12 BULLETIN 832, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



LOUISIANA. 



Distribiifion. — Pears are grown in Louisiana for home use only. 

 Varieties. — Kieffer, Le Conte, Garber, and Koonce are the varie- 

 ties planted. 



OKLAHOMA. 



Distribution. — An occasional commercial orchard has been planted 

 in the central and eastern portions of Oklahoma, but there are no 

 centers where pear growing forms an important community interest. 



Varieties. — The Kieffer is the principal variety grown commer- 

 cially, but there are plantings which include the Garber, Bartlett, 

 Angouleme [Duchess)^ and several other sorts of minor importance. 



TEXAS. 



Distribution. — While pears in considerable quantity are grown in 

 Texas, the producing areas with few exceptions are rather indefinite 

 and correspondingly difficult to define. Probably the most important 

 district for commercial production, potentially at least, is the upper 

 Eio Grande Valley, where, within a distance of 40 miles of El Paso, 

 a great many pear trees have been planted during recent years. Some 

 of the orchards have come into bearing. This district is irrigated 

 from the reservoir made by the Elephant Butte Dam. 



Another region in western Texas in which fruit interests, including 

 pear growing on a small scale, are being developed, is located in the 

 general region of Stockton, Pecos County, embracing adjacent parts 

 of four counties, Pecos, Reeves, Jeff Davis, and Brewster. The 

 topography is broken and mountainous, the altitudes of some of the 

 peaks in Jeff Davis County ranging from 5,000 to more than 8,000 

 feet, though the higher elevations are not included within the fruit - 

 producing area. 



In the Panhandle region, pear trees are general; but they repre- 

 sent no important commercial activities. 



Iii the northern portion of the State, extending eastward from the 

 Panhandle region and including an area three to four counties in 

 width, there are grown a good many pears in the aggregate. So}iie 

 commercial production occurs. 



The remaining portions of the State are unimportant from the 

 standpoint of pear production, but trees and an occasional orchard 

 are found widely distributed. 



Some years ago man}' orchards were planted in the Gulf coast 

 region, but most of these proved unsatisfactory because of the preva- 

 lence of blight. 



Varieties. — In the El Paso district the Bartlett has been largely 

 planted. This, and a few others of the choicer varieties, also the 

 Kieffer, have been planted in the Panhandle region. In other parts 

 of tlie State, the Kieffer is the principal variety, but the Le Conte, 

 Garber, Smith, and other sorts are also found. 



