GOOD THINGS TO EAT 



147 



especially since I have replaced certain of them 

 with scarcely less persistent plants that I prefer — 

 as I shall tell in a later chapter. 



September finds us enjoying fruits, as well as 

 vegetables, in this growing garden. Two old Buf- 

 fum pear trees, only survivals of a really great 

 pear orchard that once vied with the Bellevue 

 grapes, have taken on new life since they were 

 cleaned, trimmed of dead wood, and sprayed. 

 Each year they produce many bushels of fruit 

 which we considered of little use until I remem- 

 bered what I ought not to have forgotten — that 

 most pears must be ripened off the tree to develop 

 their proper flavor. Since then we prize the 

 Buffum trees. Of the dwarf orchard, the peach 

 trees have been bearing, as I have previously 

 written, and the variety Stump the World is 

 good in the earlier part of September, while a later 

 sort — Krummell October — is not near ripening. 



The only apple trees to bear are the Bismarck, 

 and they began the next year after planting. This 

 year one tree, certainly not more than seven feet 

 tall, had on it twenty-three apples, and large 

 apples they grew to be. I am not at all proud of 

 them, for the simple reason that they are more 

 ornamental than useful. I am known as a con- 

 firmed apple-eater, but the Bismarck is quite safe 



