PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 261 



week or ten days before they ought to be picked, no wind will blow them 

 off, nor will they be shaken off. Suddenly they begin to fall, and in a day 

 or two will all be lying on the ground, about the toughest green things 

 you ever saw, apparently ' fit only for the hogs,' and doubtful whether they 

 would eat them. But pick them up and lay them away, the five or ten 

 bushels from each tree, and in about twenty days they are yellow, thin- 

 skinned, juicy, sweet — melting in your mouth. 



" Talk about pear trees hurting themselves by overbearing; why, this tree 

 would spit ten bushels at you, and not feel it a bit. It will load every 

 inch with fruit, and then the next year load itself again, just for the fun of 

 it, in the same manner. If it was not such a stupid pear tree, I would 

 think it was saying: 'We old revolutionary first settlers ain't your puny 

 dwarfs that want pampering all the while, and then are too lazy to do any- 

 thing. We knew a thing or two a hundred years ago, I can tell you. We 

 learned how to grow when we had to stand it, I tell you.' 



"Another pear tree I have, has this feature: it is a tall standard, thirty 

 or forty feet high, and as many years old. I have tried all sorts of ways 

 to ripen the fruit, but ripen it will not. Being a fall pear, it rots before it 

 ripens. But all this is more than compensated by its hanging long on the 

 tree, and by its one use. Pick them, wash them clean, put them on a clean 

 tin baking plate, put them in the oven, and let them cook slowly until 

 baked brown — nice and tender — and you have a luxury that makes every 

 visitor say: 'I'll take another of those baked pears, if you please; your 

 wife seems to know how to bake pears remarkably well.' ' My dear madam, 

 how do you bake them so nicely? Do you put sugar on or in them?' ' 0, 

 no! They are only baked. We have to bake the pears of this tree to get 

 rid of them.' 'Should not think you'd have any trouble on that score, if 

 all are as good as these.' 'Yes, we all like them when baked.' 



"This pear is large, tough, not knotty, but fleshy, juicy and flavorless, 

 do what you will, until baked, when its obstinacy and ill-temper are all 

 gone, and it is mild, sweet, fine flavored, and often inquired for, hot or cold. 



"These three fruits I have repeatedly shown to good judges, but none 

 have been able to name them." 



Mr. Wm. S. Carpenter. — From the description given by Dr. Parker, I 

 am unable to. name the pears; the plum, I should think was a damson, 

 I hope Dr. Parker will send us some of the pears and plums next season. 



Mr. Solon Robinson read a very interesting letter from Mr. D. Petit, 



Salem, N. J : 



" KEEPING APPLES IN LINEN. 



" There is one mode of preserving apples which has been practiced here 

 for many years, and which I have tried with complete success, viz.: Place 

 them on the floor in a room, or in any other cold situation, early in the 

 winter, and cover them well with some kind of linen, and leave them so 

 through the various changes of winter. I have known them to come out 

 in the spring rather improved than otherwise. I give facts only. 



"the BAROMETER. 



" About two months ago I gave you my experience on the movements of 

 the barometer, as an indicator of the weather. Let me now cite your 



