55 



40th years; yield per acre when mature, 

 five to seven tons in a good year. 



Pears live to a great age in the orchards 

 of Gloucester, Worcester, and Hereford; 

 in the gardens of the Horticultural Col- 

 lege at Versailles, I saw a splendid 

 pyramid tree more than 200 years old. 



With reference to monetary return from 

 pears, in " Commercial Gardening," 

 edited by John Weathers, published by 

 the Gresham Press, in 1913, appears the 

 following statement: " Pears on the pear 

 stock vary greatly as to the time they 

 come into bearing after planting. Prob- 

 ably the planter will restrict himself to 

 those varieties that come into bearing at 

 the fifth year, when the produce may 

 reach £7 or £8 per acre, going ultimately 

 up to £50 or £60 an acre for a full crop. 

 On the quince, by the fifth year the trees 

 can make good show of fruit; if the soil 

 is quite suitable a gross return of £60 or 

 more an acre can be obtained in a good 

 year, when the trees are ten or twelve 

 year old, if proper care has been taken 

 with the picking, grading, and marketing. 

 The cost of picking will be found the same 

 for apples and pears on dwarf trees with 

 fair crop on, namely, from l^d. to 2d. 

 per bushel; on half-standard trees, from 

 2id. to 4d. per bushel, according to dense- 

 ness or otherwise of the under crop, and 

 the consequent difficulty of working the 

 ladders. Of course no hard-and-fast rule 

 can be laid down; the prices are as vari- 

 able as the amount of the crops. In 

 mixed plantations of apples, pears, and 

 plums, with average crop and conditions, 

 the usual price is 6d. per bushel all 

 round, including ' running ' the plums 

 where necessary." The above piece-work 

 prices were paid pre-war, the picking now 

 probably costs more than twice as much, 

 and is most of it done day work. As a 

 basis for argument as to the returns from 

 a pear orchard, one may consider a care- 

 fully thought-out estimate of receipts and 

 expenses of a pear orchard, given in 

 " Commercial Gardening." The trees 

 being planted 16ift. apart, 164 trees to 

 the acre, if the yield of each tree averaged 

 two bushels — 320 bushels, selling at say 

 3s. 6d. per bushel, the gross return would 

 be £56 per acre. The expenses charged 

 are rent, rates, and taxes, £10 ; 20 tons of 

 manure at 6s. per ton, £6; 10 cwts. basic 



slag at £2 10s. per ton, £1 5s. ; cost of 

 spreading manure, 30s. ; pruning, £1 ; hoe- 

 ing, 50s. ; picking 320 bushels at 6d. per 

 bushel, £8; miscellaneous expenses, £5 

 15s. ; total, £36. The yield of pears is, 

 however, very variable in different sea- 

 sons ; frost, whilst the trees are in flower, 

 especially if the blossoms are wet, may 

 prove fatal to all blossoms open at the 

 time; also windy, rainy, or cold weather 

 at flowering time is detrimental, as it 

 checks the working of the hive, the 

 bumble and other wild bees. 



The packing of pears is important. 

 Whilst small, unripe pears can travel 

 in bushels, the large ones need careful 

 placing in half-bushels, with wood wool 

 at bottom and top to prevent bruis- 

 ing; fine ripe pears are often wrapped 

 individually in paper, and placed only two 

 or three layers deep in box or basket, 

 with a sheet of paper between each layer. 

 I was told of 10s. being received for half 

 a bushel of pears from cordon trees on a 

 wall. Cordon pear trees are excellent 

 against walls, and buildings may thus be 

 utilised and beautified. In Jersey and 

 Guernsey cordon pears are commercially 

 successful on wire trellises, but for money 

 making in England growing pears as cor- 

 dons needs careful consideration, for fear 

 it may not be remunerative. 



As to varieties, Mr. William Miskin 

 recommends for growing for market, from 

 experience, in Kent, Dr. Jules Guyot, 

 Conference, and Fertility, and perhaps 

 Marguerite Marillat. The above men- 

 tioned work, " Commercial Garden- 

 ing," lays stress on the fact that whilst 

 in a garden one may aim at quality irres- 

 pective of quantity, in growing for mar- 

 ket, if a variety crops well and is of good 

 appearance though only of second or 

 third-rate quality it may pay far better 

 than a shy bearing or delicate first 

 quality pear. Thus among the hardier 

 pears, that crop fairly regularly, though 

 their fruit is inferior, the Duck Egg (end 

 of July); the Chalk (Aug.); and the 

 Hessle (early Sept.), may be included 

 among better varieties to be grown for 

 market on pear stock as standards, these 

 may be used as wind-breaks and along 

 road sides. 



Mr. Shackle, of Comberton, in Worces- 

 tershire, who grows pears for market 



