The Garden.

Otago Witness, Issue 1419, 1 February 1879, Page 15

The Garden.

America, and its cultivation h rapidly increasing while with many fruit growers there is a disposition to lo sen tho prodaction of apples, owing to their uncertainty and tendency to overproduction in years of plenty. The author o± the essay states that the pear on suitable soil is surer aud more productive, taking one year with another, than apples, and can bo produced cheaper by the barrel On the other hand, the proper ripening and marketing of tho pear 18 attended with more difficulty. A good peai' may be ripened so as to be solid, juicy, and sweet, with a good rich colour to its skin ; or it may be earthy, insipid, and rotten at tho core; or, agaiu, ib may be shrivelled, sour, and unattractive ; and thihO different conditions may all bo obtained iv the same season, and from fruit grown on the same tree— so says our author. He assumes that nearly all pear growers agree that all kinds of pears should bo picked while green, and ripened in the house, but at just what time they should bo picked, aud just how they should be handled to ripen them, are subjects on which there is much diversity of opinion. His recommendations are briefly as follows :— Summer and early autumn pear 3 should be picked just beforo thoy begin to turn, and wheu they are neaily g?-own ; should bo bandied with great caro, to ay ;id bruising, aud 3houla be placed in barrels or bones in a room or cellar, where the temperature may be kept at .iboub 70deg. and a moderate degree of moisture maintained. A very dry air absorbs moisture and arorni from the fruit. After being kept under such condit ; ons for a few days they will begin to turn, and come of them will mellow, and bo reidy for use. The barrels or heaps should not contain too large a bnlk, or there will bo an undue generation of internal heat and consequent fermentation. When one bas tho facilities, the colour, and possibly the flavour, may be improved by spreading them on shelves between old newspapers. This mode of ripening, iv a room where an even temperature and the ri^ht degree of moisture can he kept, "seems to give" the mo^-t satisfactory results of any method known to the apthor. He adds, the manner in which early pears thus treated will colour is truly wonderful. To lengthen the season of the ripening of main crop summer pears, two or more pickings are recommended, with an interval of several weeks between the first and the List picking. The largest and ripest should be picked first; sometimes the fruit ou one side of a tree if forwarder than on the other. The greener the fruit is gathered the higher the temperature, and the more humid the atmosphere required to ripen them without shrivelling. Most sum* mer and autumn pears may be kept best by leaving them on the trees a? long as they will hang and keep grten. Keeping pears on ice checks ripening, but induces decay and destroys vitality. Late autumn and winter pears should be left on the trees until hard frost causes them to begin to fall j then they should be carefully packed, sorted and paoked in cleau barrels, and stored where the temperature can bo kept aa near 40 deg. aa possible until the season of ripening has anived, when they shouldbo placed between woolen blankets in a room wher^ an tven temperature of as near 70 deg. as can be maintained, and they will soon ripen like summer pears. Fruit ripened at so low a temperature that the tendency to sacchrine fermentation is destroyed, instead of being flavoured, are dry and tasteless With regard to the marketing of pears for long distances, especially when facilities for packing are not good, they should be sent to a reliable fruit dealer while yet hard. Pears sold in this way should be carefully sorted, discarding all ripe or wormy ones, as well as those which nro deformed and unsized, and they should ho packed in clean barrels, with a layer of choice one 3 kid on their side in the bottom of the barrel ; then fill iv a few carefully and shake down; then, nioro and shake again, and when full, after being thoroughly shaken, press the head in, drive the hoop", and nail the head in, and line it with piocos of old hoops or green withes ; then turn the barrel over and mark the name of the person to whom ib is to bo shipped, as well as the kind and quality. _ If shipped before cold weather, or if nearly ripe, the barrel should have holes bored inittq admit a circul ition of air and prevent the fruit from heating aud rotting. Nearly lipe pears may bo safely packed in boxes eight inches deep, with the battens at the bottom three-fourths of an inch apart. Eipe peara should be packed in hoxea nob more than four inches deep. Basket* should on no account be used.

Thoso who took part in the discussion which fo'lowed agreed in tho main with the recommendations set forth above. One speaker observed that different varieties lequiro different degrees of moisture a<-d heat to ripen them according to the firmness of the skiu, the texture of tho ilesh, aud the natural activity of tho juices. Thus some varieties of the pear will ripen at a low temperature and in a comparatively dry atmosphere, while others, liko tho Easter Beurre, aio improved by a warm and humid air. Several speikera declared that summer pen's ripened on tho tree were generally iufoiior, "becaiue tho procoss of ripening on tho tree, which is tho natural one, seems to net upon the fruit for tho beuefit of the seod aa it tends to the formation of woody fibre and farina"

RIPENING AN^ MARKETING PEARS.

The first number of the " Transactions of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society " for 1878 contains some interesting assays; one bearing the title "Ripening and Marketing Pears "is particularly so. The pear stands next to tho applo iv the list of tho nipst valuable fruits in