110 STATE POMOLOQICAL SOCIETY. 



enough variety in soil to make any great selection. I should say 

 that if you have about the description of soil recommended for 

 strawberries — a very well drained, moist, sandy loam, it is a good 

 thing. The drainage I think is important. 



Of varieties it is diflScult to speak. I think the list in the fruit 

 books is too large for Maine, and it is difficult to select from, The 

 list in our catalogue I think would hardly cover what many would 

 like to have. 



Mr. T. C. Hersey of Portland, being called upon, responded. I 

 am a mere amateur pear grower, and though under some circum- 

 stances I might have something to say upon the subject under 

 consideration, I should hesitate to say it here, where almost every 

 gentleman present is better able to discuss it than I am. My 

 conviction is that we are attempting to raise too many varieties of 

 pears, and I think one of the most ridiculous things ever done by 

 our societies is to offer premiums for the greatest variety of pears. 

 It cumbers the ground and is a waste in every way. There are 

 not a quarter of the pears that are brought forward for exhibition 

 that are worth handling at all. If there is any particular point 

 which I would impress on the mind of a person engaging in 

 pear culture, it would be this : Select a few of the best varieties, 

 ripening at the different seasons of the year. Now the Bartlett is 

 a very good pear, and no man cultivating pears would be without 

 it. I have half a dozen trees of that variety, and if I were going 

 to plant again I wouldn't have but one; for though it is one of 

 our best pears, there is but one day that it is in good eating con- 

 dition. If you cut it one day before it is ripe it is not good, and 

 one day later it is gone, so that it cannot be recommended for 

 extensive cultivation. I think there is nu question that the Beurre 

 de Anjou is the very best autumn pear. 



Mr. Gilbert. What is the season of the Beurre de Anjou at 

 Portland ? 



Mr. Hersey. About November. The Flemish Beauty, I am 

 satisfied from my experience, is a very good, handsome pear when 

 the trees are young. I think its cracking and the rusty appear- 

 ance of the fruit arises from the age of the tree. After the crack- 

 ing commences, I have never been able to do anything to bring 

 the fruit back to the original state. As to the adaptation of our 

 climate to pears, a man going into their cultivation should expect 

 the same conditions that attend everything else. There is no 

 business that I know of which a man can undertake, without 



