STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 113 



Mr. IIersey. I have not had that difficulty, taking them at the 

 right tinae. 



Mr. McLaughlin. That is the trouble with all pears — to take 

 them at the right time. 



Mr. Herset. The only way I can get Bartlett pears is take 

 them off" from day to day. 



Mr. G. B. Sawyer, being asked in respect to pear culture in 

 Lincoln county, responded : Pears are grown with considerable 

 success in nearly every town in the county, both on the immediate 

 seaboard and in the interior. Very fine specimens are sliown every 

 year at our county fair. The varieties grown embrace all those 

 known in general cultivation ; but having prepared no notes, I 

 will not attempt to speak of them particularly. I regard the pro- 

 duction of pears in our section of the State as being as easy and 

 certain as that of apples. Although I have handled and still have 

 in cultivation a good many pear trees, I have not given them the 

 attention which they require, and am not so especially enthusiastic 

 or expert in the business as to justify me iu speaking on the sub- 

 ject at this time. Mr. Ingalls, who lives near me, and has a 

 lighter and better soil than mine, has uniformly good success with 

 them — cultivates many varieties, and has good and abundant fruit. 

 His trees stand on a southeastern exposure, and are fully sheltered. 

 He was expected to be here to-day, and was fully prepared to 

 speak on the subject, but was unavoidably detained at home. 



Mr. Yarney. I, like my friend Sawyer, am not particularly en- 

 thusiastic in regard to pear culture, though I have to grow them. 

 I passed yesterday in sight of the best Bartlett tree I know of in 

 central or eastern Maine, standing on the east side of Belgrade 

 pond. The orchard in which it stands is in sight of the road as 

 you go up through Belgrade to Readfield. It has the full sweep 

 of the northwest winds. I think that is the right situation to take. 

 About three years ago we lost all our Bartletts. The following 

 spring I went over to see this tree and found it all right, and that 

 year it bore an excellent crop. The time to which I have referred 

 was when we had an exceedingly warm day, about the 20th of 

 February, followed by a very cold night. That was death to our 

 pear and apple trees where they had any protection from the north- 

 west winds. I lost some 500 trees. But up on the hills on each 

 side of me, where they had good currents of air, the trees were 

 unharmed. If I were to give protection to pear or apple trees, 

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