148 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ October, 
barrels, or ■whatever they may he placed in, 
should be covered with papers, to exclude the 
light and prevent the escape of the aroma. 
Care should also be exercised to avoid placing 
them so deep in barrels or heaps as to allow of 
the generation of much internal heat, which 
might carry the fermentation too high, and 
destroy the fruit. When one has the facilities 
for doing so, he may improve the colour, and 
possibly the flavour, by spreading them on 
shelves between old newspapers. This ripen¬ 
ing between papers, on shelves in a room where 
an even temperature, and the right degree of 
moisture can be maintained, seems to give the 
most satisfactory results of any method with 
which I am acquainted. The manner in which 
early Pears thus treated will colour is truly 
wonderful. 
It is often desirable to lengthen the season 
of the ripening of some of our early Pears ; 
especially is this the case where the Bartlett 
[Williams’s Bon Chretien], which seems to be 
the standard summer Pear for marketing pur¬ 
poses, is the main crop. Tins may be readily 
done, by making two or more pickings from 
each tree, with several weeks between the first 
and the last picking. The largest and ripest 
should be picked first, as soon as the windfalls 
will ripen and be good; and the smaller and 
greener ones should be left, to receive the addi¬ 
tional sap which the earlier ones would have 
appropriated. Sometimes one side of a tree 
will be much earlier than the other, in which 
case the earliest side should be picked first. 
This early picking should be ripened off at 
once by the process already described, only 
observing that the greener the fruit the higher 
temperature it will require, and a more humid 
atmosphere will be needed to prevent their 
shrivelling. 
Having ripened and disposed of this early 
crop, another picking should be made, and 
served in a similar way, leaving the greenest 
on the trees as long as they will keep green. 
Mulching, and where practicable, watering will 
help to prolong their season, by keeping up the 
vigour of the trees. Most summer and fall 
pears may be kept best by leaving them on the 
trees as long as they will hang and keep green. 
I have tried keeping them on ice, but while it 
checked their ripening, it induced decay, and 
destroyed the life of the pear, if I may be 
allowed such an expression. Certainly, keeping 
pears a long time at a low temperature injures 
their ripening properties. By making early 
and late pickings as described, we may obtain 
a larger crop from each tree, and sell it at 
better prices, because we can put part of them 
into market early, before the bulk of the crop 
is received, and we can keep a part of the crop 
until quite late, and sell when the rush is over, 
thereby obtaining better prices. Splendid 
specimens for exhibition purposes may be 
obtained, by leaving a few of the largest and 
fairest specimens on the tree, and picking all 
others early ; then, when fully grown, pick and 
ripen between papers or blankets, as the weather 
and degree of ripeness they have attained on 
the tree may require. 
A great many people pick their Peara too 
green. Such Pears are small, and they will 
shrivel unless ripened with great care, and they 
lack the body and flavour of those which are 
fully grown. Late fall and winter Pears should 
be left on the trees until hard frosts and windy 
weather cause them to drop, then they should 
be carefully picked, sorted, and packed in clean 
barrels, and stored where the temperature can 
be kept as near 40° as possible until the season 
of ripening has arrived, when they should be 
placed between woollen blankets in a room 
where an even temperature of as near 70° as 
possible can be maintained, and they w'ill soon 
ripen like summer Pears. 
I believe the cause of the failure of so many 
people to satisfactorily ripen winter pears, is 
that the fruit is kept and ripened at so low a 
temperature that the tendency to saccharine 
fermentation is destroyed, instead of being 
favoured, and consequently such pears are dry 
and tasteless. 
The summa sumviarum of the whole matter 
is : If we wish to keep pears and retard their 
ripening, we must keep them in a still dry air, 
at a temperature as near 40° as it is possible. 
But when it is desirable to ripen them, put 
them in a dark warm place, with a moderate 
degree of moisture in the air, and keep them 
covered, to exclude the light and retain the 
heat and gases which are generated. In warm 
weather use papers for a covering, and in cold 
weather use woollen blankets.—J. W. Pierce, 
West Millbury , Mass. 
PENTSTEMON CLEVELAND! 
very pretty and distinct Pentstemon 
a native of Lower California, and 
i been quite recently introduced. It 
appears to have first flowered in this country, 
in the garden of A. 0. Walker, Colwyn Bay, 
North Wales, where it continued in flower 
from June to December. 
