The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1880-09-30
agricultural.
ALL ABOUT THE LIE coNTE PEAR.

investigate the famous LIE Conte
pear for the benefit of my Sumter
county friends. Maj. John lie Con-
te, from whom it takes its name, in
troduced it into Liberty county, Ga,
in 1856. lie found il in Northern
nursery, where it was labeled Chi
nese Sand pear, and he sent it to his
neice, Mrs. Harden, who lived In
Liberty county in this State. AT
the same time he told her that it
would grow from cutting and ripen
late in the fall. The result proved
that it was not the sand pear for
while it would grow from a cutting,
the first ripened in July..lapd both
tree and fruit proved totally distinct
The LIE Conte grows somewhat in
the shape of Lombardy poplar, the
branches shooting straight up; and
the fruit is glossy, large, rOsetinged
and delicious. The Chinese sand
pear, however, grows more in the
shape of he.orange, peach andlordi-
nary apple; the fruit is crust
coat" small, tough and good chiefly
for cooking purposes. But the LIE
Conte is of the same family, as both
grow from a cutting. The parent
tree, owned by Mrs. Harden, attrac
ted very little attention and about
the time it began to bear, the war
broke out and the tree remained une
noticed for a number of years.
Then 10 1869, Capt. L. l. Varne-
doe, who had managed for Mrs. Har-
den previous to the war, removed
from sLiberty county to this and
brought with him a number of cut
tings from the tree. Of these, about
half dozen lived and hourisbed,
and from these original trees many
others have been grown. Mr.. H.H.
Sanford procured cuttings from Cap
tain Varnedoe, and now he, as well
as Capt. v. has extensive orchards
and nurseries, which are paying a
fine income. Many hundreds of
young trees are sold every year and
numbers of people are embarking in
pear>raisipg as business.
AS remarked, the LIE Conte is
grown from a cutting twelve and ff
teen inches long which is set deep in
the ground 20 as to leave only about
two eyes or buds out. These cut
tings are placed in drills as close to-
gether as orange trees in a nursery
two or three inches apart. A good
many them die, but sometimes near
ly all of them will live-sometimes
it is one in five and somoti nts nine
in ten.
They grow with wonderful rapid
ty-a as fast as the eucalyptus. They
often attain a height of twelve feet
in a single summer. At one year of
age they may be planted into orch
ards and at five years old they will
begin to pay. They bear before they
reach five years of age. When
transplanted, the young trees should
be set in twenty fleet squares, if put
on common land but if the land is
of good quality, they should be plac
ed twenty five by twenty five feet
apart. They must be topped and
afterwards pruned carefully as they
grow, the pruning being done with a
view to make the branches grow out
wardly, In pruning, the fruit-spurs
should not be taken off. All the
clippings may be stuck in the ground
and they will make new trees.
The fruit ripens, as stated, in Jus
ly. But for shipping purposes, it
should be gathered ten or fifteen
days before it ripens. Step-ladders
and other convenient contrivances
are used in gathering. The fruit is
packed as soon as gathered. 1t is
first wrapped in ordinary white pa
per (newSpaper) and then packed in
crates % inches long, twelve and
half inches Geep and eight inches
wide. These crates contain about
seven eigbths of a bushel, or an
average of ninety pears they are
made of baSs>wood shipped here
from Bangor, Me-, which is used be
cause of light weight and uniformity.
The cost of each crate laid down
here is ten cents. The rate of freight
by express from here to any of the
Northern markets is one cent a
pound. The shipping qualities of
the lie Conte pear are unsurpassed
PROFITS.
Capt. Varnedoe showed me bill
of three crates of lie Conte pears,
which he sold ir New York a week
or so age. BY this bill it was shown
that he realized net profit of 395
per crate, which is more than four
cents a piece for the pears. Year be
fore last, his net profits on twelve
trees were $4,000. His crop this
year will average ten bushels to the
tree, and he says it is not half a
crop. Nevertheless, at ten bushels
to the tree, it will seen that this is
sixteen crates which being sold at
the rate of profit of over sixty dol
dollars to the tree. Now, with sew
enty trees on an acre, we have a
profit of over four thousand dollars
per acre. That sounds "fshy," l
know but right now and in Capt.
Varnedoe's case, it is certainlp true,