468 



SUCCESSFUL FARMING 



and Garber are most important. Although low in quality, they are usually 

 very productive and are much used for canning. About 2300 names of 

 pear varieties have appeared in American publications between 1804 and 

 1907. (See Bulletin 126, Bureau of Plant Industry.) 



Propagation. — The pear is propagated in the same ways as the apple, 

 but the stocks are different. In stocks, the pear has a very wide range of 



affinities. Those 



chiefly used are the 

 seedlings of the small 

 Snow pear (Pyrus 

 nivalis) of Europe. 

 This stock results in 

 trees of the normal 

 size. 



Dwarf pear trees 

 are produced by bud- 

 ding on to quince 

 stocks. The latter 

 are secured from the 

 Angers quince by 

 mound layering. 

 Some varieties, and 

 particularly the An- 

 gouleme, are much 

 benefited by this pro- 

 cess. Such varieties 

 are often planted with 

 the stock below the 

 surface to reduce in- 

 jury from the round- 

 headed borer, which 

 attacks the quince, 

 but rarely the pears. 

 Some varieties do not unite well with the quince and they are "double- 

 worked" by first using one that does. The Japanese quince is not 

 satisfactory as a stock for any variety. 



In the South, cuttings of the Kieffer pear are used to some extent, and 

 in the more rigorous sections, the mountain ash (Sorbus) and even the shad 

 bush {Amelanchier) have been used as stocks with fair success. 



Cultural Range. — The pear resists cold about as well as the apple. 

 Its great susceptibility to fire blight (Bacillus amylovorus), however, greatly 

 restricts its profitable growth. In general, it does best in the Baldwin and 

 Winesap belts in the East, and in the general territory from Colorado west 

 and northward to the Pacific Coast. 



Varieties. — The leading varieties in the eastern section, named 



Pear Tree in Blossom. 



Note unusually spreading form of this tree. This is desir- 

 able, although difficult to secure in many varieties. 



