312 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR, 
to New York, or Quebec, or Havana, and when they will 
be at the port of destination, and leisurely unpacked, they 
will just be in the very best condition to go to the market 
or to the table. In regard to the facility and security for, 
and the very improvement of the fruit by transportation, 
no other fruit can compare with the Pear, not even 
Oranges and Lemons — the Pear and some Apples being 
the only fruit which requires picking from six to eight 
days before maturing, to bring it up to its true quality. 
To make a Pear orchard pay, we need only the necessary 
skill and care, a well cultivated soil, and a climate where 
the bud is not exposed to be killed by 20 degrees below 
0,, or by the uncertain spring frosts of the North, We 
have not to care about markets — for such fruit sells every- 
where, because it bears, and rather demands transporta- 
tion. 
Let those who have the means, time, skill and a little 
patience, try the experiment. They will find out that a 
well planted and well directed Pear Tree comes into 
bearing sooner than an Apple, and almost as soon as a 
Peach Tree — that in this climate the crops are most regu- 
lar and certain— that the Pear Tree can be considered as 
an annuel beater, while Apples are not, and Peaches are 
very uncertain. The season of blossoming for the hun- 
dreds of varieties of Pears is so protracted, that only a 
score out of a hundred will be in blossom when a spring 
frost sets in, and the others will either have set their fruit 
or be dormant, and consequently out of danger, with an 
ordinary slight spring frost. I have reasons to consider 
the blossoms of a Pear Tree more hardy than that of a 
Peach or Apricot. Few worms attack the Pear— the rot, 
the oidium and the curculio are strangers to it. 
But is a Pear Tree lasting I I have seen many . a Pear 
Tree over a century old, and with proper care and man- 
agement it will last as long as any other fruit tree. As I 
stated before,, the diseases are mostly confined to the 
blight, which affects some varieties more than others — 
the old varieties more than the new ones. We can, in 
the actual state of science, not even indicate a remedy, 
we cannot ascertain the origin and cause (or causes) 
which produce that troublesome disease. All I have 
been able to do is to direct my attention and studies to the 
wood, foliage and general characters which seem to ren- 
der a given variety peculiarly liable to the disease. — 
The class of Bartlett foliage and bark seems to be the 
most exposed, as I remark in the very seedlings bearing 
those characters. So is the Glout Mor^eau and the Vicar 
— notwithstanding that the bark and foliage are very dis- 
tinct in the three varieties. To prevent the disease in old 
trees is impossible; for young trees there is a better 
chance — close watching and pruning, the prompt removal 
of the diseased wood, longitudinal incisions when the 
appearance of the bark is not sound, a good supply of 
special wood-formivg manures, are the best means, if not 
to prevent the blight altogether, at least to stop its further 
progress, and in most cases the tree can be saved. 
We have, it is true, a diminutive borer, which sets in 
just above a bud or a spur, and working down a few 
inches, circles or girdles the wood from inside-out, and 
destroys part of a limb in growing, or the body in very 
small trees. But this insect is scarce, and only injures 
part of the wood or unsound trees. I found it most active 
in some shrubs, as the Spireas, Deutzias, Senngos, and 
chiefiy in the Lagerstrce nia. Among thousands of young 
Pear I'rees in my grounds, perhaps not fifty have suffered 
from that insect, and those were only partly injured. 
The blight will be found the worst in rich bottom soils, 
where the tree takes up too much ammonia instead of the 
proper constituents of the wood and organs of the tree — 
those are ashes, lime, phosphate, iron, silicates, plaster or 
gypsum. Those substances, with the carbon of the at- 
mosphere, form the proper basis and food of all trees. 
Ammonia and nitrogen, promoting a too luxuriant growth 
and porosity of the bark, seem also to promote the blight. 
I have been told by Mr. Downing that seasons have been 
witnessed at the North when at least every tenth Pear 
Tree was destroyed or injured by the blight. Still, Pear 
growers have not been discouraged ; and, indeed, it never 
has, proved a disease as fatal and destructive as the borers, 
the yellows, the black knot, and the ravages of the cur- 
culio, from which the Pear Tree is altogether free. Thou- 
sands of Apple, Peach and Plum Trees are destroyed by 
these evil causes, and their crops rendered very uncertain 
if not complete failures. This tells much in favor of the 
Pear Tree, 
The best season to bring Pears into the market would 
seem to be from the months of September to December, 
(Winter Pears being better suited for amateurs, as re- 
quiring too much watching and extra care;) then the 
Peach is scarce, the Plums and Figs are gone, and the 
Winter Apple has not yet taken its place in the market. 
This remark applies to our home markets. For the 
markets of the North the very earliest Pears are the best. 
I have partly answered the question of soils and locali- 
ties. I shall only add, that deep sandy loam soils, rather 
dark than light colored. Western, Eastern and Northern 
aspects, and rather elevated localities, seem to be best for 
the health of the tree and the setting of the blossom ; and 
that Southern latitudes agree better with the Pear than 
higher latitudes, where often winters from twenty to thirty 
degrees below zero prevent all reliance upon a fair crop 
of refined fruits, such as Pears, Peaches and Grapes. 
I shall not see the time when the South, from Virginia 
to Alabama, will be considered the fruit garden of Ame- 
rica, but I am fully convinced that such a time must and 
will come, and that thousands of acres, unfit for the cul- 
tivation of cotton and corn, will be converted into remu- 
nerating orchards. 
All we want is a little patience — a rare thing with a 
fast people. We must consider that fruit trees are differ- 
ent from sweet potatoes, although they do not require 
more, if as much care, and that the planting of rows of 
fruit trees in the field, at convenient distances, will not 
materially interfere with crops of potatoes, cow peas or 
vegetables, or any low growing crops that will not smo- 
ther the young trees. If, moreover, we will consider that 
soils exhausted for ordinary crops still retain a great deal 
of the constituents required for a tree, it will be evident 
that fruit can often be obtained where other products must 
fail. 
We have yet to find out what sorts of Pears are best 
suited to our Southern latitude. Every season, almost, 
brings us new Peaches, Grapes, Pears and Apples, supe- 
rior to the older varieties, which will slowly v/ork their 
way to the head of the list of prominent fruits. Among 
the native and foreign varieties, many have been found to 
be well adapted to our climate. We have a great deal 
more in expectation, and among my select seedhngs, col- 
lected from this and distant countries, many give fair 
promise of being ranked, at some future dav, among 
our best and certainly our most hardy and vigorous va- 
rieties. 
Permit me to conclude this already too long chapter on 
Pears with some remarks upon the mtrerent opinions about 
this fruit. 
The mistakes and deceptions which have so often oc- 
curred, and have discouraged many zealous amateurs, 
are mostly the result of unwise selections of old worn-out 
varieties, discard'd and given up in their native localities 
and sold here, not as refuse and unsaleable stock, but 
under high-sounding or false names, and which must 
have proven, as they did prove, indeed, '■^dead failvrcsP 
The newly obtained varieties are undoubtedly (with 
some few exceptions) the most vigorous, symmetrical and 
