The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1873-01-18
Winter Pears
The Country Cuitivator says:

Liz SOuHIft 1GltlNator says.
"A young cultivator wishes to know
what varieties of winter pear will give
a supply from the present time or
about the first Of winter, for two or
three months-sueh sorts as have been
sufficiently tined to be of established
character He has good supply OF
autumn pears, but has overlooked those
for winter. In answer to this inquiry
we may state that we are now ENJOYING
the AnJou, which Is unquestionably
the best of this season. the Winter
Nells aud the Lawrence. These will
probably furnish good supply till
about the fist of the year-somefimes
the Lawrence last nearly into February.
Very much depends upon the manner
IN which these fruits are kept, and the
fitness Of the apartments for storing
them. Keep the specimens in as cool
place as possible after they are gath
cred, and before they are placed in the
cellar. A cool clubhouse, or suitable
apartment II a carriage house, fronting
the north, answers good purpose 4
fruit room, built above ground Oh pur-
pose, is best, where there are large
quantities to be stored or in the alb
sence of this building an apartment
may be divided off by double boarding
IN some other building, and covering
the boxes IL which the fruit is packed
with chaff of fine straw. This protec-
ton will often be sufficient until the
time has far advanced into December;
and there will be no danger till intense
ly cold weather sets in, and it Will be
'OEne days before the frost can pass the
barrier Of double partitions and the
thick stratum Of chat. After they go
to the cellar, keep the apartment well
ventilated and regulated to low tenn
perature above freezing by thermom-
eter.
We have mentioned the Aniou as
| the best early winter pear. If kept in
| a warm apartment, it VIII .ripen in au-
| tumn, even as early as the first of DC
tober; but by keeping cool, according
60 the mode Just mentioned, they may
be had even as late as the first of the
year. There is some variation in diff
| ferent seasons. We have known the
Winter Neles to ripen fully i'll Novem-
| Der, when the autumn had been warm,
| but the period was retarded some
weeks by keeping the pears III a cool
place.
After the Aniou, Winter Nells and
Lawrence, the Josephine de Malines is
the best, ripening in January, and
keeping till February. Doyenne d'Al-
eucon ripens about the same time, but
is not so good III quality 1t is, how
ever, hard tree aud good bearer, and
is on the whole desirable sort. The
Eastern Beurre, when it natures we'll,
will keep into April, and ripen into q
| delicious fruit, but on the whole it is
rather an uncertain sort. Josephine
| de Malines is poor IN some places, but
is mostly delicious and excellent. Ii
grows we'll on ounce
We should not omit the name OF
the Vicar of Wakefield as an early or
mid-winter pear of value. 1t is free
grower and a prodigious bearer-the
fruit large and fair. 1t is occasionally,
when well grown and ripened, of good
quality for the table. being pleasant
and agreeable, although not rich; but
its chief value is for baking aud stew
ing The principal reason why the
fruit is SO often poor is that it is allow
ed to overbear."