The Book of Pears and Plums Part 3

When fruit trees have numerous names, they certainly are popular, probably good.

Pa.s.se Colmar has twenty-eight, chiefly French; grown in a rich warm soil it is a first-rate dessert pear (November). The tree is vigorous and makes a good pyramid.

B. Diel has thirteen: among the French it is Beurre Magnifique. It requires a good season here.

Uvedale's St Germain (Belle Angevine of the French) has twenty-two, chiefly French. Yet it was raised in 1690 by Dr Uvedale, a Schoolmaster of Eltham in Kent.

Windsor, a very old English pear, mentioned in 1629, yet of French origin, has eleven. The fruit is large and greenish-yellow, flushed, but soon becomes dry and worthless. In good soil it grows and bears well (August).

White Doyenne has fourteen, a fairly good September and October pear, rather large, a good bearer, "flesh white, but somewhat acrid and gritty" (Barron).

Vicar of Winkfield has twelve. A long large fruit often twisted, fairly good for baking, from November to January, "second rate" (Barron).

B. Rance has six. A long, largish, late pear, sometimes very good.

Wardens, a name given to pears which never melt, are long keeping, and used for cooking only. The name comes from the Cistercian Abbey of Warden in Beds. Parkinson's Warden is now Black Worcester. There are Spanish, White and Red Wardens.

Bishop's Thumb was originally called Bishop's Tongue, It was a favourite in 1690, and is still a favourite. The tree is hardy and a good bearer, the fruit long, firm, melting, sweet (October, November).

Brown Beurre has ten; an old favourite, which requires a wall or very warm site (October).

Chaumontel has nine, requires a very warm climate. Better in Jersey than in Britain.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PEAR--BEURRe DIEL]

Easter Beurre 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.

Marechal de la Cour has six, large and good. "One of the finest" (Dr Hogg).

Napoleon has fourteen. "Second rate" (Barron).

Red Doyenne 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.

b.u.t.t 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 quant.i.ty 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 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 coa.r.s.e 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 quant.i.ty 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 subst.i.tuted 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. Sc.r.a.pe 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 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.