308 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[October, 
The sketch is an outline representation of one 
of the best pears now known. It is not new, 
having been placed (under another name) in Lou¬ 
don’s select list of 1834, but is of comparatively 
recent introduction here, under its new cogno¬ 
men. It grows finely on the quince stock, 
The writer has fruited it during several years. 
The tree is a moderate grower, of good form, 
the wood and leaves bright and healthy, and it 
never suffers from the hardest winters. The 
fruit is nearly as large as the Bartlett, though of 
different shape; in quality it is fully equal to 
that favorite variety, and of sweeter flavor. In 
the language of the fruit books, it is “large, 
long, oblong, obovate, pyriform, obtuse at stem; 
color, pale yellow, dull blush, and numerous 
small specks of faint russet; calyx open, seg¬ 
ments thick, reflexed; basin round, not deep, 
russeted; stem short, curved, and obliquely in¬ 
serted in a shallow cavity; core small; seeds 
long, pointed; flesh yellowish white, melting, 
juicy, vinous, sprightly, delicious to the core. 
Ripens in October and November.” In those 
sections where the Easter Beurre does not ma¬ 
ture well, and so make a good winter pear, this 
is a good substitute, though it is not quite 
so late. We often keep them into January. 
Gather in mid-October; pack in half bushel 
boxes, putting on a loose cover. They may be 
ripened up in November, though if kept in a 
dark, cold cellar, they will last till New-Year’s. 
How to Keep Apples. 
Late last Spring we were enjoying apples 
picked and packed the previous October in 
Western New-York. They were as fresh and 
juicy as the day they were put in the barrels. 
The secret of their long keeping is worth know¬ 
ing by all Eastern people who order their fruit 
from the West, and who have lost much by the 
bruising of the apples on their long journey. 
They were packed, when they were shipped, in 
oats, and have been kept in a close, upper room 
through the Winter. The advantages of this 
method are several. You get oats for about 
thirty per cent, less than the price in the eastern 
market. These are handy for the horse, if you 
keep one, and for the hens, if your stock is lim¬ 
ited to a few fowls. They preserve the apples 
from all bruises on their passage, by rail or ca¬ 
nal, which is impossible without something to 
fill up the crevices. As the freight is so much 
per barrel, there is no additional charge for the 
oats. The oats are a great safeguard against 
rotting, where the apples are kept in a close, 
tight room, without fire. The close room, and 
the still closer envelope of the barrel and the 
oats, guard against the sudden changes of tem¬ 
perature so common in our winter climate. 
With the thermometer at zero out of doors, 
they will not freeze. If they should be frosted 
a little, it is drawn out so gradually by the oats, 
that they are not injured. We have never 
seen any method so satisfactory as this for 
transporting apples, and none better for pre¬ 
serving them in good condition until Spring. 
But in the multitude of counsellors there is 
wisdom. A friend of ours has just presented us 
with a dish of his apples, which are very well 
kept in his way. He packs them in tight bar¬ 
rels, in the orchard, in the Fall, with the dry 
leaves of the apple trees, a layer of apples, and 
a layer of leaves. This keeps them from bruis¬ 
ing, and the leaves absorb the moisture, and 
prevent rotting. His barrels stand in a cham¬ 
ber, and do not freeze through the Winter. 
This method works admirably with him, and is 
certainly worth trying by those who raise their 
own apples. (We have known apples packed 
in leaves, the barrels subjected to very rough 
handling, to be opened in London, sounder, 
fresher, and of better flavor, than any imported 
apples which the person to whom they were 
consigned had ever before seen, so he reports.) 
It is a matter of very great importance to be 
able to keep this fruit through into the Spring 
months, in good condition. It is not only a 
comfort in the family, but adds much to the 
profits of the orchard. A hundred barrels of 
winter fruit, worth but $200 in October, will 
frequently bring $400 or more in March, or 
April. It is by particular attention to such 
small items as these, that a farmer gets ahead 
in the world. 
To Abolish Fruit-Stealing. 
As we grow older (and more charitable ?) we 
are the more inclined to think that the stealing 
of fruit springs from an ignorant, heedless sport¬ 
iveness, rather than from deliberate wickedness. 
They who steal have never learned how much 
time and labor it costs to raise fruit; and seeing 
it in tempting plentifulness around, they think it 
can harm nobody very much if they take a little. 
We do not justify this, nor do we deprecate 
the use of legal suasion, at times; but would 
not a little moral influence and tact also be 
well? To a family given to purloining grapes, 
we would send a dish of fruit as a present. 
Would they not be ashamed afterwards to rob 
their benefactor ? Certainly they would, unless 
they were heathens. Perhaps, in another case, 
we would present them with young plants of 
the grape, or young fruit trees, teach them how 
to plant, and prune, and train them. Heap 
coals of fire on their heads. Wouldn’t they 
wince under the scorching! 
Uses of a Garden Frame. 
A garden frame is very easily constructed. 
Take li inch planks—one about eighteen inches 
wide for the back side, and another nine inches 
for the front, and each from ten to fifteen feet in 
length. For ends, use planks of same thickness 
as sides, about five feet in length, and tapered 
in width from that of the back plank at one end 
to that of the front at the other. Cover the in¬ 
clined top with sashes, arranged to open either 
by sliding or by hinges. Such a frame is useful 
in three ways: 1st, in early Autumn, to dry ap¬ 
ples and other fruits in; 2nd, at the approach of 
Winter, to set over a cold-bed; and 3d, to cover 
a hot-bed in early Spring. The whole cost is 
about $5, and in forwarding early vegetables 
alone such a frame will pay on every farm. 
Another Fruit-Picker. 
At the present rate of invention, varieties of 
fruit-pickers will soon equal the number of 
churns or washing machines. Several new 
ones have been 
shown at the 
office of the 
American Agri¬ 
culturist this 
season, iff ad¬ 
dition to those 
already d e s - 
cribed in our 
columns. The 
one figured 
here has sever¬ 
al excellent fea¬ 
tures, and ap¬ 
pears adapted 
to the purpose 
designed. The 
picking ar¬ 
rangement 
consists of a 
pair of large 
nippers with 
sharp knives,a, 
which cut the 
stem of the fruit. We would suggest to the 
manufacturers that these should be set at an an¬ 
gle, so as to cut like shears. Semi-circular 
wires are attached to tlue blades of the nippers 
to prevent the fruit from falling outward. A 
muslin bag, b, is attached to the back part to re¬ 
ceive what is picked. The nippers are worked 
by means of a stout wire passing down the han¬ 
dle, and kept in place by staples at proper in¬ 
tervals. Near the lower end of the pole or han¬ 
dle, the Wire is attached to a tin tube, c, which 
slides loosely upon the handle. This enables 
the operator to readily move the wire up and 
down to open and close the nippers. The ap¬ 
paratus is light, neat, well made, and not expen¬ 
sive, the retail price being $1.25. It is manu¬ 
factured by T. Evans & Bro., Newark, N. J. 
Migration of Birds in Winter. 
Some species of birds remain in the northern 
States during the Winter. The crow, the wood¬ 
pecker, the yellow-bird, a little transformed, and 
a few others spend nearly the whole year at the 
north. Beside these, we have a few visitors from 
Arctic regions, who like our winters better than 
their own, but can not endure our hot summers. 
But the majority of our Summer birds go 
southward on the approach of Winter. It is an 
old notion that swallows spend their winters 
here, in sand banks or in mud at the bottom of 
ponds; and that robins hybernate in hollow 
trees and in caves in the forests. We have no 
faith in this. Now and then, a robin or other 
bird, overtaken by Winter, may spend the cold 
season here, feeding on seeds and berries, but 
this is doubtless an exception to the general rule. 
