The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1882-10-10

TALLAHASSEE, La, august, lccZ-
Editor of The FIorida Dispatch
In your issue of the 9TH Of August, a cor
respondent, Y. T., advises the world and
the balance cf mankind to go slow on the
LeConte pear BOOM" He does not con-
fine his advice to any particular people OF
section; he neither gives his name or ad-
dress neither does he state how many
acres he has in these trees, and | can't
help thinking he is like Gov. Bloxham's
boy with the rabbit: The rabbit was good
to roast, TO fry, to stew, to bake, dc, but
as soon as he got away, she was not
worth durn, no way;" and under these
circumstances his advice should be taken
cum grdno sails, and why?
First, he says they tumbled in New
York from S6 per crate to sl.75 when
confronted by better pears The same
thing has happened to this pear when con-
fronted by fine peaches in New York, and
is liable to happen to any fruit in any
large market. No one has ever claimed
Except perhaps ignorantly) that the lie
Conte pear is in every respect frst-class
fruit, but that it is good pear no one can
deny, when it will bring Sc per crate IN
New York and Boston markets.
" I. bases his advice upon what these
pears will bring in the New York market,
as though there were no other uses thev
could be put to. Well, for the sake Of
argument, this is conceded, and fifty cents
per crate, net, is about as low as they
would sell for in said market, when they
would sell at all, which would give, at his
lowest figures, $1.25 for expenses. Well,
at this low figure, this would give Is per
tree, each one in full bearing averaging
ten bushels; and fifty trees to an acre
would give $3.50 per acre, a yield, or "a
ther a profit per acre, that would make
many a poor fellow in the Gulf States
dance with joy. Second, Y. T. complains
that the LeConte does not ripen early
enough to "take the market far In ad-
vance of the better pears. Well, this can
be remedied by another variety of the
same family one, the fruit of which can
be placed in the New York market by
the first day of June, from any portion Of
Florida, and from all accounts 1t is a
larger and handsomer pear than the Le-
Conte.
1t is mistake to suppose that the Le-
Conte is a sport, or pear standing by
itself among fruits. 1t is q cross between
a Chinese and European pear, and there
are several other hybrid pears that orig
mated in the same manner, among them
the 6 Keiffer," pear that is creating q
great furor in the North and West, one
that is being extensively planted in the
above sections, right among the finer sorts
of pears. The LeConte and other varie-
ties of this family of pears are also being
planted in the same sections. This being
the case, is not any man living in Florida
simply stupid who hesitates to plant out
this strain of pears, if he lives in a locality
where they will grow, especially waen
it is the only family of pears that will
flourish in his soil and climate?
Had the orange men listened to the
" "croakers" and the go slow men, they
would not now be receiving their golden
ducats for their fruit annually, neither
would they be enjoying steamboat and
railroad facilities, good society, &c; nor
would the magnificent climate of Florida
have been noised abroad, and utilized to
the mutual benefit of the resident and
visitor or consumptive. Now, as poor
as this family of pears is, in the estimstion
of some persons, it is superior to the or
ange in some respects. Man alone eats
the orange, and as it comes from the tree;
whereas other animals besides man eat
the pear. 1t makes q cheap and whole
some dessert. They can be canned, dried
in evsporators, and it will pay to do this
when evaporated pears sell in the Eastern
markets At thirty cents per pound. They
can be mashed into cider, distilled into
brandy, and made into pear butter; and
lastly, they can assist largely in raising
q supply of pork.
This family of pears is 9 boon TO the
people of the Gulf States, and especially
to the poor man, for he has only TO possess
himself Of one tree, prune it in the winter
and stick the limbs in the ground, and in
q few years he can grow IS many trees a.
he wants from that one bat the sgo
slow" men went even do this, they are
afraid
We live in fast age. and il i better
TO have smash up" occasionally, than
TO poke along forever in IN ox-cart
Yours truly, B. s. HERzEG.