PEARS: PRODUCTION" ESTIMATES, ETC. 5 
more than any other factor, restricts the planting of pears, and. in 
the past it has destroyed great numbers of trees and caused the 
abandonment of commercial enterprises in many places. 
OPPORTUNITY TO EXTEND INDUSTRY NOT GREAT. 
Another factor that needs to be considered critically by prospec- 
tive pear growers is the comparative ease with which the market de- 
mand can be supplied. Pears are used in quantity in only a few 
ways. They are consumed in the fresh state and are canned. In 
California they are also dried. Otherwise comparatively little use 
is made of them. The market demand for a fruit that is used in 
only a very small number of ways is satisfied with a much smaller 
supply than is the case with a fruit that is used in many different 
ways. Thus, there is not so large an opportunity in the extension of 
commercial pear growing as for some other fruits. 
PROMINENCE OF THE BARTLETT AND KIEFFER PEARS. 
Among pear varieties, the relative prominence of two sorts — the 
Bartlett and the Kieffer — is conspicuous. These two varieties are 
to the pear industry of the country what the Elberta variety is to 
the peach industry, the Washington Navel to the California orange 
industry, and the Baldwin, Winesap, and Ben Davis varieties to the 
apple industry. Throughout the northern pear- growing districts, 
in the Intermountain States and on the Pacific coast, the Bartlett is by 
far the most widely and extensively planted variety. The Kieffer 
is also planted, both commercially and for home use, in many of 
these districts; while in middle latitudes and in the South the 
Kieffer very largely predominates, because of the comparative re- 
sistance of the tree to blight. Further information in regard to 
the distribution of varieties is given in the pages that follow. 
IMPORTANT COMMERCIAL DISTRICTS AND VARIETIES, 
BY STATES. 
NEW ENGLAND STATES. 
Distribution. — No important centers of pear production occur in 
Maine; but occasional orchards of small size are located in several 
counties in the southern part of the State, including York, Oxford, 
Cumberland, Androscoggin, Sagadahoc, Kennebec, Lincoln, Knox, 
Waldo, and possibly in certain localities in the southern sections of 
the counties to the north of those named. 
Varieties. — The varieties commonly planted include the Bartlett, 
Clapp Favorite, Sheldon, Anjou, Seckel, Bosc, Lawrence, and pos- 
sibly a few others. 
NEW HAMPSHIRE. 
Distribution. — Pears in New Hampshire are negligible from a 
commercial standpoint, and but few are grown for home use. These 
occur mostly in the southern part of the State. 
