134 



THE GAKDENER'S ASSISTANT. 



Liberal cultivation must be provided for 

 Pears that are to be grown profitably, and this 

 includes not only manurial aid when required, 

 but the closest attention to all the details of 

 pruning, spraying, land - cleaning, and general 

 routine. Where fine fruits are desired and free 

 setting is the rule, thinning is an operation that 

 will pay for the time expended upon it, even 

 though it be tedious work and demanding much 

 care. If an even crop of uniform fruits can be 

 obtained it saves some after labour in sorting, 

 and the trees are not unduly exhausted by 

 partly developing a quantity of useless fruits. 

 Should the thinning be done too early or with 

 insufficient care, it will result in a serious loss; 

 therefore, desirable as it is under the right con- 

 ditions, it must not be attempted in a reckless 

 or haphazard manner. 



Gathering is another operation demanding 

 both care and judgment, as carelessness may 

 easily take a heavy percentage off the value of 

 Pears, however fine they may be. For all the 

 best fruits padded baskets should be used, and 

 the Pears being gathered by the stalk, not 

 roughly clutched in the hand and pulled, as is 

 too often done, must be placed in the basket, 

 which should be preferably wide and shallow. 

 If it is necessary to put in more than one layer, 

 separate them by sheets of soft paper, and never 

 throw or drop the fruits on to those already 

 gathered. If they will not pay for this extra 

 care, they certainly will not for the rough-and- 

 ready methods by which a few shillings may be 

 saved in labour and as many pounds lost in the 

 prices. The slightest bruise or injury to the 

 delicate skin of a Pear becomes a serious dis- 

 figurement when a package is opened after a 

 long journey, and such defects are even more con- 

 spicuous in fine samples than in those of average 

 merit. If a heavy weight of fruits is piled up 

 in one basket, or if they are simply turned or 

 rolled out where they are to be sorted, instead 

 of being taken out by hand, injury often re- 

 sults, and by a smart careful man the work 

 can be done quite as expeditiously in the right 

 way. 



The importance of grading has been re- 

 peatedly referred to, but it cannot be too 

 frequently impressed upon those engaged in the 

 keen competition of the times. Few salesmen 

 have had a better opportunity than Mr. G. 

 Monro of Covent Garden Market of judging the 

 defects or merits of British growers' methods 

 of marketing, and this is what he says about 

 Apples and Pears : " They are sent in bushels 

 and half-bushels; I cannot say packed, as the 



bulk are simply thrown in, without any grading 

 or packing being taken into consideration at all, 

 in some cases only a sheet of very thin paper 

 being placed on the top, and nothing else what- 

 ever to prevent the fruit being bruised by the 

 basket. A customer of mine suggested the 

 other day that a sample looked as if they had 

 been 'gathered with a clothes-prop and packed 

 with a rake '. These fruits are certainly packed 

 worse now, on the whole, than they were twenty 

 years ago, and as the competition from abroad 

 is keener every year, it is very important that 

 we should consider whether we cannot improve 

 matters somewhat " (Royal Horticultural Society's 

 Journal, vol. xviii., 1895). 



As with Apples, it seldom pays to market 

 more than the first and second qualities of Pears 

 when they are sorted into three grades. It is 

 impossible to fix a gauge for the different grades, 

 as this would vary not only with the varieties, 

 but in successive seasons and in proportion to 

 the grower's success as a cultivator. The stan- 

 dard must therefore be chiefly a matter of 

 judgment, but the fruits of each grade should 

 be as even in size as possible. Some knowledge 

 of the capabilities of the varieties is essential, 

 the grower should familiarize himself with the 

 finest samples in the markets and at horticultural 

 shows, because he then gains a correct idea of 

 what he may accomplish and of the actual value 

 of his own produce. It may save some expense, 

 and certainly some disappointment, if he is 

 aware that his best fruits are only second-rate 

 of their variety; or, on the other hand, should 

 he have an exceptionally handsome sample of a 

 variety, he will be better able to form an ap- 

 proximate estimate of its sale value. 



The care advised in gathering and grading is 

 equally needed in the packing of Pears, or all 

 other good work will be nullified. The fruits 

 must be firmly packed without being crushed, 

 and they should be protected from direct con- 

 tact with the basket or box by means of paper 

 shavings, fine wood-wool, or cotton-wool, with 

 soft paper over this next to the Pears. The 

 system adopted by the Californian and other 

 growers of wrapping each fruit separately in a 

 small square of stamped paper is undoubtedly 

 an excellent one where the fruit has to be sent 

 long distances or to remain in the packages for 

 a considerable time, but how far it would pay 

 here is a question for each grower to settle for 

 himself. We are inclined to think that for the 

 finest samples it would be found both satisfactory 

 to the customer and profitable to seller, just as 

 the largest retail fruiterers find it to their 



