The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-08-10
PEARS BY MANY MILLIONS.
THE GREATEST CROP IN THE HIS
TORY OF PEAR GROWING.


BIight-Ways of Utilizing the Sur
plus Crop.
The pear crop this year is the largest on
record. 1t is estimated by those who are
in a position 10 know and to judge cor
rectly that it will exceed 10000 barrels.
The bulk Of the pears are the lie Conte.
A small proportion are of the Kieffer and
the Bartlett varieties.
If $4,000 barrels were placed end to end,
they would form a line 80 miles long,
reaching through the whole length Of the
territory, where the pear is cultivated on
the Savannah. Florida and Western rail-
way. This number of 10000 barrels is equal
to 10000 bushels and would weigh upwards
Of $1,000 tons. They would load seven or
eight of the largest tramp steamers com
ing to Savannah.
The bulk of this enormous pear crop has
been raised in some six or seven counties
Thomas county alone produced $4,000 bar
rels In one day Townsville shipped 9i3
barrels by express and 900 barrels by
freight.
Boston and Cairo nearby points in the
same district shipped very nearly as many
barrels on the same day. Seven thousand
barrels were shipped by one steamer to
New York. This. of course. does not in
clude overland shipments.
In spite of these figures this years crop
is not by any means a full one. as many
orchards have suffered more or less from
blight during the last two seasons.
The injury from the blight it
is claimed has been very much
overestimated. 1t is very rare
that a tree is killed by the blight. As
a rule the tree RECEIVERS very rapidly.
great many orchards which were blighted
last season have excellent crops this year
At any rate large crops of LeCOnte pears
is the best proof that the blight does not
amount to much, especially since the cause
is now well known, and remedies can be
easily applied.
The pear crop has been shipped to every
large city east of the Rocky Mountains.
A considerable number were shipped to
Texas, Kansas, New Orleans, Mobile,
Tampa, Key West and even to Havana.
The yield is, however, so great that proba-
bly, one-fOurth of the crop will become over
ripe on the trees and will be lost. The
supply of barrels and crates has been ex-
hausted in many localities and probably
one fifth of the crop will be shipped loose
in ventilated cars
As the LeConte pear ripens simultane-
ously with the peach, heavy peach crop
is bound to affect the prices of pears, and
as a rule the returns received for pears
this season have been small. The fruit
buyers commenced the season by paying
81 per barrel not cash for the fruit on the
tree Later the prices declined to % cents
per bushel, or 60 cents per barrel.
The bulk of the crop was shipped, how
ever, under a guarantee from the commits
sion men that the bushel of pears would
net % cents. A strange fact was noticed
by shippers that wherever the freight
charges were the lightest the net returns
were the best. 1t was also noticed that
a point not overstocked with peaches
yielded fair returns on pears shipped there.
Next season the orchards will have
about all recovered from the blight, and
many thousand acres of young trees VIII
come into bearing 1t requires from five
to seven years before the pear tree bears
we'll
1t is evident that a very large portion
| of the crop in future years will have to
be utilized in some other manner than
in shipment for direct consumption. Pu-
| IRRIGATION requires always three condi-
| tions-heat, moisture and atmospheric air
| If one of these three conditions is lack
| ing qualification cannot take place. Hence
| if fruit is kept in a refrigerator at a
| temperature near the freezing point, it
will stay sound for an indefinite length
of time.
If the fruit is peeled and sliced and the
| moisture be eVaporated, it can also be
! preserved for a long time even for years
In California a large bulk of the surplus
! fruit is thus treated and good quality
| of evaporated pears readily brings 10 cents
per pound.
| Very perfect, simple and inexpensive
hand machines are now made, that viii
! core, peal and slice pear automatically
| by turning a crank. A single hand can
| peel q number Of barrels day. The evap-
| Grating apparatus is not expensive; the
! whole can be had for less than $50.
Several years ago evaporating the LIE
| Conte pear was tried near Thomasville
! The evaporated fruit was excellent. The
| pear is so rich in saccharine matter that
the disks were covered as if they had
been dipped in the best graduated sugar
| 1t was found by actual test that one
| bushel of pears yielded about seven to
eight pounds of evaporated fruit. At that
! time the business did not pay, as the pears
readily brought 81 per bushel. This sea-
| son, when the pears sold for about 25 cents
| per bushel, evaporating, it is estimated
would have paid 200 per cent If the whole
crop had been eVaporated il would there
! fore at that figure have netted 100000.
! Canning fruit means the excluding of at
moSpheric air, but tf9 LeConte pear
| does not seem to be killed when canned.
| Several canning establishments tried it
| several years ago, with poor results.
A pear grower in Blackshear has made
| cider from his pear crop with good re-
| suits The cider is sweet and has a very
! good flavor. If it is allowed to ferment,
hard cider results which resembles Rhine
! VIM to some degree. An excellent vine
| gar can also be made from pear cider.
There is no reason, according to growers
! estimates why a very good pear butter
! could not be made from the LIE Conte
pear similar to apple butter. This is very
easily done by boiling the sweet cider until
it is Of the consistency of syrup. Peeled
/ and cored pears are then added and the
| whole is boiled until the mass is soft. This
| pear butter will keep any length of time,
| and is d very pleasant tasting preserve,
| requiring no sugar. There IS still another
me thod of preserving fruit which is large
| ly used in Southern France. 1t is mostly
| used on plums or prunes and on pears
| The whole fruit is placed IN brick ovens
on wooden trays. as the oven is only
very moderately heated and draft Of air
IS admitted. The fruit when cured is very
Wrinked and keeps almost any length Of