244 Fruit-growing in Arid Regions 



hardy during severe winter. Fruit large, round; skin yellow, well 

 overlaid with red where exposed; flesh deep yellow, juicy, good, 

 semi-cling. Season August 10 at Palisade, Colorado; August 5 

 at Brigham City, Utah; the same at Nampa, Idaho. The best 

 early, yellow-fleshed variety for this section. 



Pears 



The pear is the one tree-fruit of the inter-mountain 

 country of which it is depressing to write, because of the 

 devastations of the fire-blight. Ten years ago the planting 

 of pears was being extended rapidly, but about that time 

 blight appeared, and a large number of acres of pear trees 

 were destroyed in the succeeding four years. In some 

 localities where there were formerly hundreds of acres of 

 fine orchards, almost none are standing to-day. Only one 

 locality remains, in Colorado, the country tributary to 

 Grand Junction, where pear-growing is still profitable. 

 And even here blight is doing great damage every year, so 

 it would seem to be only a question of time when these 

 famous orchards will be things of the past. This experi- 

 ence has been common to most of the older fruit-growing 

 sections of the inter-mountain states. 



In the light of such experience the writers cannot en- 

 courage the planting of pear orchards. And when we con- 

 sider the menace that even one blighted pear tree is to 

 large areas of apple orchards, we cannot but think that the 

 interest of a very large percentage of our fruit-growers 

 would be best served if no pear trees were grown. 



Aside from the question of blight the pear is one of the 

 easiest fruits to grow. It thrives in a great variety of soils, 

 if fertility is not lacking, but perhaps does best in a mod- 

 erately heavy soil. 



