in Britain.
[Illustration: PEAR--BEURRÉ DIEL]
Easter Beurré has twenty-two, most of them French. Good if grown in good
soil and in a good season. It does not grow well on the Quince.
Flemish Beauty has seventeen. The fruit is large and sometimes russetty
and flushed crimson; good only when gathered before it is ripe
(September and October).
Louise Bonne has seven. Raised at Avranches in Normandy (1788), it
curiously is called L. B. of Jersey.
Maréchal de la Cour has six, large and good. "One of the finest" (Dr
Hogg).
Napoleon has fourteen. "Second rate" (Barron).
Red Doyenné has eleven, chiefly French. The fruit is superior to White
D. (November).
Glou Morceau has twelve or thirteen, chiefly French. It is excellent in
a warm soil and site (November and December).
PEARS FOR PERRY
Our people are beginning to discover that we can and ought to make as
good Cider and Perry as is made in any country. Mr Radclyffe Cooke in
his "Cider and Perry" gives the following list:--
_Early Varieties._
Barland.
Moorcroft.
Red Pear.
Taynton Squash.
_Midsummer._
Langland
Yellow and Black Huffcap.
_Late._
Blakeney Red.
Butt Pear.
Oldfield.
Pine Pear.
Rock Pear.
Sixty varieties appear in the List sent to the Pear Conference of the
R.H.S., October 1885.
GATHERING AND STORING
Mid-Season and late pears should be gathered in dry weather as soon as
they come easily from the tree. Lift gently, and gather by degrees as
the fruits ripen, those on south side first. Use padded baskets, and
treat good fruits with loving care. Beware of piling a large quantity in
one basket, of turning or rolling out instead of handling by the stems.
With high pyramids Heathman's combined ladder-steps may be needed. Pears
should be put away quite dry in a dark and dry place, where the
temperature is as even as outside wooden or other walls, and thatch
above can make it. Perfect and fine fruit should be wrapped in tissue or
other paper and placed singly on shelves or in shallow drawers or boxes.
Boxes are excellent for late fruit. For storing they should be only deep
enough to hold one layer of fruit. Scott recommends clean bran, others
dry silver sand, to put among the fruit so as to absorb any moisture.
The ripening may be hastened by placing the fruit in a gently warmed
room, or on hot water pipes in a greenhouse. "Sorts dry and tough
carefully ripened in warm drawers or on the shelves of a warm cupboard
become deliciously melting and rich. A heat from 60° to 70° is about the
proper temperature" (Scott). Fruit pecked, bruised, or injured in any
way should be kept apart and got rid of without storing. White tissue
paper,[6] glazed on one side, the fruit resting on the glazed side with
another sheet on the top, the glazed side downwards, is useful where a
large amount of fruit is stored on shelves or trays. Orr's Patent Trays,
sold by John P. White, Bedford, are excellent for storing. The trays fit
on each other, and single trays are readily moved, so that the fruit on
each tray can be examined without being handled.
PROTECTION OF FRUIT
As trees must be protected against hares and rabbits, so must fruit be
from other enemies. Birds in some seasons are most destructive,
attacking the finest fruit, pecking a piece out near the stalk. Such
fruit soon decays. Wasps and blue-bottle flies feast on ripe or injured
fruit. Mr Cheal in his "Fruit Culture" recommends that galvanised wire
netting be put over the whole ground. This may do for small plantations,
not for large, nor for places where the trees rise beyond 7 feet. Many
use the Cloister Fruit Protector of perforated celluloid. This protects
peaches, apples, pears, etc., from birds, wasps and snails, but the cost
is heavy. Muslin bags kept carefully from year to year are good. The
fruit rests in them and grows. Nets made in different sizes might be put
over bush trees on stakes. They last if kept dry. The gardener, too,
should have a gun and use it at dawn and daily. Messrs Bunyard recommend
a trap like a lobster pot made by Gilbertson & Page, Hertford, to be
baited with soaked bread. This trap takes birds alive. The house-sparrow
and the bullfinch are the chief, but not the only, enemies. Robins,
hedge-sparrows,[7] etc., might be released. Cut ivy carefully back, and
encourage winter nets and sparrow clubs. Frost is another foe. Cordons
might be protected by hoops covered with tiffany, Russian canvas, mats,
or netting; bushes by nets, mats, etc. A movable coping over a wall is
often useful. But if strong colonies of bees are close at hand, they
will rarely fail to fertilise some blossoms. In fine intervals bees come
out in crowds, and do great good. Queen wasps and wasps' nests should be
sought and destroyed. Country children will find them for a small
reward.
WINTER AND SPRING WASHES
If the fruit-blossoms survive frost, cold winds and rain, enemies of a
different kind await them. It is necessary to spray or wash the trees if
these enemies are to be kept at bay.
1. The following mixture is recommended by the Board of Agriculture: "To
prepare caustic alkali wash, first dissolve 1 lb. of commercial caustic
soda in water, then 1 lb. of crude potash (potashes or pearl ash of
oilmen) in water. When both have been dissolved, mix the two well
together, then add ¾ lb. of soft soap or agricultural treacle, stir
well, and add sufficient water to make up 10 gallons." As the wash has a
burning effect on the hands, the sprayer should wear gloves and be
careful. The Eclair hand-spraying pump, supplied by Clark & Co., 20
Great St Helens, E. C., sends a spray like a mist. The cost is about
35s. We have used it for years, and the same firm repairs it well. This
mixture with us, though easily sprayed, has not been a great success. If
used, it should be applied in February, just before the buds open.
2. The Bordeaux Mixture is used for spraying by some, and is recommended
by Messrs Bunyard. It is a good fungicide as well as insect-enemy. The
following is the receipt: Sulphate of copper 6 lbs., unslaked lime 4
lbs., water 50 gallons.
Dissolve the sulphate of copper in a wooden vessel, pouring in
sufficient water to cover the coarse bag in which the sulphate should
have been placed. Attach the bag by means of a string to a rod placed
across the vessel, and let it hang in the water. In another vessel add
water gradually to the lime until a thick paste is formed; when cool mix
the two together in a third vessel, and add water up to 40, 50 or 60
gallons. If the mixture is properly made, a clean knife blade held for
one minute in the solution should remain unchanged; if coated with
copper, add more lime until no copper adheres to the blade. Stir the
mixture constantly while spraying and use it fresh. Spray the trees when
the buds are first expanding. Messrs Bunyard (Fruit Catalogue, 1901-2)
recommend "6 lbs. of pure sulphate of copper, 4 lbs. fresh unslaked
lime, and 22 gallons of water, the sulphate to be put in a piece of
sacking or light cloth, and hung by a string from the top of a barrel
containing 18 gallons of water, a few inches below the surface so as to
dissolve. Then slack 4 lbs. of fresh lime in as small a quantity of
water as possible, the water being added very slowly, until slaking is
completed; then slowly make up to 4 gallons. When cool, thoroughly stir
and strain slowly the milk of lime into the copper solution, stirring
well while mixing for another minute or two; it is then fit for use as a
winter spray. It should be used when freshly made, (_a_) Apply before
buds start to all fruit trees with the 22 gallons mixture. This can be
diluted to a 30, 50 or 60 gallons mixture for spring or summer use.
(_b_) Spray again just as the petals drop with the 60 gallons mixture.
If made and applied as above (within ten or twenty hours) it adheres
closely to the wood and foliage; treacle need not be added." This
adhesion is of vast importance, as lime is abhorred by stem-borers
(_e.g._, the goat and leopard moths) as well as by all insects. The
double application of lime is also helpful. In the United States Paris
Green is sometimes added, and is no doubt useful; the proportion must be
very small.
3. For many years I have painted my trees in winter with the following
mixture: one bushel of lime, half a bushel of soot, a quart of paraffin,
a pail of cow dung, a pail of clay; melted grease is sometimes added,
and the whole worked into a paint and then put on the trees. Treacle
might be substituted for the cow dung and grease. This has proved a
valuable preventive. The lime and soot gradually falling off, leave the
bark clean, and enrich the soil below. But painting is a much longer
process than spraying with (1) or (2). Apples have subsequently been
sprayed with Paris Green, and pears might also be.
INSECT ENEMIES
1. The pear oyster scale is very injurious, especially on walls, if not
checked at an early stage. The covering of the female is like a small
oyster scale, hence the name. Scrape off any rough bark in winter, and
apply the alkali or one of the other washes as a preventive. In May and
June affected parts might be brushed with ¼ lb. of soft soap in a
gallon of water. Tobacco or lime water might also be applied. Paraffin
largely diluted may be used, but is dangerous in excess. Messrs Rivers
in "The Miniature Fruit Garden" (p. 144) say: "Washing the parts
affected with a mixture of soot, lime and sulphur will remove the
roughness and restore the tree to health; the above mixed with skim milk
is more enduring." As a believer from experience in soot and lime, I
prefer this receipt, if the trees were not washed in winter.
2. The Blister Moth makes brown blisters on the leaves. It may be kept
from laying eggs on the tree by syringing occasionally with soap-suds.
Spraying with Paris Green just after the fruit is formed will do good.
Half an ounce of best paste to 10 or 12 gallons of water, with some
fresh lime added, will suffice for small gardens. Spray only in fine
weather just after the petals have fallen. Paris Green is arsenic, and
may poison bees if used too soon. The sprayer should avoid breathing
over the mixture when making it up, should use gloves, work from
windward, and not allow any spray to reach his flesh. A second spraying
for this and other insects is often useful. Blundell, Spence & Co.
(Ltd.), Hull, supply good paste. Price ½ lb. 1s., less for larger
quantities. See also No. 3.
3. The Pear Leaf Mite causes small blisters on the leaves, but not the
tunnels or galleries of the Blister Moth. It winters in the bud scales,
and emerges in the spring. If the trees are washed and syringed, the
attacks will be lessened. In (2) and (3) collect the blistered leaves as
soon as seen, burn them and spray or syringe at once.
Miss Ormerod recommends a dilute paraffin emulsion sprayed over infested
leaves. Dissolve ¼ lb. of soft soap in a gallon of water, add this
while boiling to two gallons of paraffin, churn the whole with syringe
or small pump for ten or fifteen minutes to make a perfect mixture. For
spraying add 12 gallons of water to each gallon of the emulsion. Stir
well while spraying, and try the mixture on a branch or two lest it be
too strong; if so, add more water. This emulsion is good for the Blister
Moth and the Slug-worm.
4. The Slug-worm is so called from the similarity of the larva of this
sawfly to a small black slug. The worms feed on the upper surface of the
leaves. Dust with quick lime two or three days in succession, or syringe
with strong soap-suds and some tobacco water. Clean with pure water in a
few days. The paraffin emulsion (No. 3) might also be used. Quick-lime
scattered around the roots and forked three or four inches into the soil
may destroy their cocoons. But beware of excess. The remedy may be worse
than the disease.
Insects that attack leaves will also eat the skin of the young fruits if
conveniently placed for them.
5. The Pear Sucker is a jumping plant-louse which early in the season
sucks the juices of the tree about the axils of the leaves. They are
covered with the exudations of the sap, which often drops on the ground.
The visits of the ants should call attention to this pest. Syringe well
with soft soap and water, ½ lb. to 4 gallons, and add tobacco water.
Remove all rough bark (their hiding-places) in winter.
6. The Pear Gnat Midge (_Diplosis pyrivora_) may readily ruin a crop if
unchecked. It is a recent importation among us. Both here and in the
United States it is spreading with alarming rapidity. It is a small
two-winged fly, with a black body having lines of yellow hair. The
female pierces the flower-buds and lays her eggs in them. These soon
hatch, and the young tiny grubs eat their way into the embryo fruit,
keeping to the fleshy part, leaving the core and seeds alone. The pears
turn brown, and then black. Cut them open, you will notice maggots. The
fruit bursts or falls, the maggots form silken cocoons in the soil in
which they pupate, and remain till the blossoms begin to expand next
spring. Mr J. Fraser (editor of _Gardening World_) has kindly sent these
details, and recommends (1) that the injured fruit be gathered and
burnt; (2) that two inches of the ground beneath the trees should be
taken up and burnt; (3) that kainit should be distributed round the
trees in autumn. Kainit is said to keep off wireworm, and is recommended
in the United States as a preventive against this pest. I think the
mixture No. 2 or No. 3 should also be used, as insects may be deterred
by the scent. Lime and soot spread over the ground in winter would
probably do good.
7. Weevils devour leaves, buds, young shoots, even the skin of fruit.
They feed by night, and may be shaken into a cloth off bushes. Lime and
soot may lessen their attacks, either as a wash No. 2 or 3, or spread
lightly round the stems, or as a powder over the leaves.
A special bellows for distributing any dry powder (as sulphur, lime,
soot, etc.) can be had from De Luzy Fréres, 44A Harold Street,
Camberwell. The price is 7s. 6d., carriage paid.
As a general rule insecticides should be applied in the evening or after
the sun is down. Early and late visits to the trees are best for finding
them feeding.
8. _Wasps_, after a dry spring, may be very numerous. Their nests often
hold many thousands. Large numbers may be destroyed thus: place a
hand-light upon bricks, make a small hole in the top of this, and over
it put a sound and closely-fitting one. Fruit cut open should be thrown
beneath the lower light. The wasps often go up through the hole, and do
not return. Their buzzing attracts others. Destroy by burning sulphur
beneath, or by drowning. A glass destroyer on a similar principle is
sold in china-shops. Open-mouthed bottles filled with beer sweetened or
water sweetened with treacle will lure many to destruction. Queen wasps
in spring and wasp-nests must be noticed and destroyed. Fasten a piece
of cloth soaked in a solution of cyanide of potassium (a small quantity
dissolved in hot water), and put it in the nest; all the wasps will be
killed. Dig out the grubs. This is a deadly poison, and should be
handled only by an expert. The emanation from the solution must not be
breathed. Tar does almost as well. A nest may be partly dug and flooded
at night. A clean wine bottle (half-filled with water) inserted in the
place of the nest (the top of the neck level with the surface of the
ground) will probably capture all stragglers. Some make a heap of
injured fruit and syringe the wasps with nicotine soap, eight ounces to
a gallon of hot or cold water. This plan kills quickly, but the fruit no
longer attracts. Squibs a half-inch in diameter, three inches long, made
of gunpowder moistened with water, one-fourth of flowers of sulphur
added, mixed into a paste, wrapped in brown paper, and tied at one end,
are good for the work. After dark, light the squib, push the lighted end
into the hole, put a sod over, and ram it in to confine the fumes. In a
few minutes dig up and destroy the grubs, then fill up the hole. If the
nest is high up, attach the squib to a stick, light, and keep it close
(while burning) to the entrance. Young gardeners enjoy this squibbing
process.
[Illustration: FAN-SHAPED PEAR TREE, ONE YEAR AFTER GRAFTING, SHOWING
THE LENGTH OF RESULTING SHOOTS]
THINNING FRUIT
If you wish for fine fruit or a crop every year, trees must not be
overworked, especially in their earlier days. Thin whenever there is a
large crop, but do not begin too soon, as some fruits are not fully
fertilised, and may fall. Never let fruits touch each other. As the
fruits mature, give any grub-eaten to the pigs, and use inferior pears
for cooking purposes. Grub-eaten fruit must not lie on the ground.
SUMMER, WINTER, BRANCH AND ROOT PRUNING; LIFTING
Summer pruning rests chiefly on the principle that the trees should
always be open more or less while in leaf to the sun, the light, and the
air. So cut out _at any time_ branches that crowd the tree or threaten
to cross other boughs. Cut from below, so as not to tear bark away.
Pears do not bleed from being cut. In July, when the growing time is
almost over, cut back to six or seven leaves any strong shoots springing
from a main branch, or in cordons, from the stem. If they shoot again,
they should again be stopped. In late autumn or winter look over the
trees, reduce the shoots to two or three eyes, taking care not to remove
bloom buds. Early in the summer, and at any time, remove from the trunk
and boughs any shoots threatening to crowd or shade the centre. Keep the
tree (especially the centre) open to sun and light. Even large standards
are improved by summer pruning. Tree-pruners should be used where the
shoots are out of hand-reach. Root pruning is also essential in strong
soils where trees are too rank in growth and produce wood rather than
fruit. Trees of all kinds may be root pruned with advantage in such
soils, and also where the lower soil is bad. Open a trench 20, 30 or 40
inches from the stem (according to size of tree) until the coarse roots
are reached. One-third the distance from the stem that the trees are in
height is a rule suggested by a recent writer.[8] Cut back such roots
with a sharp knife; drive the spade under the stem (if possible) to cut
the tap roots, and any others going downwards. Open a trench half round
one year, and if necessary attack the other half next year. Be careful
not to prune too hard at first, or to injure the fibres. Begin in
mid-October. If the ground below is very dry, give warm or rain water.
Fruit blooms will probably appear next autumn. If young trees grow very
luxuriantly, they may be lifted at the end of October with advantage.
Cut the tap root and replant at once. Exposure of the roots is dangerous
to vitality. Persons who prune their trees only in winter usually grow
wood rather than fruit.
MARKETING AND PACKING
Marketing depends greatly on the neighbourhood. Colour, size and quality
ensure a sale everywhere, but only a constant supply of good fruit will
attract retail dealers or the London salesmen. Poor stuff will not sell
at a good market. The early fruits may be sent in flats (with tops) lent
by the salesmen. But these are often lost and involve trouble and
expense. Non-returnable boxes to contain half a bushel or a bushel are
now in use, but such boxes are too large for the better fruits.
Californian pears come to us in good condition in boxes containing each
a few dozen fruits, each fruit being separately packed in tissue paper.
French pears are also sent in boxes evenly graded and packed in one,
two, or three layers. Small boxes bought by the gross are not dear. The
following list is taken from Watson, vol. v. p. 369.
Gross.
Length. Width. Depth. S. D.
11-½ in. 10-½ in. 7-½ in. 32 6
15 " 6 " 7-½ " 31 6
15 " 11 " 7 " 50 0
15 " 13 " 4 " 53 6
16 " 8 " 4 " 28 6
--BLACKNELL.
In the larger boxes, strong paper should be put round inside to prevent
bruising. All fruit, however sent, should be even in size, of good
quality, not diseased or bruised. Pears are more attractive when well
packed than apples. Placed with their heads against the two opposite
sides in two rows with the stems toward each in a box of suitable size,
they may be made to fit closely so as to travel safely. The better and
later sorts should be bedded in wood-wool and wrapped in tissue paper,
white or coloured, with a sheet of paper between each layer, and the
whole firmly packed. Loose fruit are sure to suffer. The contents of
each box must be made so firm as not to be moved in the slightest
degree. The G.E. and other railway companies provide cheap boxes of a
suitable size and allow similar boxes also to be used if nailed. They
must not be corded. Wire hinges and a fastening in front have been
suggested. Nos. 3, 4 and 5 (G.E.R.), 2s. 6d., 3s., and 4s. per dozen are
the best sizes. They will hold 18 to 24 fruits. On G.E.R. 20 lbs. can be
sent for 4d. to London; 1d. extra is charged for every additional 5
lbs.; delivery is included. Such boxes could be readily stamped with the
grower's name. The companies assist growers by publishing the names of
those who have produce to sell.
PEARS IN AN UNHEATED ORCHARD HOUSE