sections referred to. 



By planting varieties which ripen in succession in 

 the early summer months until the late fall one may 

 have pears on th3 table during the entire year. 



