IIo THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 
cannery is a splendid safety valve to the pear industry in this State. Pears 
are not dried commercially in New York as they are in California, although 
it would seem that here in the center of the apple-drying industry of the 
world pears might also be dried with profit. 
Most of the pear crop of this region is now sold to local buyers or on 
consignment to city dealers. Co-operative methods are just beginning 
and promise much. There are several reasons why the pear, even more 
than the apple, which is more and more going to the markets through 
co-operative associations, should be handled by organizations of growers. 
Thus, an association could load a car quickly, which few individual growers 
can do; pears are not now, but would be, graded and packed under one 
standard; more favorable transportation rates would be secured; and, most 
important of all, the pear crop would be distributed to the great markets 
of the country without the disastrous competition that attends individual 
marketing. If the pear industry is to grow in the State, pears must be 
largely marketed through the central packing associations that are now 
being rapidly organized to sell fruits. 
No reliable data can be obtained to show what the costs are in growing 
pears in this State. It would be hard to obtain such data, for pear-growing 
is now a game of chance from start to finish. Good pear-lands are not hard 
to obtain, and the risks to tree and crop attendant on weather are not great, 
but the trees are everywhere subject to blight; which, despite the recom- 
mendations of plant pathologists, cannot be controlled, and which annually 
destroys thousands of trees, ruins others, and sooner or later upsets calcu- 
lations of costs and profits in almost every pear-orchard in the State. Other 
pests, as psylla, the scab-fungus, and codling-moth beset the pear and make 
profits uncertain. When all goes well, the costs are about the same as 
in growing apples, while the profits are somewhat greater.. But with 
blight to contend with, most of the economic factors are inconstant, and 
calculating costs and profits is guessing pure and simple. 
DISEASES OF THE PEAR 
The pear is attacked by a half dozen or more diseases in New York, 
of which two, at least, need treatment every year, in every orchard, and 
on nearly every variety. One, pear-blight, is about the most malignant 
of the diseases of the orchard, for which there is no antidote and no allevia- 
1For costs and profits in growing apples see Bulletin 376, New York Agricultural Experiment 
Station. 
