pears: production estimates, etc. 5 



more than any other factor, restricts the planting of pears, and in 

 the past it has destroyed great numbers of trees and caused the 

 abandonment of commercial enterprises in many places. 



OPPORTUNITY TO EXTEND INDUSTRY NOT GREAT. 



Another factor that needs to be considered critically by prospec- 

 tive pear growers is the comparative ease vs^ith which the market de- 

 mand can be supplied. Pears are used in quantity in only a few 

 ways. They are consumed in the fresh state and are canned. In 

 California they are also dried. Otherwise comparatively little use 

 is made of them. The market demand for a fruit that is used in 

 only a very small number of ways is satisfied with a much smaller 

 supply than is the case with a fruit that is used in many different 

 ways. Thus, there is not so large an oi^portunity in the extension of 

 commercial pear growing as for some other fruits. 



PROMINENCE OF THE BARTLETT AND KIEFFER PEARS. 



Among pear varieties, the relative prominence of two sorts — the 

 Bartlett and the Kieffcr — is conspicuous. These two varieties are 

 to the pear industry of the country what the Elberta variety is to 

 the peach industry, the Washington Navel to the California orange 

 industry, and the Baldwin, Winesap, and Ben Davis varieties to the 

 apple industry. Throughout the northern pear-gi!owing districts, 

 in the Intermountain States and on the Pacific coast, the Bartlett is by 

 far the most widely and extensively planted variety. The Kieffer 

 is also planted, both commercially and for home use, in many of 

 these districts; while in middle latitudes and in the South the 

 Kieffer very largely predominates, because of the comparative re- 

 sistance of the tree to blight. Further information in regard to 

 the distril)ution of varieties is given in the pages that follow. 



IMPORTANT COMMERCIAL DISTRICTS AND VARIETIES, 

 BY STATES. 



NEW ENGLAND STATES. 



MAINE. 



Distribution. — No important centers of pear production occur in 

 Maine; but occasional orchards of small size are located in several 

 counties in the southern part of the State, including York, Oxford, 

 Cumberland, Androscoggin, Sagadahoc, Kennebec, Lincoln, Knox, 

 Waldo, and possibly in certain localities in the southern sections of 

 the counties to the north of those named. 



Varieties. — ^The varieties commonly planted include the Bartlett, 

 Clapp Favorite, Sheldon, Anjou, Seckel, Bosc, Lawrence, and pos- 

 sibly a few others. 



NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



Distrihutimi. — Pears in New Hampshire are negligible from a 

 commercial standpoint, and but few are grown for home use. These 

 occur mostly in the southern part of the State. 



