15 
PEARS. 
Its great beauty of appearance, its delicate qualities of texture, perfume 
and flavor, its exceeding lusciousness to the taste, combine to make the 
Pear the favorite of all fruits. Through the persevering efforts of 
pomologists a very goodly number of prime varieties have from time to 
time been brought out and disseminated, displacing many of the old and 
less valuable sorts, and it is now the privilege of the planter to possess this 
fruit in very high perfections of quality. 
Standards and Dwarfs— Standard Pears, i. e.. Pears on the Pear 
stock, will adjust themselves to a greater variety of soil, and resist the 
power of adverse circumstances better than those on the Quince stock, i. e. 
Dwarf Pears. But the latter set upon a strong retentive soil, and treated 
with reasonably good care, will yield a large result to the planter, since 
about four times as many Dwarfs may be put upon a given tract as Stand- 
ards, and each Dwarf will, say for the first twenty years bear as much as 
the Standard, reckoning of course in this calculation such varieties as are 
congenial to the Quince root. Varieties that are ill adapted to the Quince 
may be double- worked on Quince in cases where this stock is preferred. 
Bipenino.— F ew pears are good ripened on the tree, many sorts are 
nearly worthless. Summer pears should be gathered when they have be- 
come full grown, and placed in boxes in the fruit room, which should be 
dark, dry, and cool. Covering them with flannel greatly favors their ripen- 
ing and taking on a beautiful rich color. Autumn pears may be let to remain 
on the tree until they begin to mature and fall. Then they should bo 
gathered, placed in the trait house and covered up. Winter pears should 
be left on the tree as long as possible without exposing them to frost, say 
until 1st to 15th of November. Gathered, they should be put in barrels or 
boxes and deposited in a room of low temperature, the lower the better, 
avoiding frost. If covered with old carpets or coverlets they will bear 
pretty severe weather without injury. The temperature of the air about 
them should be kept as uniform as possible. When the time for their 
ripening arrives, place them in warm air and they will soon be in perfect 
condition. Many varieties will ripen well with the same treatment that 
winter apples require. In all cases Pears should be kept carefully assorted. 
Such as we have found to succeed in the Nursery on the Quince stock, 
are marked with a Q. 
