Pacific Rural Press, San Francisco, December 1, 1906, page 340


    Rogue River Valley, Oregon, as a pear country apparently has the world beaten. Recently Medford pears of all varieties have broken records for prices. The records for high sales there this year are: $8.40 a box for Cornices, $5.05 a box for Bartletts, $5.60 for D'Anjous, $4.10 for Beurre-Bosc and $3.50 for Howells and Winter Nelis. From sixteen acres of the latter variety Fred H. Hopkins netted $19,000, and even this record is equaled and surpassed by other orchards. G. H. Hover purchased ten acres fifteen months ago, paying the record price of $560 an acre. Since then he has sold two crops of Comice and Beurre-Bosc pears for a total of $9600, or a profit of $4000 above the purchase price.
"Among Fruit Growers of the Pacific Coast," Better Fruit, December 1907, page 19

    The Rogue River pears are famous the world over for the excellent quality of the fruit and the scientific methods in handling them. All varieties do equally well here; in fact, this is the acknowledged home of the pear. There are, however, only about half a dozen varieties grown commercially--the Bartlett, Comice, Anjou, Bosc, Howell and Winter Nelis. Each of these varieties have their good qualities, and it is often a disputed question among growers as to which variety brings the best returns. While the writer has handled hundreds of cars of each of these varieties, he is not prepared to say just which variety has made the best record. All have made big money for the grower. We have seen the Comice sell in the markets for five dollars per half box. Again, we have seen the Anjou do equally as well. The Bartlett has made its record of four or five dollars per box, and when we take into consideration the wonderful productiveness of this pear we are constrained to say that they stand at the head of the class.
    While we believe that nowhere in the world do pears grow to such perfection as they do in the Rogue River Valley, yet we realize that the high prices and the splendid reputation our pears has attained is due to a certain extent to the scientific methods employed in growing, picking and packing the fruit.
    The commercial pear orchard receives the very best care possible from the time the young trees are planted until they are producing their golden fruit, which is usually from five to six years. Anyone seeking a position as foreman on one of our pear orchards must, before he is allowed to take charge, convince the owner that he is experienced in orchard work. The trees are too valuable to permit of taking any chances, or making mistakes in pruning or caring for them in anything but a scientific manner.
    The orchardist who grows pears has a decided advantage over the one who grows apples, the young pear trees being much easier cared for from the time they are planted. Insect pests do not attack them as much as they do apple trees. In fact, pear trees are very little trouble or expense to grow; they simply want pruning and reasonable cultivation. Anyone may grow a first-class pear orchard in the Rogue River Valley with what information he may get by attending our horticultural meetings and hearing the methods explained by scientific orchardists and by specialists stationed here to assist the growers.
    Pears never require over two sprayings to keep out the worms. San Jose scale is much easier kept out of pear orchards than the apple orchard. Many people think that because the pear is a very delicate fruit that they are difficult to handle, but we wish to say that after ten years' experience in handling all varieties of fruit we much prefer handling pears to apples. Grading is easier. There are not nearly as large a percent of seconds or culls as there are in any apple crop, and where the grower is prepared to handle fruit in the proper manner, as they are in the Rogue River Valley, pears are handled with scarcely any loss from injury in handling.
    All fruit must be handled carefully, and the grower that does not exercise great care in picking, packing and shipping his fruit can not expect to be successful. Pears must be picked at the proper time. We may say there is no fixed rule to go by, but the orchardists of the valley are experts in this respect. They are able to determine the very day the fruit will do to come off the tree and yet mature into perfect fruit. This is a very important factor in marketing a pear crop. If picked from the tree too green the fruit will be lacking in sugar and will shrivel and decay without ever getting fit to eat. On the other hand, if allowed to stay on the tree too long, the shipping quality of the fruit is materially injured. The grower must have everything in readiness when the fruit is ready to come off, as there is no time to be lost.
    First, he has all his orchard boxes gone over to see that they are in good condition. Then he gets his wagons that are to haul the fruit from the orchard to the packing house, and from the packing house to the car, in shape, providing each with a set of springs and cover to keep out the hot sun and dust. He then procures enough pickers and packers to pick at least one car of pears every day, and if the crop be large he may load two or more each day. We always like to load each day's pack in the iced car the same day it is packed, and get the fruit cooled out as soon as possible, thus stopping the ripening process. We hope in the near future to have a pre-cooling plant established in the valley. This will extend the marketing period of our pears over three or four weeks, which will mean much to the grower. Bartletts are usually ready to pick from the tenth to fifteenth of August, and the grower who has several varieties is able to keep his crew working from the time Bartletts ripen until the first of October, as the different varieties ripen one after the other; Bartletts first, then the Howell, the Anjou, the Bosc, Comice, and last of all the Winter Nelis, which ripen about the same time, or just before, we commence to pick winter apples. Where a grower has a good-sized orchard, it is very desirable to have several varieties, for this reason.
    The methods of packing fruit have changed quite noticeably in the last few years. In former years we used printed boxes, having the grower's name and the district from which the fruit was grown printed on the end of the box. This has been discontinued, for various reasons, and we now use a plain box made from the best pine lumber, and place on the end of the box a nice lithograph label. The grower's name, the variety and number of pears is neatly stamped on the box, thus giving the buyer a chance to know just what the box contains.
    Pears are packed at less expense than apples, for the reason that no lining or layer paper is used. Grading is not as expensive. Pears must be packed in a nice, neat manner to make a good appearance in the market, as nothing looks worse than a ragged, poorly packed box of pears. We use for most all pears eight by ten duplex wrapping paper, except some of the very largest sizes, which require a larger paper. The paper should always be full large for the pear, and serves to a certain extent to form a cushion for the fruit. The folds of the paper should always come underneath the pear, being perfectly smooth on top. Pears should have a larger swell in the box than apples, and should weigh at least fifty-two pounds.
    In order that the box may look neat and have full weight, the swell must be built in the box as it is packed. Packing schools are conducted each year to give the new beginners a chance to learn the work before they are required to commence packing for shipment. The accompanying cut shows a class of twenty-five taking lessons in one of these schools. Several instructors are employed, as it is necessary to show the pupil, it being very hard to tell anyone how to put up a pack so that they will be able to do the work properly. With a good instructor to show them, it is possible for a new beginner to learn so that they may put up a very good pack in a few days if they really try to learn. We find many who never learn, for the reason that they do not take an interest in the work. The accompanying cut shows a very good commercial pack of pears. They are all four-tier, however. We are sorry that we haven't a cut of a five-tier pack, as that is used mostly and is the most desirable size. The cut shows very well the manner of placing the pears in the box, the diagonal pack being always used. Box No. 1 shows the three, two pack, four and five up the box, and contains ninety pears. A person that does not understand packing will think that the box contains ninety-two pears, but the tiers are not all the same. The first tier put in the box was two pears, put in calyx toward the packer and about equal distance from the sides of the box and from each other. In the next row we place three pears, stem toward the packer, in the three spaces on the sides and in the center. Next two, then three, and so on. You will find this tier has only twenty-two pears in it, while the next tier will have twenty-three, so that we have two tiers of twenty-two and two of twenty-three, or ninety pears. Box No. 2 is three-four pack, four-four up the box, and contains twenty-eight to the tier, or 112 pears. Box No. 3 is three-three pack, four-four up the box, and contains ninety-six pears. This box is packed exactly like the largest size five-tier, and should have been packed five-tier. If packed the same way five-tier it would contain 120 pears. The five-tier packs are three-three pack, four-four up the box, 120 pears; three-three pack, four-five up the box, 135 pears; three-three pack, five-five up the box, 150 pears. We seldom pack smaller than the latter size in the five-tier pack. Six-tier are sometimes packed in Winter Nelis, or some of the small varieties, and may pack as many as 200 pears to the box. Some of our fancy pears are packed in the half box, such as the Comice, Anjous and other varieties when they are very large and fine. We believe it pays to put up pears in the half box if the fruit is really fancy. In this pack the work is done almost the same, except we use a fine lace paper to line the sides of the box; a beautiful lithograph top mat is placed over the top of the fruit after the box is packed, the lace lining being folded over so that the center of the mat shows, making a very attractive package. The half box contains from thirty to fifty pears.
Better Fruit, August 1910, pages 21-22


    In the discussion of pears and pear culture in the Northwest, E. E. Whistler of Medford, Oregon, stated that they had found Bartlett, Anjou and Beurre Bosc most reliable and most profitable. They have experimented with the Comice, had sold a car of it for the highest prices ever paid for pears in New York, but the variety proves so difficult to grow, so delicate and tender, that they wish now to forget it and not to plant this variety. To guard against blight requires watchful care, and the removal of the blighted portion of each tree as soon as blight appears; this, by removing source of infection, lessens the probability of blight. The character of cultivation has something to do with the production of blight. Blight is more likely to occur when trees are growing rapidly and rankly, the softer tissues admitting of the reception of blight spores. Therefore such method of cultivation, or lack of cultivation, as will give a comparatively slow growth and well-ripened wood lessens the probability of blight. In large commercial pear orchards it is customary to employ a man during the blighting months--June and July--to watch the orchard carefully, cutting out the blight as it appears. In smaller orchards watchful care on the part of the men who are doing the cultivating has proved sufficient to keep the blight in check.
E. F. Stephens, "Idaho State Horticultural Meeting," Better Fruit, March 1912, pages 89-90


    The pear is rapidly becoming the leading fruit in the Rogue River Valley. It is true that more apples than pears have been shipped out of the valley during past years, and more will undoubtedly be shipped out during the present season; nevertheless the output of pears during the past two or three years has almost equaled that of apples, and it is only a matter of a few years when the output of pears will be greater than that of apples. During the past three years the planting of pear trees has exceeded that of apples, and during the season just passed at least three times as many pear trees as apple trees were planted. Where old apple orchards are being replaced the pear in nearly every instance is supplanting them.
    There are excellent reasons for this. First, our growers have found pear growing more profitable than apple growing, due to the small output of pears throughout the United States as compared with the output of apples. Statistics show that the pear industry in nearly every state in the Union, with the exception of Oregon, has been on the decline. Many of the extensive orchards in the East and nearly all of those in the South have been wiped out by pear blight. And in two of the leading pear states the pear thrips has become a very serious menace to the industry. Perhaps the most important reason, however, for the growth of the industry in this valley is the fact that the natural conditions are very favorable to this fruit. The winters are very mild and damp so that the fruit buds of the most tender varieties are never injured by winter cold. The summers are long, warm, sunny and comparatively dry. This gives ample time for all the late varieties to mature properly, and it also ensures a very firm fruit which has remarkable keeping and shipping qualities, enabling growers to ship their fruit to the large Eastern and European markets. Under these climatic conditions some of the serious fungus troubles have never become serious, as will be explained later in this article.
    The valley is surrounded on all sides by high mountain ranges, hence it is remarkably free from high winds. This is of great importance during the late summer and fall months when the fruit is maturing. Some of our finest varieties, as Comice, Howell and d'Anjou, are tender skinned, and during strong winds when the fruit is being rubbed by branches, or even leaves, the delicate skin is bruised and discolored. The absence of strong winds has much to do with the success of these varieties in this locality. During the last stages of ripening the fruit of some varieties is readily shaken from the tree by strong winds, rendering it unfit for distant shipment. This is particularly true of the Clairgeau, the Howell and to some extent of the Bartlett, especially the seedless specimens. With the exception of the Clairgeau, which is grown only to a limited extent, it is very rare indeed that any of the varieties suffer seriously from this cause here.
    The pear blooms early in the spring, and during unfavorable seasons the blossoms are injured or killed by heavy frosts. Such injury can usually be avoided by orchard heating or smudging. It is not difficult to retain the heat and smoke in and over an orchard where there are no strong winds. This is why orchard heating is so extensively and successfully practiced in this valley. The bright, sunny weather which usually prevails, and the absence of strong winds, are very favorable to bees in cross-pollinating the blossoms. Another important characteristic is the long blooming season of the various varieties. This gives ample opportunity for the proper cross-pollination and fertilization of the blossoms. The blooming season lasts about two weeks, and some varieties are often in bloom for three weeks.
    Most of the soils are very heavy, containing a high percentage of clay. It is well known by experienced pear growers that the pear delights in such soils. These soils are very retentive of moisture, ensuring the proper development of the fruit without irrigation when properly tilled. Chemical analysis shows that practically all of them are very rich in potash, lime and magnesium. These elements are of great value in fruit growing. The lime and potash ensure a firm fruit of good keeping quality, and the potash also forms the basis of the various fruit acids which are so essential in the development of high quality. The large quantities of lime in the soil also prevent the souring of the land where proper drainage is lacking. According to the soil survey made by the Bureau of Soils there are forty-three types to be found here. Some of these are admirably suited to pear culture, while others are of little or very doubtful value for this purpose. With such a variety of soils it is not difficult to find types suited for the different varieties. As a rule the heavier soils such as the clays, clay loams and adobes are preferred for pears. The soil should be rather deep and of at least average fertility. It must also be well drained for most of the varieties, especially for the Comice, d'Anjou, Bosc and Howell. The Winter Nelis and Bartlett can endure far more moisture and poorer drainage than any of the other varieties. The Bartlett can be grown on a greater variety of soils than any other variety, but for best results a deep, rich clay loam should be selected. The Winter Nelis must have a moist, strong soil to obtain good size and large crops. The Comice is very particular about soil and is extremely sensitive to unfavorable soil. On the moist rich soils the tree grows too vigorously and is a shy bearer. It does best on a warm, well-drained sandy or silt loam or very light clay loam.
    The distance apart to plant the trees depends on the variety. Upright growers like Comice and Bartlett may be planted as close as 20 by 20 feet. Howell, Bosc, Clairgeau and d'Anjou should have 25 by 25 feet, while Winter Nelis, which is a large and spreading tree, will require 30 by 30 feet. Planting may be done either in late fall or very early spring. Unless the work can be done very early spring planting should be discouraged. On the heavier soils the soil does not become well settled around the roots when planted late in the spring, and unless irrigation is practiced many of the trees will die or make a very poor growth the first season.
    The cultivation of pear orchards is similar to that of apple orchards. It should commence early in the spring and must be thorough. Since very little irrigation is practiced it becomes necessary to maintain a deep dust mulch on the surface. Where the soil is deficient in humus, which is true in most of the orchards, a winter cover crop should be grown to supply this. For this purpose we have found the following excellent: Rye, winter oats, barley and winter vetch. The seed
should be sown about the first of September.
    The question of pruning is a large and important one under the peculiar conditions in the valley. On the heavier soils the trees are usually slow in coming into bearing and heavy pruning augments the trouble; therefore the minimum should be given that will ensure a strong and properly formed framework. Some of the pruning done is altogether too heavy. One thing is essential in pruning pears where pear blight exists, and that is to grow the vase-shaped or open-center tree. This gives a much better opportunity to fight the disease. The central leader should not be permitted in a pear tree, as the loss from blight under such conditions is very great. In pruning the habit of the variety must be taken into consideration. The Comice, which is a strictly upright grower, and the Bosc, which is a straggling grower, should not be pruned alike.
    The valley is fortunate in being free from some of the most serious insects which attack the pear in some other sections. The true pear thrips, which is proving so serious in two other pear states, has never been found in this valley. The pear psylla, which is so serious in the Eastern States, has never been introduced. The most serious insects that we have to contend with are the codling moth, the San Jose scale, the blister mite and the rusty leaf mite. These are all controlled by proper spraying.
    The only very serious disease of the pear here is the pear blight. This is a bacterial disease and is so widespread and generally known that a description is not necessary here. This disease has been vigorously fought in this valley almost from the time of its introduction about seven years ago. A thorough system of inspection has been maintained and rigid regulations have been enforced. The growers have been instructed to recognize the disease and in proper methods of combating it. It should be stated that they are fighting it vigorously and effectively. Fortunately the pear scab, one of the worst fungus diseases of the pear, has never given any serious trouble owing to our dry summer atmosphere.
    Since the pear blooms early and the best pear soils and orchards are found on the floor of the valley, frosts often endanger the pear blossoms. To overcome this, frost fighting has been successfully practiced for a number of years. For this purpose wood, old tree prunings and manure were first burned, but during the last three years crude and distillate oils have been largely used. As the methods and practices have been so fully described in various issues of Better Fruit and experiment station and government bulletins it will not be necessary to go into the details of the practice in this article.
    It is fortunate that the pear industry in this valley was started by a man who was familiar with the best commercial varieties of pears. He not only knew their commercial value but also their soil requirements. As he planted many commercial pear orchards and was for many years the leading spirit in the industry here, the variety selections have as a rule been very good. After many years of pear growing it is doubtful whether better selections of varieties could be made today in most instances. It is also fortunate that the commercial plantings have been largely confined to a small number of varieties. At the present time only six varieties are extensively grown. These are Bartlett, Howell, d'Anjou, Bosc, Comice and Winter Nelis. Clairgeau and Beurre Easter are still grown in limited quantities. P. Barry is now being planted in some of the newer orchards. The Bartlett has been more extensively planted than any other variety in the past, and is still popular. As this variety ripens early and as it often competes on the market with the latest shipments of Bartletts from California, many of our growers are top grafting their Bartlett trees to some of the later varieties.
    More mistakes have probably been made by growers in planting the Comice than with any other variety. For years this variety has been regarded as the standard of excellence for quality and has always brought the highest prices. Hence the variety has been widely planted, and often on moist, rich, cold soils, where it has proved a shy bearer. This variety is extremely sensitive to unsuitable soils and very limited in its range of adaptability. It will therefore always be produced in limited quantities; and the grower who has suitable soil and can grow it successfully is very fortunate indeed. This variety is notably self-sterile. During the past five years the Bosc has become very popular and is now being very extensively planted. It comes into bearing rather young, is a heavy and regular bearer, the tree is adapted to several types of soil, and the fruit is of excellent quality. The variety grows to perfection here and becomes exceptionally large. In fact the only criticism the market has made of the variety as grown here is its large size, especially when grown on very rich, moist soils. The d'Anjou has always been a very popular variety here, and it is very highly regarded by the commission men and the consumer. It attains good size, is of excellent quality and a good shipper. The tree is slow in coming into bearing and on some soils has proved a shy bearer.
    The Howell is well suited to the conditions here. It comes into bearing young, is a heavy and regular bearer and is adapted to a variety of soils. It is rapidly decreasing in popular esteem, however, because of its susceptibility to blight and the difficulty with which this disease is controlled in this variety. The Winter Nelis has always been the most popular very late variety. There will probably never be an overproduction of this variety, as it is very particular in its soil requirements and is very tardy in coming into bearing. It is also very sensitive to weather conditions during the blooming season and often fails to pollinate properly.
    It is a notable fact that nearly all of our leading varieties have originated in Europe. Bartlett comes from England, Bosc and Winter Nelis from Belgium and Comice, Clairgeau and d'Anjou from France. The Howell is the only American variety that has been largely grown here. The P. Barry and Seckel, two other American varieties, have not been extensively grown here up to the present time. It is readily seen from the above that there is much room for improvement in the matter of varieties. Every variety mentioned has some objectionable features about it. We believe that varieties more suitable for certain reasons may possibly be obtained. Of all the cultivated varieties in existence not more than fifty have ever been grown in this valley and not more than fifteen have ever been extensively and thoroughly tested. This experiment station is now testing several hundred varieties of pears from all parts of the world to determine their suitability to the local conditions.
Better Fruit, September 1913, pages 11-12


    The pear is without doubt one of the most favorite fruits, although in its wild state its astringent qualities are so pronounced as to render it unpalatable. Under cultivation it has become an excellent fruit for all purposes, whether for dessert, for canning, for culinary use or in the fresh state. The cultivation of the pear extends to the remotest antiquity. It is mentioned in the oldest Greek writings and was cultivated by the Romans. It was common in Syria, Egypt and Greece, and from the latter country was introduced into Italy. The word "pear" or its equivalent occurs in all Celtic languages, while we also find it in Slavonic and other dialects; and from this it is inferred that cultivation of the pear, from the shores of the Caspian Sea to the Atlantic, was practiced in very ancient times. According to Virgil, Cato, Pliny and other Roman writers, the varieties in cultivation were very numerous, and from the names of important varieties usually referred to the countries from which the trees were imported. Unfortunately, none of the old Roman varieties exist today, but from the writings of Pliny we have every reason to believe that their best varieties of pears were very poor in comparison with the choice varieties under cultivation at the present time.
    The pear of quality really dates from about the seventeenth century. However, it was not until Professor Van Mons of the University of Louvain, Belgium, by his perseverance and indefatigable labors succeeded in producing an immense number of new varieties of pears by selective breeding, that the growing of pears of commercial quality was put upon a sound basis. His whole life was mostly devoted to pear culture, and from among the 80,000 seedlings raised by himself we find the finest cultivated varieties of today--such as Bosc, Diel and others. The work of Van Mons has given the little country of Belgium the title of "The Eden of the Pear Tree." The net results of his work were given to the world a little more than one hundred years ago. Another worker, Thomas Andrew Knight, an Englishman, by hybridizing also produced varieties of noted quality. These two scientists and their followers, working from different points of view, produced fruits that have, by further cultivation, reached the limit of perfection.
    From the standpoint of the botanist, there are some differences in opinion as to the species from which cultivated pears are descendants. There are some who hold that cultivated pears have descended from at least three species, while others who have very carefully studied the subject refer all cultivated pears to one species, the individuals of which have in course of time diverged in various directions so as to form now six races: (1) Celtic, (2) Germanic, (3) Hellenic, (4) Pontic, (5) Indian, (G) Mongolic. From the Germanic race we have what is commonly known as the European pear, Pyrus communis, while from the Mongolic race we have the Oriental pear, Pyrus chinensis. Of course, it is understood that there are many wild varieties which come under the various groups. From the horticulturist's point of view there is a totally different classification, namely, dwarf, standard and Oriental. The dwarf pear consists mainly of European varieties propagated by grafting onto rooted cuttings of the Angiers quince. The Japan Golden Russet is also used for dwarfing, but it is to be generally understood that the dwarf pear means the pear worked on the quince root. Standards consist of the European varieties propagated on the pear root, the stocks for this purpose being European or Japan pear seedlings or rooted cuttings of some of the Oriental pears. The Orientals are those which are partly or wholly of Chinese of Japanese origin. So far as the pure Oriental pear is concerned, there are very few plantings. The important commercial varieties of this group are really hybrids between the Oriental and the European pears and consist of such varieties as Kieffer, La Conte, Garber, Smith and others of minor importance. The reason for this separation into three groups is because the requirements of the varieties coming under each group are usually quite different, demanding distinctive cultural methods. With few exceptions, dwarfs must be considered as belonging to the small gardener or the amateur horticulturist; the Oriental hybrids, so far as the quality of their fruit is concerned, have no place in the commercial pear orchards of the Pacific Coast. Therefore, in considering commercial pear growing in the better sections of the extreme West, we must have in mind the better varieties which have sprung from the European type or group grown as standard trees.
    In looking over the more or less voluminous literature on pear culture, we find it frequently stated that pear trees are more difficult to maintain in a healthy, productive condition than apple trees, and cannot be grown with the same degree of success over so wide an area of country. This statement is only partly true, for while the pear does not enjoy the same degree of success over so wide an area of country as does the apple, nevertheless with proper soil and climatic conditions the pear will much outlive the apple. There are natural pear sections or districts, just as there are apple districts, and given the suitable varieties for such districts the pear will always outlive the apple. At the same time the pear will have produced commercial fruit for a longer period and the net returns will be much greater. In its wild state it is hardier and longer lived than the apple, making a taller and more pyramidal head and becoming much larger in trunk diameter. While apples are known to reach the great age of 200 years, many pear trees are known to be 500 years old. On the Pacific Coast we find pear trees still in bearing in the old Mission orchards of California. These pear trees after nearly two and a quarter centuries are still holding their own, with a few olives and date palms as companions standing as reminders of the old civilization.
    In a short article such as this is it is quite impossible to discuss the important subject of varieties at any length. Considering the Pacific Coast, we find a wide variety of soil types (even in restricted areas), climatic conditions, elevation, etc. The varieties best adapted under the various conditions is a subject for wide discussion. In a few localities, principally throughout California and the Rogue River Valley in Southern Oregon, the matter of varieties best suited to the varying conditions has been well worked out, so that at this time growers are not making the mistakes so common in the past. Besides the matter of soils, climatic conditions, etc., the important matter of the market demands for the various varieties must be well understood. Taking the Rogue River Valley as an example, all plantings now made, or which have been made during the past five or six years, take into consideration all the above factors. In going over my notes I find that over fifty varieties of pears may be found growing in the Rogue River Valley, yet out of this number seven varieties are really commercial. The varieties in the order of their ripening are Bartlett, Clairgeau, Howell, d'Anjou, Bosc, Comice, Nelis. Besides these seven varieties, we have planted considerable acreages of P. Barry and Forelle; however, these latter varieties are not yet in bearing commercially. I do not mean to say that the other varieties grown in the valley are not good; as a matter of fact they are excellent, nevertheless the market demand does not warrant the multiplication of varieties. In the seven commercial varieties mentioned it would be just as well to omit the Clairgeau, which in no way compares with the excellence of the other varieties. The great pear districts of the Pacific Coast, so far as the future of the pear industry is concerned, will be Southern Oregon (Rogue River Valley) and California, principally the great Sacramento Valley and its tributary districts. In this natural pear belt anyone or all of the commercial varieties of pears may be grown; that is to say, hundreds of varieties. But pear growers must not fall into the error of planting too many varieties, as has been the case in commercial apple growing throughout the entire Northwest. Not long ago a horticulturist, waxing enthusiastic over the excellent quality of the pear as grown in this district (Rogue River Valley), said that the pear growers were making a mistake in not growing at least 100 varieties. Viewing the pear situation from the apple standpoint, especially considering market conditions, it would be financial suicide for any district to grow commercially more than six or eight varieties. If there is any doubt in the matter of too many varieties it would be well for the reader to secure a copy of a paper written by Mr. W. F. Gwin, manager Northwest Fruit Exchange, Portland, Oregon, entitled "What Is the Matter With the Apple Business?" In this most excellent paper Mr. Gwin shows clearly the danger of too many varieties.
    It sometimes happens that new or better varieties are needed, but they should be added with the ultimate intention of having them take the place of inferior varieties already growing and not to increase the total number of varieties. This holds true with the individual as well as with the district as a whole. Where orchards are large the number of varieties grown may be the maximum number suited to the district, providing the soils are suitable; however, with the small grower it is best to restrict the plantings to two or three varieties. As a business proposition, it is never advisable to plant less of anyone variety than will produce carload shipments, unless it be for pollination purposes.
    In setting out a pear orchard less regard may be had for the character of the soil than for almost any other kind of fruit. It will generally do well over a tight clay hardpan where almost any other fruit would fail. It will also thrive in clay loams and adobes as well as in calcareous and alkali soils. The pear will flourish whether the water is near or far from the surface, and can endure complete submergence in water for a considerable length of time without being killed. During periods of high water in the lower Sacramento River districts I have seen pear orchards completely under water, which did not fully subside for several months. The regular orchard work, such as spraying, pruning and thinning, was carried on by the use of boats and barges. However, the pear demands a good soil for its best development, and naturally the heavier alluvial, clay loam and other types rich in plant food are the best. The variety which is least exacting is the Bartlett. Anjou, Clairgeau, Howell, Nelis and Bosc thrive on heavy soils, including the heavy adobes. For early bearing such varieties as the Bosc and Comice are best grown upon the clay loam soils. The Comice comes into bearing rather slowly if grown on too heavy soil. While the Nelis produces the best quality of fruit on the lighter clay loam soils it does not attain as good size as the market demands. However, increased size of the fruit might be secured by irrigating during seasons of minimum rainfall.
    The distance for planting standard pear trees will depend somewhat upon the varieties. Due regard must be had for such varieties as the Bosc or Anjou, which have a tendency to grow in a spreading form, as against the Comice and Bartlett, which are naturally upright growers. The maximum distance for spreading varieties should not be over 30 feet, either square or hexagonal system. The minimum distance should not be less than 22 feet, square or hexagonal. The average distance practiced in the Rogue River Valley is 25 feet, both systems. However, the common practice is not to plant solid blocks of anyone variety, for the reason that certain varieties are self-sterile and require the pollen of other varieties to fertilize the blossoms.
    Self-sterility and self-fertility are not constant quantities in the same variety; that is to say, the variety may be self-sterile in one district and self-fertile in another. One cannot tell beforehand just what a variety will do when taken from one district into another where climatic conditions and soils are very different. On the Pacific Coast there is a greater tendency toward self-fertility than in the East, although varieties in the self-sterile group under Eastern conditions and quite self-fertile on the Coast have the quality and form of the fruit improved by crossing. Generally speaking, on the Pacific Coast little or no attention is paid to the Bartlett so far as fertility or sterility is concerned. It regularly sets heavy crops of well-sized fruits with its own pollen. On the other hand, such varieties as Comice and Nelis are completely sterile to their own pollen in the Rogue River Valley, all statements to the contrary notwithstanding. As stated before, the matter of self-sterility and self-fertility should be worked out for the various varieties in each particular district. I have worked this problem out for the Rogue River Valley, and since the data have been published elsewhere I shall not burden the reader with it here.
    While volumes might be written on how to prune the pear, the whole principle of pruning may be stated in a single short sentence--use the open head, no matter what variety. In such varieties as tend to grow very upright, they should be pruned so as to throw them more open, while the reverse should be practiced to a certain extent on straggling or spreading varieties. The tree when set out should be headed back so as to stand 18 to 24 inches high. After the first year's growth, the frame limbs should be selected and headed back to 12 or 14 inches. During the growing season, if the trees are making extreme growth and producing too many shoots it is well to pinch back or trim out those that are in excess of the needs of the tree. If the season has been such that the trees have made little or no growth, the shoots should be headed back to a single bud so as to start a new frame of vigorous shoots. The successive years' pruning should be such as to continue the open head, and by shortening in to not over eighteen inches for each cut, stiffen up the body and framework. The frame or scaffold branches need not be pruned of all the lateral shoots. Those to the inside and some on the outside should be removed, but a few may be left as temporary fruiting branches which, by heading in, will readily develop fruit spurs. Fruit borne on these temporary fruiting branches will hang close to the tree and will not have a tendency to throw the tree out of shape, which so often happens where the first crop is borne somewhat above the scaffold limbs. By means of the temporary fruiting branches trees are brought into early bearing, and at the same time no fruit spurs need be permitted on the body or scaffold limbs. The reason for keeping fruit spurs off from the heavy wood is to prevent dangerous body infections of pear blight. Should infection occur on a temporary fruiting branch it is easily removed before any damage is done to the body of the tree. Pears reach the bearing age, under proper care, earlier than do apples, and once in bearing pruning will not have the tendency to throw them out of bearing as it will in apples. However, severe heading of such varieties as Bosc and Comice is not advised; as a matter of fact after they reach the age of five or six years it is best to withhold all pruning for two or three years, save the thinning out of crossing or interfering limbs.
    The details of cultivation, fertilization and cover cropping need no extended discussion. To grow fruit of quality demands all that good agricultural practice has taught in the production of other crops; in other words, the pear demands scientific agriculture. Unthrifty trees cannot produce luscious fruit; however, it is not good practice to overstimulate the trees for the reason that they are then much more susceptible to serious injury from pear blight should infection occur. It will be easy for the pear grower to judge whether or not his trees are making sufficient new wood. It will also be easy for him to note by the appearance of the foliage the lack of soil fertility.
    Pear growing in the United States is generally on the decrease, the reason for this being pear blight. Many districts that were once known for their heavy pear shipments are now without a single pear tree. In the East we find that southward from the region of the Great Lakes the growing of the better varieties of European pears has been largely abandoned, and to a certain extent we find growing in their stead the two or three Oriental hybrids spoken of elsewhere in this paper. Of course, large quantities of pears are produced in the East, but for the most part they do not compare in quality with the standard varieties grown on the Pacific Coast. This fact is evident from the great difference in price between the Eastern and Western product. While the East and Middle West have suffered much from the ravages of pear blight, many large districts in the West have also had their share of trouble. In some states entire districts have been wiped out, and it is known that in one state only a single pear orchard of about 500 trees remains. The only district on the Pacific Coast which has not only held its own but has actually increased its pear acreage and production is the Rogue River Valley in Southern Oregon. The rate of increase may be shown by the carload shipments made in 1911, 1912 and 1913, which were respectively 125, 250 and 500 cars (1913 crop estimated). Pear blight has been known to be in the district since 1907, so that the growers have had to contend with it for seven seasons. It would seem that some very good work has been done in the control of this disease, as the increased shipments demonstrate. When pear blight came into the Rogue River Valley from the California districts the growers, finding it impossible to get any help from their own state institutions, appealed to the federal government for aid, which was immediately forthcoming. After the United States Department of Agriculture had demonstrated the control of blight the growers, feeling the necessity of continued supervision, established a county pathologist's office, the first of its kind in the United States. This office continues the work first undertaken and carried to success by the Department of Agriculture. The fact that pear growing is on the increase in the Rogue River Valley is due to the efforts of the growers themselves. When they found that there was no possibility of getting help within their own state they immediately set out to help themselves.
    It has been stated frequently that pear blight is a disease of pome fruits on the American continent; however, it is now known that the disease has secured a foothold in Europe. It has been reported from at least three countries in Europe, and while it has not yet shown great virulence we are anxiously awaiting what will likely happen when the disease reaches the fine pear districts of Holland, Belgium and France. Now that the disease is in Europe, and will likely spread to the better pear sections, we should more than ever feel the necessity of guarding our pear interests in the better pear-growing sections of the United States; for pear blight anywhere usually means reduced acreage and reduced crops--therefore higher prices. Undoubtedly the countries of Europe will make every effort to prevent the spread of this disease, but the disease being new to them, and not being fully understood by them so far as control is concerned, will mean that there must be some loss once the disease enters a district.
    Does pear growing pay? Does it pay to control pear blight? Aside from pear blight, the pear tree is troubled less by insect and fungous pests than is its near relative, the apple. Furthermore, blight is no more severe in the more susceptible varieties of pears than it is in many varieties of apples, notably Spitzenberg, Alexander, Transcendent Crab and many others. The question as to whether it pays to control blight may be easily answered by giving the average prices over a six-year period for pears shipped from the Rogue River Valley. The prices given are those obtained through the association as well as by individual growers, and represent f.o.b. averages for the first and second grades. The average prices received during the years 1907 to 1912, inclusive, are as follows: Bartlett, $1.35; Winter Nelis, $1.65; Howell, $1.95; Bosc, $2.30; Comice, $2.45; Anjou, $2.50.
    All apple growers throughout the Northwest know what it costs to raise a box of apples, and, taking everything into consideration, we have found that it costs somewhat less to raise a box of pears.
    The future of pear growing in any district will depend upon the ability of the growers to control pear blight. If they are unwilling to cooperate and carry out the work of eradicating the disease, which is the only method of control, it will be just as well for them to pull out their pear trees and have the agony over. For the district which will control pear blight the disease may be considered a blessing in disguise. Owing to the fact that the pear is very prolific and is otherwise very free from troubles, if there were no such disease as pear blight pears could be produced in such enormous quantities that there would be no profit in growing them. But blight will continue to keep the production limited, and there will always be a handsome profit in pears.
Better Fruit, October 1913, pages 10-13


    The Rogue River Valley, particularly that part tributary to Medford. Oregon, is famous for the high quality of its fruit, the record-breaking yield of its pear orchards, the highest prices per box ever realized for carload shipments of this superb fruit, and the greatest monetary return per single tree ever realized.
    While all kinds of deciduous fruit is grown, pears are the favorite. Sixty thousand acres of the floor of the valley and the adjacent hillsides are planted to orchards, pears covering about 50 percent of the total.
    The richest soil, a black adobe or heavy clay loam, similar to parts of the Santa Clara Valley, is the prevailing soil type in the floor of the valley, while the hill soils are of a lighter type. The soil survey of the Department of Agriculture lists 46 different soil types, ranging from very good to worthless. Sometimes both extremes are found on the same 40 acres. Generally, the soils do not have the average depth of the better portions of Nevada County, but they contain more potash and lime, important elements of plant food.
    As in Nevada County, much of the fruit is grown without irrigation, but they have learned the important lesson that a non-irrigated district is sadly handicapped in a dry year, and an expensive irrigation system now affords this advantage to about one-third the total acreage. While non-irrigated orchards in moist soil were in perfect condition, such orchards were noticeably lacking in thrift on drier soils.
    Clean cultivation is the usual practice during the growing season, but advantages of winter cover crops are now generally recognized. However, soil erosion is not a serious problem, since the annual rainfall averages but 28 inches.
    The principal problems of the district are pear blight and spring frosts. The frosts that materially reduced California's fruit crop this season were general throughout the Northwest, and the Medford district suffered a heavy reduction in tonnage from this cause. Orchard heating equipment is being installed in many of the bearing orchards and control of this problem is merely a dollars and cents question. That it will pay admits of no argument, since it is not unusual for a mature orchard to make returns of over $500 per acre in a single season.
    The problem of blight control is a momentous one, and the Rogue River Valley is now engaged in a fight with this disease similar to the one that engaged the growers of the Sacramento Valley two years since.
    Nevada County has no conception of what such a fight means, since natural agencies have thus far limited the disease in this part of California to mild and usually isolated cases, but the scientists who have studied blight assert that no district is absolutely safe and warn all orchardists to adopt every possible precautionary measure. They likewise counsel planting fewer Bartletts (since this variety is most susceptible), and recommend the more resistant varieties such as Anjou, Comice and Winter Nelis.
    Anjou appears to be the favorite variety in the Medford district at this time, since it bears young, seldom misses a crop, and always outsells Bartlett. Covering a six-year period Bartlett has brought the Medford orchardist $1.35 per box, against $2.50 for Anjou. Cornice brings equally high prices, and a carload of Medford Comice once sold in London for $10.09 per box, but unless soil conditions are just right it is a shy bearer. The champion pear tree of the world is a Medford Anjou, which did not miss a crop in thirty-six years and in its best year produced 47 boxes that sold for $226 in New York City. Large profits have been the rule where orchards are well cared for. Some of the best have shown a net profit of more than $500 per acre per annum for a period of several years, and a production of $1000 per acre in a single season is not uncommon.
    Six miles south of Medford, at Talent, is the Southern Oregon Experiment Station, where Prof. F. C. Reimer is conducting the greatest investigation of blight and blight resistant varieties of pear ever undertaken. He has conclusively proven that the French seedling is absolutely unsafe as a stock upon which to bud or graft the commercial varieties, and that it is a source of danger to all orchards where it forms the root of the trees. His experiments show a wonderful degree of blight resistance in the Japan seedling, and it is conceded to be the most desirable root now procurable. However, he has two wild pears from China that are practically blight-proof and are so desirable as a stock that the Pacific Coast Nurserymen's Association has requested the Department of Agriculture to send him to China to procure the seed in commercial quantities.
    Scientific research has therefore practically solved that part of the blight problem that relates to the roots, trunk, and branches of the tree, since it is now proposed to use the blight-proof pears to form the tree up to where the bearing framework commences, at which point the commercial varieties will be budded.
    It is fitting that this greatest of all recent horticultural discoveries should have been worked out in a district where its application will be of supreme importance to the paramount industry, but American horticulture as a whole will share in the benefits.
The Morning Union, Nevada City, California, July 4, 1916, page 7


    A new bulletin has just been published by the Oregon Agricultural College, "Preliminary Report of Pear Harvesting and Storage Investigations in Rogue River Valley," by Professors C. I. Lewis, J. R. Magness and C. C. Cate. Investigations concerning the harvesting and storage of pears were conducted with several varieties of pears and from eight different orchards, representing different soil types and subject to different soil treatments. The very early picked fruit tends to be astringent and puckery, but that the fruit of the third and fourth pickings is of excellent quality and nearly uniform in flavor and texture.
Better Fruit, August 1918, page 18


    The seriousness of fire blight which threatens the pear industry of Oregon and which has already wiped it out in certain sections of the country and how the Southern Oregon branch experiment station hopes to be of service through the propagation of blight-resistant varieties, was told by Prof. F. C. Reimer, superintendent of the stations during Farmer's Week at the Oregon Agricultural College. Prof. Reimer has just returned from his second trip to China for the purpose of obtaining pears which are blight immune. He brought home between 40 and 50 new varieties, and these will be tested at the station next spring and summer.
    Prof. Reimer told of oriental customs which were not altogether to his liking. "Chinese hotels," he said, "should be called Chinese hovels. Donkeys, goats, pigs, chickens, and all the vermin God ever made are there. There is no bed, no bedding and no stove. It is a real experience to spend a few nights in one of these places.
    "Fifteen to 30 Chinese all sleep in the same room. The Chinese are kicking each other all night long and they snore like a rhinoceros. The noise of the donkeys in another part of the inn is terrific, but when I was given the choice of sleeping next to the Chinese or the donkeys, I chose the donkeys.
    "It is a common experience to find a hog in your room rooting in your baggage. One must carry his own cot, bedding and food. The Chinese inn is beyond description."
    Prof. Reimer returns with what is undoubtedly the most complete collection of oriental pears in the world. He has also found several species which are practically immune from blight, and by using this type for the root and branch structure, and grafting with the more edible Bartlett, Bosc, or Anjou, it is believed that a pear will be evolved which will not be affected by blight. Professor Reimer is also interested in creating a new species of pear tree entirely by a process of cross fertilization, using the Chinese and American varieties, which would produce a commercial pear, suitable for the table and free from blight infection.
    Prof. Reimer's experiments and discoveries are of far-reaching importance, pear growers in all parts of the country being intensely interested in them. In the near future Prof. Reimer will give a lecture on his experiences in China and the result of his research work to date.
Better Fruit, February 1920, page 41


    Mention is made of the fact that for the first time in the history of the fruit business in Oregon solid trainloads of pears were shipped this year from the Southern and Western Oregon districts.
"Northwest Fruit Notes from Here and There," Better Fruit, September 1920, page 22


    The pear crop of the Medford, Ore., district is equal to that of last year, but the apple shipments to date are but one-half as large as those of 1919.
    Jackson County, Oregon, leads the state in pear acreage, having 8050 [acres of] growing trees. It is also second in apples, with 5694 acres.
Imperial Valley Press, El Centro, California, December 6, 1920, page 4


    According to estimates of the bureau of crop estimates, Oregon shows indications of having a larger pear crop this year than last. Pear yields in most of the other states are below normal and a good price for the crop generally throughout the country is expected. In some of the Eastern states the estimated yield has been placed as low as 17 percent of normal. The apple crop in the Rogue River district promises a 25 percent increase, the bureau reports, while some of the Willamette Valley orchards are expected to produce nearly double the crop of apples they did a year ago. Other orchards in the latter region, however, which are affected with fungus will produce less.
"Marketing News of Live Interest," Better Fruit, August 1921, page 26


    Thanks to the efforts of the county agricultural agent's office and the Fruit Growers league, a complete census of pear and apple trees in Jackson County has been completed, after a survey that has taken considerable hard work over an extended period of time.
    The pear enumeration shows the following interesting facts:
    Total pear trees in valley, 719,096.
    Total pear acreage, 10,272.7
    Total trees 1 to 5 years, aggregate 13,774, on 1911.1 acres.
    Total trees 6 to 8 years, 44.473, on 635.3 acres.
    Total trees 8 to 12 years, 62,417, on an acreage of 891.6.
    Total trees 12 to 15 years, 116,068, on 1658.1 acres.
    Total over 16 years, 362,364, on an acreage of 5176.6.
    The average is 70 pear trees to the acre.
    The total number of apple trees 1 to 5 years old is 1485, on 29.7 acres.
    Total apple trees 6 to 8 old, 4041, on 80.8 acres.
    Nine to 12 years, 3471 trees, on 69.4 acres.
    Thirteen to 15 years, 20,134 trees, on 402.6 acres.
    Sixteen years and over, 103,682 apple trees on a total of 2073.5 acres.
    The apple trees average 50 to the acre, and the leading varieties are Spitzenbergs and Newtowns.
    There is a total of 138,813 apple trees on a total of 2656 acres.
Medford Mail Tribune, June 29, 1928, page 1


    In the 200 years that pears have been grown in the United States, growers have determined when they were due to be picked by pressing the pear with the thumb. Until recently that has been the process during the 30 years that pears have been grown at Medford.
    But picking time is determined now by use of a machine. Some years ago Medford Boscs went at top prices in the markets. A big slump in price came, and it was caused by the fact that the fruit was picked at the wrong time. The machine, which is now in universal use in the Medford pear orchards, shows them when to pick, and along with other factors, determines the time to market. The thumb process has gone entirely out of use.
    The machine has proven not only the time to pick, but has shown the length of time during which the various varieties of pears may be picked. When harvested out of this particular season, which in the case of Boscs is only about two weeks, the pear may not only never ripen, but decays at the core and becomes unfit for use. Before this new process of determining picking time was originated, there were instances in which carload after carload of beautiful pears were condemned and destroyed after they had been shipped to eastern markets.
    When the big slump came in the price of Bosc pears, the matter was brought to the attention of the experiment station at Oregon State College, and in a long series of experiments the trouble was discovered to be due to unseasonable picking. The discovery led to the invention of a machine in which a plunger is driven into the pear and the pressure required to do so is registered on a device which, in effect, is a pair of scales.
    In the case of a Bosc pear, if the pressure is between 24 and 28 pounds it is time for the pears on that tree to be picked. If the pressure is 22 pounds or less, the pear is overripe and picking time is past. If it is more than 28 pounds, it is too early to pick.
    Almost humanlike, a buzzer worked by an electric contact announces whether the fruit is fit for picking. In the case of the Anjou pear, the pressure test is 20 to 25 pounds and in the case of the Comice is 16 to 20.
    Along with the pressure machine, after a long series of experiments at the Corvallis station in conjunction with the Medford experiment station, the varying temperatures for cold storage for the different varieties and the length of time in which they will stand storage has been fixed. The season of storage for Bosc ends January 1, the Comice February 1, the Anjou March 1 and the Winter Nelis May 1.
    The reliability of the new tests and other discoveries by the two experiment stations are so highly regarded that shipper and packers are requiring the tests to be applied before accepting shipment. One of the county agents by whom the question of picking time is determined made 575 tests in a single month this season against 70 for the entire season last year.
    The new pear testing machine has been adopted by the Department of Agriculture at Washington, and its use is becoming general in pear-growing districts. Growers at Medford estimate that the device has a value of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in the Medford district alone, where pear production is probably on higher standard in process than in any other district in America, if not in the world.
B. F. Irvine in Oregon Journal.
Medford Mail Tribune, September 19, 1928, page 4


    The Oregon state experiment station, in cooperation with the Southern Oregon experiment station, has just issued an important bulletin on pears. This gives the results of the pressure tests, time of picking and cold storage experiments conducted by these stations in Rogue River Valley during the past four years. This is the most extensive work that has ever been carried on anywhere to determine the proper time to pick pears, the best storage temperatures, length of time the various varieties can be held in storage, and the proper method of ripening and conditioning pears for the consumer.
    The great value of this work is already apparent to every pear grower in Southern Oregon. Growers are now picking their pears in accordance with the results obtained in these extensive experiments, and every shipper is well aware of the improved condition of the Rogue River Valley pears on the markets. This improvement is also admirably reflected in the manner in which the large markets have received these pears. Picking and marketing in accordance with these findings has established great confidence in the market. The heavy losses formerly sustained with some of the winter varieties in the large markets have been eliminated.
    A notable outgrowth of this work is the phenomenal success the Winter Pear Committee has made in opening up and establishing a large new market for Bosc pears in Detroit. The pears sent there were picked in accordance with the results obtained in the experiment stations' picking tests and were ripened and conditioned in accordance with the findings of the stations' storage and ripening experiments. Those experiments have shown that Bosc pears, when picked at the proper time, can be held in storage from three to four months, and still develop excellent quality if ripened at temperatures determined by this work.
    The complete bulletin covering these experiments may now be obtained from the Southern Oregon experiment station at Talent.
Medford Mail Tribune, November 27, 1929, page 5


    Close to $30,000 will be expended this winter by orchardists in the planting of new blocks of pears throughout the Rogue River Valley, and work will start as soon as the present weather conditions moderate. Clearing skies after the recent rain would make conditions ideal for the work.
    Four carloads of young pear trees have been ordered from California nurseries, and delivery will be made within the next ten days. Most of these are of the Bosc, Comice, and D'Anjou varieties, though all will be represented.
    Some of the orchards already have holes dug for the trees and others are waiting for the ground to dry sufficiently to permit work.
    The cost of planting the trees on the new acreage will range, it is estimated, from $60 to $75 per acre. The new plantings will in some instances take the place of aged trees, the productivity of which has been lessened, and in other cases apple trees have been pulled to make room for pears.
    On the holdings of James E. Edmiston and W. F. Biddle of the C. & E. Company, 200 acres of new trees will be planted. Henry Chadir, a member of a California banking and orchard family, will plant 150 acres to new trees in the Talent district. New trees will be set out at the Modoc orchard by the Potter Palmer company; the Hillcrest orchard,  and at the Redskin orchard, owned by E. W. Carleton. Henry Anning will set out 40 acres in new trees and Harry Dubuque of the Central Point district will plant a five-acre block.
    This winter a number of orchards are installing pipe systems for the handling of spray. The work is being done by the E. R. White Machinery company and it is finding the work difficult these days in the stick belt. The spray pipe system simplifies and expedites the spray work.
Medford Mail Tribune, December 17, 1929, page 1


    In discussing the organization and purposes of the Pacific Growers Council recently formed at Sacramento, H. Van Hoevenberg Wednesday addressed the Fruit Growers League in full as follows:
    "We have at Medford in our Fruit Growers League a body which in its plan of organization and the effectiveness of its work is unique in the industry. There is not, to my knowledge, any other organization functioning along similar lines. It is common knowledge both here at home and throughout the industry that during the past few years our local condition has shown vast improvement, and that the Medford district has won for itself a commanding position in the markets of the world. Perhaps that last statement would be more accurate if I said that we are rapidly winning such commanding position, for while great success has been made, there is still much to accomplish.
    "No intelligent or informed person conversant with the facts and acting in good faith can deny that the improvement in our condition today as compared with a few years ago can be attributed primarily to one cause, namely, that the producers of this district, with an unusually high average of intelligence and ability, have availed themselves through the Fruit Growers League of opportunities for thorough discussion of the problems which have arisen, have had the initiative and courage to plan constructive measures and have loyally supported the officers and committees entrusted with the responsibility of carrying these constructive measures to a successful conclusion.
    "We are prospering today because we have cooperated in solving our mutual problems and have been able through organization to coordinate our efforts, instead of acting as a lot of aimless individual units, fighting each other and getting nowhere. We will continue to prosper in the future precisely in such degree as we are able to continue this cooperative constructive effort of ours. It is somewhat of a new idea for the growers themselves to undertake the solving of their own major, underlying problems instead of drifting aimlessly along with a blind trust in Fate. We have only scratched the surface, and it is my prediction that if we continue our efforts the next five years will show an improvement even greater than the last five.
    "It has long been a cherished dream and an often expressed wish of many of our members that an advertising campaign be conducted to widen the market and stimulate the demand for pears. The production of pears has doubled within ten years and estimates indicate that it will double again in the next ten. At the same time the per capita consumption throughout the United States has steadily decreased and the general price level has steadily declined as a result. This is largely due to the fact that competitive fruits such as oranges, bananas, pineapples, have been making aggressive efforts, through advertising, to widen their markets. This they have succeeded in doing and partly at our expense. While their markets have expanded, ours have contracted. Possibly the most vitally important and outstanding fact shown by an analysis of the condition of the pear industry is that with our rapidly increasing production and steadily decreasing consumption, we as pear growers will shortly be faced with two alternatives--either increase the consumption of our product, or see its value decline to a point where no grower can operate at a profit. The test of our intelligence and ability will be whether we wait until sheer necessity compels us to move, or whether we anticipate our future and take the necessary measures to keep our business profitable.
    "It was with these facts in mind that the program for the recent meeting of the Oregon State Horticulture Society at Medford was developed. The committee in charge was appointed by me as president of the society and was composed entirely of Medford growers, acting with president Burch of the Fruit Growers League and myself. The program was deliberately arranged to present the fundamental economic facts upon which the pear industry depends for success in such a way as to bring out the best thought of the growers attending the meetings as to ways and means for accomplishing constructive results. To this end the secretary was instructed to request the state colleges of Oregon and California to send us the best men available with the most complete data which had been secured either through their own research or otherwise, and present same to us in condensed form.
    "You have just been told by Mr. Wood of the remarkable results accomplished by our Bosc campaign in Detroit. This campaign was made possible only through our cooperative effort which came as the result of many frank discussions in our league meetings. I want to say to you men who made this effort possible through your united support that you have focused the attention of the pear industry at large on Medford to a remarkable extent. You have accomplished a unique and outstanding achievement and given a practical demonstration of what big results can be secured through coordinated effort even on a comparatively small scale. This work could and should be expanded and carried on for our great local benefit.
    "But with all its success, the work of the Medford Winter Pear Committee has necessarily been limited, and the Detroit campaign in particular was in behalf of our own specialty products. The larger problem, which will rapidly increase in importance each year, is to greatly increase the use of all kinds of pears as an article of food throughout the land. It would not be fair to ask any one district to conduct an advertising campaign for this purpose from which all districts would benefit in proportion to the excellence of its product, and in addition the expense would be prohibitive, unless the burden were fairly distributed throughout the industry.
    "For several years past the officers of your league have had informal conferences with representatives of other districts, and we believed the time was ripe to call them together and ascertain whether or not coordinated, cooperative effort was possible throughout the industry toward handling this major project. Therefore, with malice aforethought, leading growers and executives of growers' organizations in each producing district were invited to attend the Medford meeting of the State Horticultural Society. The deep dark plot succeeded and the attendance of those invited was beyond our expectations.
    "As a result of the conferences held here, attended by many of you who are present today, it was resolved to form the Pacific Pear Council. This was to be composed of three grower members from each of eleven distinct pear-producing centers on the Pacific Coast. The delegates attending at Medford agreed to return to their respective homes, secure the appointment or election of such  grower representatives, and have them convene for organization purposes at Sacramento two weeks later--December 2nd and 3rd, 1929. It is possible that this date may be regarded later as an important one.
    "The meeting at Sacramento was signalized by a full attendance from each of the designated districts in Washington, Oregon and California. Among those present were many very prominent growers, of whom a considerable number were directors or executives of the leading growers' organizations on the coast, whose cooperation is essential in securing united support. It was highly gratifying to see representatives of organizations which have been rivals for years sitting in an earnest conference over a mutual problem, and dealing with it in a spirit of give and take in an effort to find common ground.
    "A singular tribute was paid to what Medford has already accomplished inasmuch as it was the unanimous wish of every district represented that the honor of leadership should go to Medford. I believe it is particularly fortunate that Mr. David Rosenberg, whose ability we all know, was elected president of the council.
    "There is not time this afternoon to go into too much detail regarding matters of organization. All growers will be kept informed through the press and direct communications. We attempted to set up a form of organization which would keep in close contact with individual growers, through the various district representatives. In effect, it was an expansion of the ideas along which we have worked at Medford--where the initiative and support must come from the growers themselves and the organization provides the necessary machinery to carry out the growers' wishes.
    "It the growers of all other districts were of the same general type that we have here, were as conversant with the different angles of the game, and were as accustomed as we are to threshing out our problems together, it is probable that a general advertising campaign, for example, might be successfully undertaken this year. Unfortunately this is not the case, and the representatives of several important districts, producing large tonnage, stated that while they believed it could be done in a year's time, their growers were not yet ready for such a move, owing to lack of information. Immediate steps are being taken to remedy this condition in these districts.
    "An important phase of the general problem of under-consumption is that relating to winter pears. While the winter pear deal is part of the general problem, it has certain phases all its own. The production of winter pears is pretty well concentrated in a few localities. It seems within the possibilities that a plan may be worked out and put into effect next year which will benefit all winter pear growers of whatever variety, without any district losing any advantages it now holds as to excellence of variety, quality or brand. For example, we in Medford propose to hold whatever advantages we now possess, and in no sense to lose our individuality.
    "It is to be particularly emphasized that in its declaration of purposes, the Pacific Pear Council pointed out that under no circumstances would it engage in the buying or marketing of fruit as a distributing agency. It has no alliances, present or prospective, with any marketing plan or agency, but for the purpose of securing data and information to forward whatever work it undertakes, it will call upon any source, government, state or private, where such information can be best obtained.
    "While doing the necessary preliminary work of organization and preparing for a possible advertising campaign, it was felt that much can be accomplished the coming season which will be at once reflected in improved service and cash returns to all growers. Every district has suffered from imperfect knowledge of conditions elsewhere, size of crop, amounts and dates of shipment, cash prices paid by different buyers and many kindred  items. We hope to set up machinery before next season for the exchange of information which will do away with the present evils. The idea of the council is to build from the bottom up and not from the top down.
    "There will, of course, be many obstacles to overcome, and greater ultimate success may be expected if we do not undertake too ambitious a program at the start. There will be marketing agencies who will refuse their cooperation at the start, though I believe the more important and broader ones will give full support. We must expect to meet the opposition of certain interests which function in every community who would profit by keeping the growers disorganized and as much as possible in ignorance of what they can best do to help themselves. It will be necessary to interest the type of grower who is inclined to confine his efforts purely to the growing of his crop and not interest himself in the equally important matter of providing a profitable market for what he produces. There are several thousand growers on the coast who are directly concerned in this matter, and it will take time to get united action on the part of seventy or eighty percent of them. In short, the pear council faces a task which requires the expenditure of much time and energy on the part of those whom the growers choose to represent them on the council.
    "There are many encouraging features. In our Detroit campaign your committee has received the loyal support and cooperation of practically all the shippers and distributors of this district, and the indications are that such support will also be extended in California and Washington if the growers make their wishes known to that effect. In the last analysis the elements which will lead to the success or failure of the proposed council are exactly the same as in the case of our Bosc campaign in Detroit. Success or failure will result in exact proportion as the growers give their moral and financial support. If this support is withheld either through indifference or because a considerable percentage of growers allow themselves to be misled by a smoke screen of misrepresentation and distortion, nothing but failure can result. On the other hand, assuming that the growers choose able and energetic men as their representatives, Pacific coastthe council should justify the remark made to me by one of the largest growers in California after the Sacramento meeting when he said that "the forming of this organization is the strongest indication the pear industry has yet given that it feels big enough and important enough to fight for its proper position in the business world. We owe a great deal to the Medford district for pointing the way."
Medford Mail Tribune, December 22, 1929, page B2


Medford Mail Tribune, March 13, 1930, page 1


Medford Mail Tribune, March 27, 1930, page 1


Medford Mail Tribune, April 13, 1930, page 8


Medford Mail Tribune, April 17, 1930, page 2


Medford Mail Tribune, May 1, 1930, page 7


Medford Mail Tribune, June 13, 1930, page 1


Medford Mail Tribune, June 14, 1930, page 1


Medford Mail Tribune, June 25, 1930, page 1


Medford Mail Tribune, July 27, 1930, page 6


Medford Mail Tribune, July 29, 1930, page 1


Medford Mail Tribune, September 3, 1930, page 5


    The following is a copy of a letter received by Mr. D. R. Wood, chairman of the Medford winter pear committee, from Professor Henry Hartman of New York City:
    "In compliance with your request I will endeavor to give you a brief resume of the observations I have made thus far in this season. Of course, most of the work for the year is still in progress and only a preliminary report can be given at this time.
    "Needless to say, this is a trying season for those engaged in the fruit industry. Even the citrus fruits, which held their own well during the early part of the season, are now selling at prices below handling and transportation costs. Apples have held their ground fairly well but pears, tangerines, oranges and grapefruit have faced declining markets from the beginning and no one is optimistic to the extent of saying that the bottom has been reached.
    "Growers, shippers and other agencies generally attribute the present low prices to the economic depression which began a little more than a year ago. Undoubtedly, much of the difficulty can legitimately be laid to this cause, but the fruit industry must not lose sight of the fact that there are other factors involved and that these will have to be given serious consideration in the future.
    "Taking pears as an example, the figures of the Bureau of Economics of the United States Department of Agriculture show that pear holdings on December 1st of this year were approximately sixty-one percent greater than they were on the corresponding date last year. Shipments of Bartlett pears from the Pacific Coast were approximately twice as great in 1930 as they were in 1929. One who studies these figures cannot escape the conclusion that a serious situation was at hand even had normal economic conditions prevailed. It is hardly conceivable that the present demand for pears, even backed by good buying power, could have taken care of so large an increase in tonnage from one year to another.
    "The late varieties of pears had no chance to succeed this year. The Bartlett variety dominated the picture long after its normal season was over, and other sorts could not get started. Fruit stores everywhere offered Bartletts for sale during all October and even late into November. Cars of Northwest Bartletts were sold at auction in New York City as late as the middle of November and one car was sold in Chicago on December 5th! While this fruit still appeared to be in fairly good condition at the time of sale, it was unfit for consumption when it reached the consumer and, doubtless, turned many people away from pears altogether.
    "With the increase in tonnage it becomes apparent that grade and quality will have to receive added consideration. In the days when pears were comparatively rare, grade and pack could be overlooked without disastrous results. This year, however, it is clear that only the attractive, well-graded stock has a chance of selling above cost of production.
    "The markets of the country cannot absorb so high a percentage of inferior pears as were prepared for shipment this year. There is but little doubt that many cars now selling "in the red" are doing so because of the large number of off-grade specimens that have found their way into the fancy and extra fancy grades and because of the high percentage of fruit that is too small to retail by the piece.
    "While some of the Medford brands are fully up to the standard of last year, many of them are considerably below par. Upon reinspection here some cars have shown from eight to thirty-five percent off-grade fruit in the extra fancies. Apparently, some of the shippers tried to maintain the usual relative proportion of fancy and extra fancy in spite of the fact that the crop this year was not up to the average standard. This has created a serious situation in that some of the other districts produced an unusually fine crop of pears this year and took particular pains to put up a good pack.
    "The pear industry at the present time has practically no by-products and, hence, has no channels for the utilization of low-grade fruit. Most of the fruit which sticks to the trees in spring ultimately finds its way into the fancy and extra fancy grades. It is true that some of the off-grade fruit is packed under special brands, but the percentage so packed is low compared to the amount produced and special brands are usually unprofitable. With the increased competition that pears must face in the future, it appears certain that pear growers will be forced to adopt a system of thinning that will ensure not only a more desirable distribution of sizes, but that will eliminate, to a large extent, the misshapen, frost-marked, limb-marked, and otherwise imperfect specimens. The apple growers of the state of Washington came to this conclusion several years ago and the result, as applied to the apple industry, speak for themselves. Thinning, when properly done, results in practically no decrease in final tonnage and adds nothing to the cost of production. It costs no more to clip off the imperfect specimens in spring than it does to pick them by hand in the fall and to put them over washing machines and grading and packing equipment.
    "It is encouraging to note that Medford pears this year are holding up much better in storage than they did last year. Apparently the general speeding up of harvesting operation, with the reduction of the period between the time of picking and the time when the fruit went under refrigeration, is having a decided beneficial effect on the keeping quality. This is especially significant since the season of all varieties has to be extended to its utmost limits this year.
    "The eating quality of Medford Bosc pears as they are being offered to customers in New York City is considerably better than it was last year. While it is true that some Bosc are being retailed in a green, inedible condition, the percentage of such fruit has been materially reduced. About 100 cars were conditioned here and the weather has been much more favorable for ripening than it was last season. While there is still considerable opposition to conditioning, there is no doubt but that jobbers here are more willing to accept partially ripened Bosc than they were last year.
    "Failure of Bosc pears to develop the gold color characteristic of the variety has caused more or less difficulty this season. While poor color, in some cases, was undoubtedly due to the fact that the fruit was too green at the time of sale, a considerable amount failed to take on color even when in prime condition for eating. As you know, a number of experiments to determine the cause of this trouble are now in progress. It is too early at this time, however, to give a report of the results obtained.
    "At a later date I hope to be able to give you some concrete results from my handling and storage experiments. These, I believe, will prove of interest to the growers and shippers of the Rogue River Valley."
Medford Mail Tribune, January 11, 1931, page B3


    David R. Wood, chairman of the Winter Pear Committee, in an address Thursday before the Traffic association, summarized the local situation as follows:
    The idea of combining the Fruitgrowers League and the Traffic Association had its conception midst the throes of adversity. The year of 1930 was not kind to either the grower or the shipper. In fact, disaster is here necessitating a readjustment of many things. Inasmuch as our problems are mutual, shippers, packers and growers should get together under one roof determined to analyze their troubles and see what can be done to avoid a repetition of 1930 pear values.
    In order to secure a comprehensive picture of the situation confronting the pear industry at this time, I feel it is necessary to state in sequence some of the major items leading up to the present moment.
    1. Increase in production
    2. Lack of uniformity in package.
    3. Failure to restrict sizes of pears offered for sale.
    4. Lack of cooperation between shipper, packer and grower.
    5. Failure of grower to produce a first-class pear in the orchard.
    6. The economic situation existing in 1930.
    So much has been said about this phase of the pear industry in the past two years I feel it is entirely necessary for me to stress this feature. Production is on the increase. Whether or not it will be seriously curtailed by the laws of economics I am not prepared to hazard even a guess. If the present economic situation prevailed over a period of two or three years, we could forecast a greatly reduced pear crop. Your guess as to what will happen is just as good as mine. I think it can be safely stated that orchards now in existence will continue to produce, in some shape or form, a definite quantity of fruit that someone will endeavor to market. The law of the survival of the fittest is inevitable. We can do a great deal to assist Nature in exterminating the unfit by pledging the Medford district as a unit to raise only the best quality and size of pears produced. Meantime, we cannot overlook the fact that pear production is on the increase and is probably the greatest problem we must face.
    The Medford district has enjoyed a well-earned reputation for uniformity of its package for several years past. While it is true there has been a slight variation here and there, on the whole, a fairly good package has been tendered the trade. This was not true in 1930. There was a marked difference in many of the packages shipped the past year. This must be rectified immediately, and some sane method devised for securing and maintaining a high standard of excellence in our product that will hold in the fall and winter pear business safely entrenched in the Medford district.
    Let me give you two striking examples; Lipton's tea is known the world over. Why? Ask the old lady who drinks it. Her answer: "The same today, yesterday, and forever." Reputation is achieved only by consistency of performance.
    Take any well-known automobile. What would happen to the volume of sales if the manufacturer decided to lower the quality of some particular make or type of car? How long would it take the dealers to get wise? How many cars would he sell in competition with other manufacturers who at least maintained the standards of excellence offered in past years? The answer is obvious.
    If there is any grower, packer or shipper here at this meeting today who honestly believes the Medford district tendered the trade real honest quality produce in 1930, I want to look him over. So much for quality.
    Increasing production demands we curtail sizes. Small pears will have to be discarded. Possibly only pears one hundred eighty and larger should ever be shipped commercially. Obviously, the grower must take care of this feature through different methods of pruning and heavy thinning. The packer cannot change the sizes of the pears tendered him in the lug box. If the grower insists on raising small fruit, he may find himself severely penalized by having his fruit rejected.
    This may prove to be a very delicate subject, but in a crisis such as exists in Medford today, cooperation must be secured and matters discussed openly which otherwise would be considered the private business of some particular shipper, packer or grower.
    To name a few points creating dissension:
    The shipper who finances orchards to the detriment of the grower who has his own money invested.
    The packer who continues to pack out small sizes, off-grade fruit and whose remuneration, to a great extent, depends upon the volume of business he secures.
    The grower who insists upon determining for himself what constitutes an extra fancy or fancy pear with the result that the packer is intimidated.
    The type of grower who states quite blandly to the packer, "If you won't do it, Dick will."
    The pear industry is no different from any other business. If we as growers have an idea that the trade and buying public are compelled to take what we offer, then we assume that the pear industry is some sort of a freak business not answerable to the laws of supply or demand. Good sound business principles must be observed. If this is done, the growers will do their utmost to raise only high-grade fruit. Some sort of a local organization having only the best interests of the grower in mind must function in order to elevate present orchard practice.
    It would be a waste of time to discuss this feature. Nineteen-thirty was the worst year ever experienced by the pear growers of the Pacific Slope. With the collapse of the boom late in the fall of 1929, a period set in wherein the demand for luxuries quickly reached a very low point, resulting in lower prices. Prices, in fact, reached such a very low level that the grower in many cases did not receive a cent on the cost of production.
    To make matters worse, all up and down the Pacific Slope, packers and growers sent east the very poorest grade of pears ever offered to the buying public. What effect this had on the prices paid for pears cannot be stated in dollars and cents. It was plenty.
    I have touched only a few points that can be discussed in connection with the necessity for everyone interested in the pear business getting together. There are others here today who will have plenty to say about our needs.
    I want to stress the necessity of advertising. The best illustration I can give you would be this: If cities such as Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Washington, Baltimore, Buffalo, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Minneapolis, and St. Paul had been exploited years ago to the point where they would have consumed, within their own confines, 300 cars of Bosc pears in 1930, prices paid for Bosc would at least have given back to the grower a substantial part, if not all, of the cost of production.
Medford Mail Tribune, January 18, 1931, page B1


    There is scarcely need of calling attention to the fact that this country and the entire world is suffering from serious business depression.
    The local fruit industry has suffered, and is suffering, along with every other industry.
    Not since the spray residue crisis have Medford fruit growers been faced with a more difficult problem than they now face during the next ten months. There never has been greater need of unified effort, and the application of the best ability and highest intelligence, that the local industry can produce.
    In an effort to surmount this crisis, a mass meeting of valley pear growers has been called for Friday at one p.m. to be addressed by Frank T. Swett of San Francisco, manager of the California Pear Growers Association. Mr. Swett is well known in Medford, where he has often talked before, and is recognized as an expert in all phases of pear culture, marketing and distribution. He will have important information to give regarding the present situation, and what he considers the best method of meeting it.
    Every pear grower in Southern Oregon, with his own interest and the interests of his industry at heart, should attend this meeting. The problem can't be solved by a few growers, but must be solved by all of them; it can't be solved by this clique or that, but must be solved by the elimination of all cliques and divisions--the creation of genuine unity and cooperation.
    The present is no time for pride of opinion to prevail. Nor it is a time for uncompromising individualism to be tolerated. It is time for the subordination of all selfish interests, to the welfare of the industry as a whole--all pulling together and working together toward a common end.
    And the first step in such a program is for every pear grower who can possibly do so to attend this meeting, make it the largest and most representative one ever held in Southern Oregon.
    So, Mr. Pear Grower, make your plans now to be at the Elks temple Friday afternoon. We believe the problem can be solved and the crisis surmounted--for we have great faith in the ability and the intelligence of the orchardists in the Rogue River Valley--but it can't be done if the policy of letting the other fellow do it is adopted.
    This must be a united and concerted effort, with every individual's shoulder to the wheel, if the experience of 1930 is not to be repeated in 1931.
    So whether you are a large or small grower, a member of this organization or that, be there to answer the roll call on Friday afternoon. With every grower doing his bit, the truth will again be demonstrated that Medford has the highest grade of citizenship on the Coast--that when something must be done, it always has the men to do it.
Medford Mail Tribune, January 21, 1931, page 4


    Preliminary plans, as outlined at a meeting of Northwest district growers and shippers in Portland last Saturday, for a 1931 advertising campaign for winter pears were explained at today's meeting of the Rogue River Traffic Association by David Rosenberg, president of the Pacific Pear Council.
    The salient points are:
    There is a strong sentiment in Northwest districts for the conducting of an advertising campaign on a substantial national basis.
    At least 85 percent of the total winter pear tonnage in the Northwest districts favor the advertising.
    That an assessment of not to exceed two cents per box be levied, the shippers to make the collections with the consent of the growers and that the money for the advertising be available before the advertising started. The amount of the assessment per box will be fixed at a meeting to be held in May.
    It was agreed that the advertising be placed in charge of a competent and established advertising organization and that care be taken lest the campaign become half-hearted.
    The name of the advertising unit will be the Northwest Advisory Board of the Pacific Pear Council for Market Promotion.
    The districts represented at the Portland meeting were Hood River, Medford, Wenatchee and Yakima. The Santa Clara and Placer County districts of California will be invited to join.
    Mr. Rosenberg said that he was surprised at the amount of sentiment shown at the meeting for an advertising campaign and further stated, "I have no doubt the campaign will develop into the most important activity of the pear industry in many years." He cited that the New York Pear Committee was in favor of advertising and saw its need.
    It is planned to have the campaign launched in time for the 1931 sales.
    The Traffic Association gave its moral support to the plan and will act with the Fruitgrowers' League in its consummation.
    The Traffic Association also named a committee, composed of Hugh Hamlin, Lester Newbry and P. Naumes to meet with a committee from the Fruitgrowers' League to recommend appointments from this section to the state agricultural commission recently created by the legislature. The name of H. Von Hoevenberg has been mentioned for the advisory board and A. C. Allen for the plant industry department.
Medford Mail Tribune, March 5, 1931, page 5


    The great breach of earth which used to house their far-reaching roots is not the only unfilled space left by the "old apple trees"--nor the only reminder that they once stood, casting a latticework of shadow over green fields in summer and a shower of bloom to the winds of spring. For a permanent vacancy in the view has been created for many residents of the Table Rock district by their recent uprooting from the J. C. Pendleton ranch, where they had stood for approximately 50 years.
    Planted in the early days on first land claim north of the Rogue Eiver, the trees weathered the floods and storms of the pioneer era to share in the glory of the great apple boom which came to the Rogue River valley in 1910.
    Their fruits were sent to many countries, always arriving in "fine condition." On the "Christmas ship" which carried gifts from San Francisco to the Philippine Islands and on into the heart of Luzon in 1909, then sent Spitzenbergs and Newtowns to bring joy to many foreign hearths. And a realization to their sender, General Charles R. Greenleaf and many other orchardists, that apples of the Rogue River Valley can be shipped long distances and arrive in perfect condition.
    Then the apple boom passed and pears came to reign in the Rogue River Valley. Rows and rows of trees were removed from the soil to make room for the new fruit. But the "old apple trees" stood on, stretching their limbs upward and outward, failing to realize that danger lurked in so great an expanse of branches. They became too large for small, modern spray rigs to care for them. They became a menace to other orchards. Now their trunks and branches will tell their last story to the flames on the open hearth.
Medford Mail Tribune, April 18, 1931, page 3


    PORTLAND, Ore., May 11.--(Special to Mail Tribune)--At a meeting of the Northwest Pear Council here Saturday it was unanimously decided to advertise pears in the eastern markets this year, and a committee consisting of Dave Rosenberg, Medford; W. F. Gwin, Seattle, and Ben Perham, Yakima, was appointed to perfect an organization and arrange final details.
    This decision has followed a long fight on the part of Medford pear growers to secure Northwest support for an extensive advertising campaign first started when the pear council was formed several years ago. It is expected that a large number of California orchardists will aid in financing the campaign, although it is doubtful if California pear growers as an organization join in the first advertising project.
    Great enthusiasm for the advertising was manifest at the meeting, and every pear-growing district in the Northwest was represented as "sold" on the idea. It is believed the right sort of publicity will materially increase profits for the orchardists throughout the coast district.
    The committee appointed met in Seattle yesterday and will announce their program probably the latter part of this week. Each grower subscribing to the council fund will pay a certain charge per box, the exact charge being as small as is consistent with an effective advertising campaign. At Saturday's meeting Medford pear growers were represented by Dave Rosenberg and Raymond Reter.
Medford Mail Tribune, May 11, 1931, page 1


    Prof. Henry Hartman of Oregon State College, who for the past two years has carried on storage and marketing investigations in eastern markets for the valley shippers and growers, will make a preliminary report tomorrow noon to the packers on a sulphide wrapper he has perfected. Valley shippers have delayed ordering their season's supply of fruit wrappers, pending this report.
    The sulphide wrapper has been studied for a couple of years by Prof. Hartman and its use eliminated pinhole rot, mold and other ailments that afflict pears in storage.
    At an early date, Prof. Hartman will make a full report on his storage and marketing investigations the past two years and the sulphide wrapper to valley fruit men at a mass meeting. He returned to Corvallis the first of the month and is now working on this report.
    At a meeting of the Rogue River Traffic Association this noon it was voted to ask the Oregon congressional delegation to use their influence in the retention of Dr. Cooley, a Department of Agriculture expert at Hood River. Under a realignment, it was proposed to shift Dr. Cooley to other fields. Hood River orchardists claim that his transfer would impair his investigational work into the pear cluster and their diseases.
    An expected discussion of the pear advertising campaign plan was deferred until next week. David Rosenberg, president of the Pacific Pear Council, is now in Seattle conferring on the details.
    No long speeches were available at the session this noon, so the Traffic Association set a record by adjourning 15 minutes early.
Medford Mail Tribune, May 14, 1931, page 5


    Prof. Henry Hartman, of the Oregon State College, told a large gathering of valley shippers and packers at a noon meeting today that he would not recommend extensive use this season of a copper-treated fruit wrapper, owing to manufacturing difficulties, but strongly suggested that shippers use sufficient copper wrappers to make a substantial experiment.
    Prof. Hartman said it was doubtful if the paper mills could perfect a copper wrapper in time for this season, as the new method would involve considerable chemistry and the perfection of machinery. He thought by next year the output would be ample, as coast pulp mills are now working on the project.
    The copper-treated wrapper would come under the Oregon fungicide laws, which would require a state permit and act as a protection for the shippers.
    Prof. Hartman said that tests made with the copper-treated wrappers showed "surprising results" in the control and prevention of nest rot and other pear ills, and that the Hood River district had used copper-treated wrappers on their apple crop with good success.
    He said that the knowledge gained from copper-treated wrappers the coming season would be of high value in years to come.
    Prof. Hartman also gave a preliminary report on tests made with different types of protective boards in the packed boxes and said it had been shown that the soft and springy type of protection was the best for the elimination of bruises and box burns. The paper toweling protection gave splendid service, Prof. Hartman said. Good results were also shown in fruit wrapped in cotton, and with cotton layers, but this, it was explained, was simply an experiment.
    The gathering was also told of tests made with fruit wrapped in oiled paper, and that the experiments showed this method to be a preventative of scald.
    Prof. Hartman recommended the use of protective material that would yield the greatest softness and springiness and add to the attractiveness of the pears.
    He further stated that another year's observations in the use of copper-treated wrappers and protective material would be valuable to shippers in their future courses. He said he realized that shippers were anxious to capitalize without delay any innovation but favored slow and careful steps.
    Prof. Hartman will join the Department of Agriculture after the close of the present school year. He is now working on the report of his two years marketing and storage investigation in New York City and will deliver it to a meeting of fruit growers and shippers to be held in this city in a couple of weeks.
Medford Mail Tribune, May 15, 1931, page 7


    Prof. Henry Hartman, Oregon State college expert, addressing a large group of valley fruit growers and shippers at the Elks temple this afternoon in an oral report of his two years' investigation of marketing and storage conditions in New York City and other eastern markets, declared that "attractiveness of the pear pack is a vital factor in the carrying out of any successful advertising campaign."
    Prof. Hartman also said that "some slight changes in the method of grading of pears may be necessary to conform with the views of buyers and consumers." He said that the shippers understood this phase of the fruit situation, but the growers, as a whole, did not. He held that the changes would be minor, but advantageous for all concerned.
    Prof. Hartman's talk was profusely illustrated with photos and slides, in which he showed the condition of the pack after it reached New York.
    A considerable portion of the address was devoted to the explaining of a series of fruit tests conducted the past year.
    Prof. Hartman also explained the sulphide copper wrapper and its use. He said that the tests to date showed it to be satisfactory, and that it had proved effective as a preventative for "nest mold." He said that a number of shippers were planning to use the copper wrapper this season in liberal quantities, so a strong line could be secured on its merits and demerits. He said by next year paper companies would be manufacturing the new product in large quantities.
    Prof. Hartman stressed the new idea of presenting the fruit to the consumer in a ripened condition and free from defects and ills that come in storage. He said that progress had been made the past year along these lines.
    E. D. Mallinson, market specialist of the Department of Agriculture, in charge of test fruit trains from this section the past two years, explained the results of these tests to date, insofar as they affected transportation refrigeration.
    David R. Wood, chairman of the winter pear committee, made a financial report for the past year.
    The meeting was under the auspices of the Fruitgrowers' League, and there was a large attendance.
    Tonight shippers and growers will hold the second meeting of the day when they will hear a report on the advertising campaign proposed for this year and take definite action on the subject.
Medford Mail Tribune, May 22, 1931, page 1


    The present report is based largely upon investigations carried on in New York and other eastern cities during the past two years. These investigations were authorized and financed by growers and shippers of the Rogue River Valley, through their official representatives, the Medford Winter Pear Committee, Inc., the personnel of which is: D. R. Wood, president; Leonard Carpenter, Harry Rosenberg, J. C. Barnes, W. F. Biddle, George B. Dean, and J. E. Spatz. The work had to do largely with problems relating to the harvesting, transportation and ripening of pears. It was in no sense a marketing survey, nor was it an attempt to promote the sale of pears. The author, throughout the investigations, adhered strictly to the ethics of research.
    While some of the data were secured from observations of commercial shipments, a considerable amount of information was obtained from controlled experiments that began at harvest time and that were carried on through the transit and storage periods.
    No attempt is made to give a full and complete report at this time. Figures and tables are largely eliminated, and only a summary of results is given.
    Growers and shippers of pears are engaged in a highly competitive venture. Pears on the market are forced to compete not only against themselves, but they must make their bid for favor against a host of products that are now being delivered to the consumer in a wholesome and attractive manner. In establishing standards of quality for pears, therefore, it is necessary to take into account the standards of quality already attained by other fruit industries.
    That the quality and appearance of pears on the market needs be improved is apparent even to the casual observer. It cannot be denied that fruits such as the apple, the orange, and the grapefruit are now being delivered to the consumer with comparatively better appearance and better eating quality than are pears. Lack of quality and lack of attractiveness are still serious obstacles to the successful sale and distribution of pears. This is due not necessarily to the fact that growers and shippers of pears are less diligent in their methods, but to the fact that pears present more serious problems of harvesting, transportation and storage than do other fruits.
    The ultimate purchaser, however, does not take this into account. He judges the product and compares it with other products, solely on the basis of value received.
    Many of the difficulties associated with the handling of pears can be overcome by minor changes of the present methods, by more judicious use of the equipment now on hand, and by application of knowledge already in existence. On the other hand, some of the problems, especially those occasioned by transportation and by certain storage disease, are fundamental in character. The solution of these may require years of research, together with close cooperation of all agencies involved and with the expenditure of considerable sums of money.
    It is apparent that the price received at auction is not always a true index of quality in pears. Factors other than quality often affect auction prices, and because the auction sheet shows a high return, it does not always follow that the shipper has delivered a satisfactory lot of pears to his customers. Examples of this have been common during the past two seasons. Bosc pears which brought high auction prices in January and February often scalded and became a total loss before they reached the consumer.
    Much harm is still being done to the pear industry by the sale of fruit that has been kept [past] its normal storage life, and that has become unpalatable and unfit for human consumption. Among storage authorities, it is recognized that pears have a rather definite cold storage life. When they are kept too long in cold storage, they do not ripen properly upon removal. The flesh remains hard, the skin "scalds" or turns brown, core breakdown may develop, and the consumer receives a worthless product. This may be true of fruit that is still hard and green and that has a normal appearance at the time of removal from cold storage.
    Just how long pears can be held in cold storage depends upon several factors. The treatment at harvest time, the inherent keeping quality of the fruit, and the conditions prevailing during transit all affect the length of life of pears. As a result of several years of observation and experimentation, however, it is now possible to establish in a general way the limits for the various sorts. With proper handling, Medford Bartlett pears upon arrival in the East can be held in cold storage for 30 days and still yield a satisfactory product. Bosc can be held until the Christmas holidays, Comice until January 15th or February 1st, Anjou until the last of March and possibly until April 15th, in the case of exceptional fruit. Winter Nelis can be held until April 30th, and in some cases as late as the middle of May.
    It should be emphasized here, however, that under the methods of handling now in vogue, only a small portion of the pear crop can be held to the foregoing dates.
    Sales of pears that were held beyond their normal storage life were common during the past season. In New York, for example, several cars of Bartlett pears were sold at auction as late as November 7th, and one car was sold on November 17th. A car of Bosc was sold on April 4th, and a car of Flemish Beauty was sold on April 9th. In Chicago, a car of Bartlett was sold on December 5th, and several cars of Bosc were sold between April 15th and April 25th. Needless to say, none of this fruit reached the consumer in an edible condition.
    The situation created by late sales of Bartlett was serious to say the least. At the time when Bosc and other fall varieties should have been on the market, the fruit stands were still jammed with Bartlett pears. These, for the most part, were of poor quality and undoubtedly did much to turn people away from pears.
    The large distributors have recognized that pears held too long were a menace to the industry, and these distributors are not responsible for the situation that prevails. The New York Pear Committee, during the past two seasons, planned its program of sales so that cars of pears in their possession would go to the trade in proper time. Their plans were upset, however, by the fact that some shippers held the fruit too long, and that some buyers, who had purchased on an f.o.b. basis, held pears without regards for their natural keeping quality.
    In considering the length of time that each variety of pears should be held, it is necessary to consider the matter of sale and distribution. If the entire pear crop could be consumed within a few weeks of harvest time, the problem of delivering a satisfactory product to the consumer would be greatly facilitated. With the large tonnage that is now being offered, however, and that will be offered in the future, it is obvious that each variety must be kept on the market as long as the fruit can be maintained in a satisfactory condition. Only in this manner can the crop be disposed of without serious congestions of the market. It is highly essential, therefore, that the crop be handled in such a matter as will ensure maximum storage life for a considerable tonnage of each variety.
    In this connection it should be emphasized, also, that no one variety can hold the market to itself for any length of time. While it is desirable that each variety should predominate during its season, it would be unwise to exclude all other varieties from the market for the time being. Retailers, as a rule, like to offer more than one kind to their customers. Some customers will buy Anjou and other clear-skinned pears, but will not buy russet sorts such as Bosc and Winter Nelis. Some dealers want several varieties to add color and diversity to their displays. Aside from this, there is always a considerable portion of the stock that, because of condition, must be moved regardless of season. Winter Nelis pears which have been abused at harvest time are often ripe long before the Anjou that have been properly handled. Then, too, some districts are naturally earlier than others. The season for Bosc pears from the Placerville district of California, for example, is several weeks ahead of that for Medford and the northern districts.
    Work by the Oregon Experiment Station and by the United States Department of Agriculture has thoroughly established the fact that temperature after picking is the most important single factor relating to the keeping of pears. This work has shown that at temperatures around 70 degrees F., pears ripen approximately 10 times as rapidly as they do at 30 to 32 degrees F. Under ordinary circumstances, pears picked and left in the orchard or packing house deteriorate as much in one day as they do in ten days of cold storage. Tests with Bosc pears have shown that a delay of seven days at 65 degrees F. was responsible for a reduction of 60 days in the possible cold storage life of the fruit. Once started, the ripening process in pears cannot be effectively checked no matter what after-treatment is given. This being true, pears may be seriously damaged if held even for short periods at temperatures above 30 to 32 degrees F.
    As the pear crop is now handled, delays after picking and unfavorable temperature conditions during transit are common. In some cases, the fruit remains in the orchard for two or three days after picking and often lays around two or three days more before it is packed. During warm weather, temperatures of 38 to 48 degrees F., and even higher, are often encountered in transit, and fruit intended for storage may arrive in the East with the top boxes showing color and giving indication that the ripening process is already well under way.
    It should be emphasized, in this connection, that pears attached to the tree ripen at a much lower rate than pears picked and allowed to stand in the orchard. In case pears cannot be placed under refrigeration immediately, they should be allowed to hang on the trees. It is a serious mistake for growers to assume that their crop is safe as soon as the fruit has been placed in boxes.
    It has been clearly shown that the practice of precooling immediately after picking prolongs the life of pears. In fact, precooling seem to be almost indispensable in the case of pears intended for the "long route" on the market. Precooling, however, is a costly practice, and there are times when the matter of economics enters in.
    Aside from the matter of keeping, precooling when applied to pears has other advantages. Pears that have been precooled are usually free from wilt upon arrival at eastern terminals and ripen in a more uniform manner than those that have not been precooled.
    Data collected from experimental lots and from commercial shipments during the past two years show that part of the trouble resulting from transit during hot weather can be avoided by storing the fruit for a month or so at the point of origin and shipping in late October or early November when lower temperatures prevail. Pears shipped at this time of the year often travel at practically storage temperatures, and the difference in temperature between the tops and bottoms of cars are hardly apparent. While this method of handling might not be practical for the entire crop, it at least offers possibility for lots of fruit intended for long keeping.
    Observations of the past two seasons indicate that pears held at 30 to 31 degrees F. keep better than those held at 32 degrees F. or higher. The core temperatures of pears in storage are usually 1½ degrees higher than that of the storage room itself. Pears do not freeze unless subjected to temperatures below 28 degrees F., for a considerable period of time, and at 30 to 31 degrees F. they are safe so long as the refrigeration is properly distributed within the rooms.
    In the case of plants using the direct expansion system of refrigeration, fans in the rooms are necessary to ensure air movement. This is desirable since both cold and warm air pockets are apt to be formed unless the air is kept constantly in motion.
    Relative humidities of at least 78 percent are necessary to prevent wilting of pears in storage.
    Pears in cold storage should be stacked in a manner that permits air circulation around each box. Space should be left between each stack, and whenever possible, each tier should be cleated. Ample space should be left between the top tiers and the ceiling of the rooms.
    The matter of improving the grade and pack of pears is, to a large extent, a grower problem. It is known among all horticulturists that pear trees as compared to other fruit trees produce a relatively large percentage of inferior fruits. At the same time, the pear industry has practically no byproducts to utilize such fruit, and as a consequence nearly all of the fruit that sticks to the trees in spring ultimately finds its way into the fancy or extra fancy grades.
    With the increased competition that pears must face in the future, it appears certain that pear growers will have to adopt a system of thinning that will ensure not only more desirable sizes, but that will eliminate, to a large extent, the misshapen and imperfect specimens. When properly done, thinning results in no decrease of of tonnage and adds practically nothing to the cost of production. Certainly it costs no more to clip off the imperfect specimens in spring than it does to pick them by hand in the fall and pay the cost of running them over washing machines and packing tables.
    Growers and shippers are generally aware of the fact that pears often fail to keep upon arrival at Eastern terminals. Anjou and Winter Nelis, in particular, often ripen and give evidence of breaking down long before their normal season is over. During the season of 1929-30, for example, at least 50 percent of the Anjou pears held in New York City were ripe and had to be moved in January regardless of market conditions. The situation was considerably improved during the season of 1930-31, but even in this case, many pears gave evidence of premature ripening.
    Many reasons have been advanced for the failure of pears to keep upon arrival in the East. It has been claimed, for example, that, in some years pears lack inherent keeping quality. Experimentation over a period of years, however, has shown that pears when properly handled keep well regardless of season and that inherent keeping quality is only of secondary importance.
    The claim that eastern storage plants are responsible for the situation, likewise, is not substantial if all the facts are taken into account. When a storage concern maintains satisfactory temperatures, satisfactory humidities, together with some circulation of the air in the rooms, it can hardly be blamed for the failure of fruit to keep. There have been individual cases in past seasons when improper storage did contribute to premature ripening, but it cannot be said that this is the general cause of the difficulty.
    Picking at the wrong time may influence the situation, but it is inconceivable that this factor alone is responsible for the trouble.
    Apparently two factors are largely responsible for the premature ripening of pears at eastern terminals: (1) delays in getting the fruit under refrigeration at harvest time; and (2) unfavorable transit conditions.
    To determine the condition of Bosc pears as they are being sold to consumers in New York City, surveys of retail establishments were made at intervals of about 10 days throughout the fall months of 1929. These included about 80 establishments such as fancy-fruit stands, outdoor stands--subway stands, pushcarts, public markets, and grocery stores--located in various parts of the city.
    The data collected in the above manner showed that during October and early November, while the prevailing temperatures were fairly high, about 90 percent of the Bosc pears offered for sale were ripe and in good condition for eating. After November 10th, however, when the weather became cool, most of the Bosc pears offered for sale were hard and immature. The figures show that over 91 percent of the Bosc sold during this period were practicably inedible. A few establishments such as the fruit stands in the subway stations, where the temperature is always fairly high, offered ripe Bosc pears throughout the season. A few fancy-fruit dealers, who conditioned the fruit, also offered good Bosc pears during most of the time, but these constitute only a small percentage of the retail trade of New York City.
    The situation was somewhat better in 1930. Weather conditions during the late fall months were more favorable for ripening, and a considerable number of cars were conditioned. Even in this case, however, the situation was far from satisfactory.
   These observations emphasize, in a practical way, the results of experimental evidence to the effect that Bosc pears require fairly high ripening temperatures. They will not ripen in cold storage or at low prevailing temperatures. It is true that this variety often takes on color at low temperatures, but the color change in such cases is not accompanied by mellowness or increased juiciness. It is only when ripening temperatures of 55 to 65 degrees F. are supplied that color and actual maturity develop simultaneously.
    Obviously the jobbers and retailers of New York and other eastern cities are not in position to condition Bosc pears. Practically none of these operators have storage space, and what little space they do have is usually subject to out-of-door temperatures and is, therefore, unsuitable for the purpose. Then, too, this space is generally used for the storage of other products and heating is out of the question.
    It must be remembered, also, that an unusually large number of individuals are engaged in the jobbing and retail trade, and even if space for ripening was available, it would be a tremendous task to teach this vast army the proper methods of conditioning Bosc pears.
    The possibility of educating the consumer to ripen Bosc pears before they are eaten offers some promise, but it must be admitted that many obstacles lie in the way of this program. When the average city consumer takes fruit home, he generally expects to use it immediately, and when he buys apples, grapes, bananas, and other fruits he usually finds them ready to eat at the time of purchase. Space is at a premium in the [omission] supply of foodstuffs can be kept on hand. Then, too, conditions in the average city home or apartment are not ideal for the ripening of Bosc pears. Foodstuffs as a rule are kept in iceboxes or under mechanical refrigeration, and Bosc pears will not ripen under these conditions. A program of education urging consumers to keep Bosc pears in their living rooms until ready to eat might accomplish results, but it must be admitted that this would be a tremendous task.
    The possibility of conditioning Bosc pears in the ripening rooms now used for bananas was given attention in the course of these investigations. It was found, however, that these rooms are now being used to full capacity and that they are generally unsuited for pears. In New York City, these are located in the jobbing district, some distance from the piers, and trucking to and from them prior to the auction sale is impossible under the present regulations and methods of handling fruit.
    It now appears that ripening or conditioning rooms for Bosc pears in New York City should be located on the main lines of travel between the classification yards and the piers. The large cold storage plants on the Jersey side of the Hudson River seem to be the logical location for such rooms. Not only can space and proper ripening conditions be provided at these places, but it is desirable that refrigeration space be within easy reach of the conditioning rooms. Owing to market or other conditions it may be necessary, at times, to return the fruit to cold storage after it has gone through the ripening process. This would be practically impossible if the conditioning rooms were located on the piers or at some distance from the cold storage plants.
    Many difficulties are encountered when one attempts to condition Bosc pears in carload lots at eastern terminals. While some headway has been made, it must be pointed out that many obstacles are still in the way and that much work remains to be done before the [perfect] conditioning process is finally reached.
    The first difficulty encountered is lack of suitable space. When operations began in New York City, in 1929, there was no space that could be given over to the ripening of pears. At the present time, however, space is available in New York and elsewhere, the storage concerns having spent considerable sums of money in equipping rooms for the purpose.
    A second obstacle is the attitude of the trade toward pears that have been conditioned. At present there is a distinct prejudice against pears that are ripe or that show signs of softening. In the case of Bosc, the trade desires color, but it desires the fruit to be hard. This prejudice must be overcome before conditioned Bosc pears will meet with full approval. A change of attitude on this matter can come only after dealers have learned that Bosc pears properly conditioned still have carrying quality and that sales are greater when the consumer receives a pear that is fit to eat.
    Lack of uniformity in the stock is also a serious obstacle to conditioning, in that some of the fruit in a car ripens and takes on color, while the remainder of the fruit stays green and hard. Several factors probably contributed to this condition. It is known, for example, that fruit in the top of the cars usually travels at a higher temperature than that in the bottom or other parts of the car. Fruit from the top tiers, therefore, would ripen faster in the ripening room than that from the lower tiers.
    Lack of uniformity in the stock may also result from the fact that fruit picked in the morning while cool may travel in the same car with warm fruit picked in the afternoon. Difference in temperature from this cause usually persists for some time in transit and naturally causes differences in the time of ripening at the receiving end. Trouble from this cause, however, can be eliminated to a considerable extent by prompt and efficient precooling shortly after picking.
    Lack of uniformity may result from variations in the treatment given after picking. It often happens, for example, that fruit from several growers is shipped in the same car. One grower's fruit may have stood around for several days before it is packed and shipped, while another grower's fruit may have been packed immediately. Even within the same grower's lot there may be wide variations in maturity due to the treatment given at harvest time.
    While differences in maturity [are] not usually apparent at the time of shipping, they become of prime importance when conditioning is attempted at eastern points, and something must be done to ensure greater uniformity of maturity in the stock.
    Bosc pears cannot be conditioned if held too long in cold storage. Anyone interested in the conditioning of Bosc pears must bear in mind that fruit which has been held in cold storage beyond its normal storage life cannot be conditioned. Such fruit usually scalds or turns black within a short time after it is placed in the ripening room. As a rule, Bosc pears which have developed full color in cold storage are past the stage when they can be successfully conditioned. Bosc pears which have been placed under refrigeration immediately after harvest and which have been held consistently at cold storage temperatures can usually be conditioned any time up to the first of January. On the other hand, Bosc pears which have been abused at harvest time and which have traveled across the country at high temperatures may break down in ripening rooms as early as Thanksgiving time.
    It is apparent from the experiences of the past two seasons that the conditioning of Bosc pears at eastern terminals will be accompanied only by concerted and organized action on the part of all concerned. Sporadic attempts by one or two individuals will never accomplish the desired results. Conditioning on a large scale will become a reality only when the shippers and distributors, all working together, decide that they will carry through a unified plan of action.
    Up to the present time there has been no unified effort to put into practice the knowledge that has been gained regarding the handling of Bosc pears so as to assure a satisfactory product to the consumer. It is true that individuals here and there have given the matter considerable attention, but their efforts have met with strenuous opposition. The pear industry, however, must bring about some improvement in the situation, or Bosc will continue to lose in popularity and will soon become a non-profitable variety.
    According to experimental evidence gathered over a period of years, the methods of handling Bosc pears so as to ensure quality can be summarized briefly as follows: At picking time, the fruit should be placed in cold storage as soon as possible at temperatures of 30 to 31 degrees F. At these temperatures, Bosc pears have a normal storage life of about 90 days. If removed from cold storage any time during this period and allowed to ripen at temperatures between 55 F. and 65 degrees F., they will develop the full flavor characteristic of the variety.
    Bosc pears should never be held for long at temperatures between 35 and 50 degrees F. While they will not ripen at these temperatures, they will soon reach the scalding stage and will turn black upon exposure to the air.
    Bosc pears that are shipped at harvest time and that are intended for long storage at eastern points should be precooled. As already indicated, precooling is desirable in the case of Bosc pears that are to be conditioned after removal from cold storage.
    When conditioned at a temperature of 55 degrees F., Bosc pears usually have better color than when they are conditioned at temperatures of 65 to70 degrees F.
    Although some of the other varieties might be improved by preripening and may ultimately be subjected to this treatment, conditioning for the present should be confined largely to Bosc, Bartlett, as a rule, is sold during warm weather and ripens nicely on its own accord. Anjou and Comice ripen at much lower temperatures that does Bosc, and while they are not as good in quality as when they are ripened at high temperatures, they meet the requirements of the trade fairly well. Then, too, these varieties when fully ripe are very susceptible to injury and do not stand the handling that comes subsequent to the auction sale. Winter Nelis, also, ripens at fairly low temperatures, and besides, this variety is largely sold in the spring of the year when the prevailing temperatures are high enough to ripen the fruit in a satisfactory manner.
    Judging from the appearance and quality of the fruit in the market during the past, two seasons, Medford pears are now generally picked at about the proper time. It is encouraging to note that headway has been made in this direction during recent years. Obviously, the pressure test of maturity, first applied to pears in the Rogue River Valley, has had a widespread effect in bringing this situation about.
    There are still some cases, however, wherein improvements in time of picking can be made. It is a mistake to pick the entire crop as soon as the fruit reaches the upper limits of the desirable pressure range. Rather, harvesting should be so timed that the last of the fruit will be picked about the time the pressure tester registers at the lower limits of the desirable range.
    The practice of harvesting Anjou ahead of Bosc, when the two are grown under like conditions, is wrong, and if practiced to any extent will react to the detriment of both varieties. Growers of Seckel should pay special attention to the matter of time of picking. As pointed out in the bulletins of the Oregon Experiment Station, Seckel has a comparatively short picking season.
Medford Mail Tribune, July 5, 1931, page B1


    This is the last half of Prof. Hartman's report on pear storage and marketing conditions in the East. The first half was published last Sunday.
    It is apparent even to the casual observer that pears present a special problem so far as packing injury is concerned. This is particularly true in the case of tender varieties such as Anjou and Comice. Packing materials which may cause no injury to apples or even to Bartlett or Bosc pears may, when used on Anjou and Comice, cause serious bruising  and discoloration.   
    To gain more information on the use of protective materials for pears, an experiment was conducted during the 1930-31 season. As a phase of this experiment test, boxes were prepared using the various pads and collars then in general use. To eliminate error as far as possible, the fruit for each series of boxes was taken from the same bin, was all packed by one packer and all the boxes were shipped together in the same car. Upon arrival in New York City, the test boxes were all stored together and toward the end of the season the fruit was carefully examined. A second phase of this experiment involved the use of cotton, moss, Vermiculite and other materials.
    Obviously, the results of this experiment cannot be accepted as the final word regarding pads, collars and other protective materials for pears. The results thus far obtained, however, at least indicate certain trends and should be of interest. A brief summary of the results follows:
   (1) In the case of varieties such as Anjou and Comice, packing injury is largely the result of friction and rubbing. Injury from pressure also occurs but this is secondary in importance. It is clear, therefore, that the tightness of the pack and the rigidity of the package are important factors in the prevention of packing injury.
   (2) There is a definite relationship between packing injury and the length of time the fruit has been in storage. Anjou pears removed after two or three months of storage usually show but a small amount of injury. The same fruit held in storage for five or six months, however, develop severe packing injury.
   (3) Packing injury is confined largely to the fruit that came into contact with the package itself. Attention must be directed, therefore, to the protection of the fruit at the sides, the top and the bottom.
   (4) To protect the fruit that came into contact with the package itself, a certain amount of padding or cushioning is necessary. It is apparent, however, that the cushioning material must be such that it retains its springiness throughout the transit and storage periods, and that it is free from lumps or ridges. Materials that break down as they become damp in storage are unsatisfactory.
   (5)  To ensure against cutting at the edges, the collars must extend above the edges of the box, and they must be made of substantial material. Beveling of the edges of the box at the sides and ends also aids in the elimination of cutting. The crown method of packing wherein the fruit is high at the center and comparatively low at the edges also affords protection against this form of injury.
   (6) Under the conditions of this experiment, pads and collars made of corrugated paperboard caused more or less marking and discoloration in the case of Anjou and Comice. They appeared to be satisfactory for varieties such as Bartlett and Bosc.
   (7) Excelsior pads and collars, whether made of wood or paper excelsior, caused some injury to tender varieties and lacked in attractiveness.
   (8) Full-depth chipboard collars, when made of fairly heavy material, afforded excellent protection at the edges and imparted an attractive appearance to the package. Due to the lack of cushioning, however, these collars resulted in some pressure bruising.  Chipboard pads were attractive in appearance, but did not afford sufficient protection.
   (9) Pads and collars made of crepe paper covered with paraffined paper proved to be quite satisfactory. Pressure and friction bruises were largely eliminated when these were used.
    (10) Pads made of cotton proved to be satisfactory, but may be impractical because of cost.
    (11) Individual specimens wrapped in cotton carried to destination in excellent condition and kept well in storage.
    (12) Anjou and Comice packed in Oregon moss carried nicely and kept well in storage but acquired a disagreeable taste and color.
    (13 Pears packed in spruce sawdust kept unusually well. The insulation properties of this material apparently afforded protection during the transit period. The method of packing pears in sawdust, however, appears to be of no practical value at this time.
    (14) Pears packed in "Vermiculite" kept fairly well, but this material seem to offer no special advantages.
    Two viewpoints must be taken into account when the matter of weight and bulge for pear boxes is considered: (1) the attitude of the trade; and (2) the carrying and keeping quality of the fruit.
    The trade in the large American cities generally desire a heavy, well-rounded pack in the case of standard boxes, and anyone who hopes to receive top prices must reckon with this fact. Buyers generally have a better feeling towards the brands that show full weight and high bulges. Obviously, one buys a great deal of good will with an extra pound or two of fruit, and the difference in price paid for heavy packs as against light packs shows that the grower or shipper is being well paid for the added weight.
    Shippers of fruits such as apples, grapefruit, oranges and even plums are taking advantage of the heavy pack method to gain favor for their brands, and pear shippers from the comparatively new districts are using it as a means of breaking into the trade.
    So far as injury to the fruit is concerned, it is surprising how well the so-called heavy packs carry. Tests carried on during the past two seasons shows that friction injury occurring from the rubbing and movement of the fruit in the package was considerably less in the case of the heavy packs than it was in the case of the light packs. It is true that some pressure injury results in the case of heavy packs, but the trade, as a rule, objects less to pressure injury than it does to friction injury.
    In considering the matter of weight and bulge, it must be remembered that pears, while in transit and storage, undergo a marked decrease in both weight and volume. Studies to determine the amount of shrinkage that may occur in pears show that some varieties may lose from eight to 15 percent of their weight and volume during the transportation and storage periods.
    It is obvious that partially ripened pears, or pears that have been weakened by long cold storage, cannot be handled without showing injury in the form of friction and pressure bruises. Such pears are apt to develop injury at all points of contact no matter how gently they are moved about. If pears in this condition are put over grading or washing equipment, or are subject to long hauls, they invariably show discoloration upon arrival in eastern markets. Toward the end of the season, even the pears stored in New York City may develop bruises following the short trip from the storage houses to the piers, or following trucking operations to various parts of the city. While this trouble is especially serious in the case of Anjou and Comice, it is common to all varieties of pears when they become weakened from old age.
    During severe winter weather, pears often arrive at their destination in a frozen condition, and the matter of handling frozen pears so that they will recover with the least amount of injury is of considerable importance.
    Freezing in transit is usually confined to the fruit in the lower tiers of boxes near the doorways. There are cases, however, when the fruit is frozen in all parts of the car.
    Experiments carried on during the past two years show that satisfactory recovery following freezing in pears is dependent primarily upon (1) the severity of the freezing, (2) the length of time the fruit remains frozen, (3) the maturity of the fruit at the time of freezing, and (4) the humidity conditions under which thawing occurs.
    When frozen for periods of one or two weeks at temperatures of 27 and 25 degrees Fahrenheit, pears usually recovered in a satisfactory manner. When frozen at these temperatures for periods of three to six weeks, however, they did not recover. Freezing at temperatures below 25 degrees Fahrenheit, even for short periods, resulted in complete breakdown with no recovery. The fruit that was firm and green at the time of freezing usually showed greater recovery than that which was ripe or partly ripe. The fruit that was permitted to thaw out at high humidities showed less wilting than did the fruit that was defrosted at low humidities. The temperature at which the fruit was defrosted did not seem to affect recovery.
    Good results were obtained by placing the frozen fruit in cold storage at 32 degrees Fahrenheit as soon as it arrived. In cold storage, high humidity is usually assured and conditions for recovery seem to be about as good as can be provided. If frozen pears do not recover in cold storage, it is safe to assume that no treatment known at the present time can save them. When placed in cold storage, frozen pears should be so arranged that air may circulate freely about the boxes. Pears while in a frozen condition are very susceptible to bruising and discoloration. For this reason they should be handled as carefully as possible.
    Wilting during transit and storage is still a factor of considerable importance in the handling of late pears. Bosc, Anjou and Winter Nelis frequently appear on the market in a wilted condition.
    Wilting in pears is due to excessive water loss following premature harvesting or storage at low humidities. In the case of Anjous, wilting occurs primarily in fruit that has been harvested too soon. This is especially noticeable in the fruit of the smaller sizes. Bosc, on the other hand, may wilt badly even when the fruit has been picked at the proper time.
    Observations of the past two seasons have shown that wilting in late pears frequently occurs during transit, particularly in the top tiers of boxes. This is especially true of the fruit shipped during warm weather. Fruit shipped during the winter or during the cool fall months seldom wilts in transit. Fruit that is precooled prior to shipping usually shows much less wilt upon arrival than that which has not been precooled. This is due largely to the fact that condensation occurs in the case of the precooled fruit and that the moisture added in this manner prevents loss of water from the fruit itself. Lowered temperatures due to precooling also ensure higher humidities throughout the car. Sprinkling of the inside of the car prior to loading aids in reducing wilt in transit during warm weather.
    Grey mold or "nest rot" is a serious disease of pears in storage. It is especially severe in the case of Anjous held past the middle of February. In fact, most of the adjustments made following late sales of Anjou are made because of gray mold and decay. While it is most serious in the case of Anjou, the trouble is also found in Winter Nelis and Patrick Barry.
    Gray mold is a fungus disease caused by species of Botrytis. It develops in both common and cold storage and spreads from decayed specimens to those that are sound. Nests of 15 or 30 decayed pears are frequently found.
    Following up the work begun by Dr. J. S. Cooley of the United States Department of of Agriculture, experiments on gray mold control were conducted during the past season. These involved the use of various chemically treated wraps as well as the use of materials that might act as physical barriers to the disease. The following summary gives briefly the results obtained:
    (1) Wraps treated with compounds of copper proved to be effective in preventing the spread of gray mold, the most satisfactory results being obtained with wraps containing 5.5 per cent copper sulphate (CuSO₄:5H₂O).
    (2) Wraps treated with compounds of calcium or compounds of sulfur proved to be ineffective.
    (3) Cotton wraps and cotton pads did not prevent the spread of the disease.
    (4) Cellophane wraps proved to be effective barriers to the spread of the disease, but the use of cellophane wraps for pears cannot be recommended until further experimental work has been done.
    (5) The results last season with commercial shipments of Anjou pears packed in copper-treated wraps were generally satisfactory.
   (6) Injury from copper-treated wraps may occur when the fruit is excessively wet at packing time. Small amounts of moisture apparently result in no injury. In the case of washed fruit, however, drying equivalent to that done by the blower type of machine is necessary. Moisture such as results from condensation in transit or in storage apparently causes no copper injury.
    (7) Copper-treated wraps are still largely in the experimental stage, and their general use cannot be recommended at this time. To build up a background of practical information, however, it would be well for each shipper to pack some fruit in copper-treated wraps this year.
    In past seasons, Golden Nelis pears have often developed a form of internal browning shortly after removal from cold storage. This trouble is usually characterized by a brownish discoloration of the core area. The flesh is usually dry and pithy in texture, and the fruit fails to ripen normally upon removal to a warm room.
    Tests carried on during the past season indicate that this trouble is definitely associated with the length of time the fruit has been held in cold storage. When held in cold storage for periods of two and three months, the fruit ripens normally upon removal to a ripening room. When held in cold storage for periods of five and six months, however, the fruit usually developed the trouble in typical form. Obviously, Golden Nelis is a fairly short-lived variety, and its keeping quality is not to be compared with that of Winter Nelis or other late-season pears.
    "Pinhole" rot of Winter Nelis is caused by certain species of blue mold, (Penicillium), the organism apparently gaining entrance through the lenticels (breathing pores) of the fruit. The disease usually makes its appearance shortly after the fruit comes out of cold storage. The early stages are characterized by minute decay spots which appear at various places on the surface. The number of spots per specimen may vary from one to as many as 25 or 30. As the disease progresses, the spots increase in size. In the final stages the fruit becomes entirely decomposed, and the bluish or green fruiting bodies, characteristic of blue mold, appear.
    Pinhole rot is found in Winter Nelis pears from all districts. It occurs in both washed and unwashed fruit, and while the disease is occasionally found in other varieties, it is chiefly confined to Winter Nelis.
    In some years, pinhole rot is a serious handicap to the sale of Winter Nelis pears. While no figures are available as to the amount of loss caused by this disease, it is safe to assume that during the season of 1929-30 it depreciated the value of the Winter Nelis tonnage by at least one dollar per box.
    While investigations have been in progress for some time, no positive and definite method of control for pinhole rot has been discovered. It has been found, however, that the disease is less severe in the case of fruit that is maintained in a hard green condition while in cold storage, and that is ripened quickly upon removal. In the case of fruit that is stored immediately after picking at 30 degrees to 32 degrees Fahrenheit, and then is ripened at 65 degrees Fahrenheit, practically no pinhole rot occurs. This apparently is due to the fact that the disease makes but little headway in hard-green fruit, and that by quick ripening at the end of the storage period, the fruit goes into consumption before the disease gets under way. Pinhole rot is most severe in fruit that is subjected to slow and gradual ripening.
    Pear scald is a physiological disease of pears in storage. Pears that have reached the "scalding" stage, break down rapidly upon removal from cold storage. The skin of such pears turns brown, a foul odor is developed and breakdown at the core may occur. Scalded pears are practically inedible and have no commercial value. Work done by Harley and Fisher shows that scald in pears is accompanied by an accumulation of the substance known as acetaldehyde.
    As already indicated, scald in pears occurs chiefly in fruit that has been held in cold storage past its normal life. In reality, it is an old age disease of pears. In this connection, however, it must be remembered that old age in pears is not entirely a matter of periods of time. Pears that are abused at harvest time or that are shipped under unfavorable temperature conditions may reach old age and may scald weeks or months ahead of pears that have been properly handled.
    The particular trouble described here as Anjou scald was first noticed by the author in 1928. Since that time, commercial and experimental lots of Anjou pears have frequently developed the disease, especially when the fruit has been held for several months in cold storage. Usually it is found in fruit held after February 1. It does not occur in fruit that is ripened shortly after picking.
    The trouble, as a rule, does not appear while the fruit is at low temperatures, but develops very quickly when the fruit is removed to a warm situation. This is especially true when removal to high temperatures is accompanied by removal of the wraps. It is not uncommon for Anjou pears to be completely scalded within 24 hours following this treatment.
    Although the fact is not entirely established, it appears that Anjou pear scald and common pear scald are distinct troubles. Common pear scald, as already indicated, results in discoloration and sloughing of the skin. A foul odor is usually present and the fruit becomes practically inedible. Anjou pear scald, on the other hand, results in brownish or dark discoloration, which distracts materially from the appearance of the fruit, but this is not accomplished by sloughing of the skin, nor is it accompanied by odors or impaired eating quality. In this respect, it is similar to apple scald.
    While Anjou scald has been confined largely to Anjou pears from the Rogue River Valley, it has appeared at times in fruit from the Hood River Valley and elsewhere.
    Early observations on Anjou scald show that the trouble occurs under a wide range of conditions. In past years, it has occurred in both washed and unwashed fruit. It has occurred in precooled fruit and also in fruit that is not precooled. It has occurred in fruit held constantly at 32 degrees Fahrenheit during the cold storage period, and it has occurred in fruit held for varying periods at 29 degrees, 30 degrees and 31 degrees Fahrenheit. It has occurred in fruit that was frozen for varying periods of time. It has occurred in fruit sprayed with oil during the growing season, and it has occurred in fruit that received only the customary applications of arsenate of lead.
    During the season of 1930-31, an experiment was conducted to ascertain the effect of certain chemically treated wraps on the development of Anjou scald. The experiment was started on September 9 with several boxes of Anjou pears, all taken from a single tree at Medford. Immediately after picking, the fruit was packed in standard box lots and the following treated wraps were used:
    Lot 1. An oiled-paper wrap containing 18.2 percent oil as determined by Fisher's method.
    Lot 2. A copper-oil paper wrap containing 18.1 percent oil and 1.4 percent copper, equivalent to 5.5 percent copper sulphate (CuSO₄:5H₂O). This particular wrap was originally prepared for use in tests on gray mold rot. The copper-sulphate content was only incidental to the experiment on Anjou scald.
    Lot 3. A plain paper wrap which had been dipped in a saturated solution of calcium hydroxide and dried in the sun.
    Lot 4. A plain paper wrap of the type commonly used for pears.
    After packing, the fruit was stored at Medford at 31 degrees Fahrenheit until the first week in December, when it was shipped to New York City under "standard refrigeration." Upon arrival in New York City, it was again stored at 31 degrees Fahrenheit. On December 22, one-half of the test boxes were removed to a ripening room, where the fruit was allowed to reach maturity at a temperature of 65 degrees Fahrenheit. On April 2, the remaining boxes were placed in the ripening room and the fruit allowed to ripen at 65 degrees Fahrenheit as in the case of the former lots.
    From the data obtained in the foregoing manner, it appears that oiled wraps have a marked influence on the development of Anjou scald. In fact, under the conditions of this experiment, Anjou scald was entirely prevented by the use of these wraps. In the case of the fruit packed in plain wraps and in the wraps treated with calcium hydroxide, scald began developing a few hours following removal from cold storage. With the oiled wraps, however, the fruit remained free from scald even to the time when it was breaking down from over-maturity. Even in cases where the wraps were taken off upon removal from cold storage, the fruit from the oiled wraps remained free from scald to the end.
    The fruit removed from cold storage on December 22 did not develop scald. This was true of the fruit in plain wraps as well as that in oiled wraps. Apparently, it had not reached the scalding stage at this time.
    Just how much oil needs to be incorporated in the wraps to prevent Anjou pear scald was not determined by this experiment. As already indicated, the oiled wraps used contained approximately 18 percent oil. It is possible that similar results can be obtained with wraps containing less oil, but more experimentation is needed before this can be assumed.
    The possibility of deleterious effects from the use of oiled wraps on pears needs to be considered carefully before these wraps can be generally recommended for pears. This is especially true since it is known that respiratory activities of pears in storage can be influenced by the presence of oil or waxy materials. So far as the present experiment is concerned, no deleterious effects appeared that could be definitely charged to oiled wraps. The fruit in all cases ripened in a natural manner and developed normal color. For several years past, shippers of pears have used oiled wraps from time to time, and there appears to be no prejudice against the practice in commercial circles.
    Since copper-treated wraps are now coming into use for the control of gray mold rot, the desirability of using a combination of oil-copper wrap, which could be effective against both gray mold and Anjou scald, is obvious. As already indicated, such a paper was used in the present experiment with the result that both diseases were effectively controlled. Attempts are now being made to perfect a commercial oil-copper wrap. While the matter is still in the experimental stage, the results thus far obtained are promising.
    Final recommendations regarding the use of oiled wraps for the control of Anjou pear scald cannot be made at this time, but the use of these wraps in a limited way appears to be justified, particularly in the case of Anjou pears from the Rogue River Valley. While it is not recommended that entire crops of this variety be packed with oiled wraps this year, a number of cars so treated would afford the opportunity to observe the results under commercial handling methods. In this connection, it would be well, also, to try in a limited way the oil-copper wraps, if wraps of this kind can be obtained in time for the present season.
    The particular trouble described here is fairly definite and positive in its symptoms. In all cases the specimens affected have a glassy, waterlogged appearance from the outside. Upon cutting, it is found that waterlogging is confined to certain fairly definite locations. Usually a layer of it is found beneath the epidermis, involving several layers of cells in the outer portion of the fleshy torus. Frequently, there is waterlogged tissue within the core area. The remaining portion of the torus, for the most part, is dry and pithy and in advanced stages may crack open, leaving large, vacant spaces. Pears displaying the symptoms of this trouble often remain in an unchanged state for several weeks. They seem to be more or less resistant to decay, and they do not undergo normal breakdown from over-maturity. In all cases, however, the fruit is inedible and has no commercial value.
    The present trouble first came to the attention of the author in Bartlett pears from the crop of 1926. These pears had been in cold storage for several weeks and a loss of approximately five percent occurred. In 1927, the trouble was again encountered in a lot of Washington Anjou pears that had been in cold storage for several months. The troubles again came to attention in 1928 when a loss of about three percent was reported in Bartlett pears held for canning purposes at Vancouver, Wash., and when a car of Washington Bartlett pears developed upon arrival in Texas. In 1930, a shipment of Bartlett pears from Medford developed typical symptoms of the trouble after about six weeks of cold storage.
    In all the foregoing cases, the trouble was noted only after the fruit had been removed from cold storage, and it was impossible to ascertain the exact conditions under which it had developed. All the early attempts to produce the trouble under known conditions resulted in failure. Neither holding the fruit in high concentrations of carbon dioxide nor freezing it for short periods produced any of the symptoms.
    Experiments based on the theory that the trouble might be due to long-continued freezing in storage were conducted during the past season. Several boxes of Anjou pears of uniform grade and size were selected for the work. These were of three stages of maturity: (1) green and firm; (2) partly ripened; and (3) in prime condition, ready for eating. After arrangement into convenient lots, fruit of each stage of maturity was subjected to freezing temperatures of 27 degrees, 23 degrees and 10 degrees Fahrenheit. At intervals of forty-eight hours, one week, two weeks, four weeks and six weeks, fruit from each lot was removed from the various cold rooms and was defrosted at a temperature of 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Examinations of the fruit were made from time to time.
    As a result of the foregoing experiments, the trouble was definitely produced when the fruit remained frozen in storage for comparatively long periods at temperatures slightly below the freezing point of pears. When frozen for short periods; namely, forty-eight hours, one week and two weeks at temperatures of 27 degrees and 23 degrees Fahrenheit, the fruit usually recovered fairly well and did not develop the trouble. When frozen at these temperatures for periods of four weeks and six weeks, however, the fruit developed the trouble in typical form. This was true of all the fruit regardless of its degree of maturity at the beginning of the experiments. The fruit frozen at 10 degrees Fahrenheit all broke down immediately after thawing, the tissue becoming watery and discolored without developing the glassed or waterlogged condition.
    The data obtained here may well account for the occurrence of the trouble in past years. Pears are frequently held in cold storage for several weeks or several months. Even the Bartlett variety is often held under refrigeration for periods of six to eight weeks or longer. At the same time, freezing at temperatures slightly below the freezing point may occasionally occur even in well-managed storage plants. Especially is this true in the case of refrigeration systems that do not provide for the movement of air within the rooms.
    From the results of these experiments, it cannot be assumed that long-continued freezing is the only cause of the trouble in question. While long-continued freezing did produce the trouble in typical form, the experiments did not completely dispose of the possibility of other causal agents.
    Occasionally lots of Rogue River Bosc pears fail to develop proper color upon arrival on the market. Cases of this kind were especially prevalent during the past season. Bosc pears displaying this condition are often referred to as "slate-colored" Bosc by the trade in New York City.
    In some cases, at least, lack of color in Bosc is merely due to the fact that the fruit is still too immature at the time of sale. There are cases, on the other hand, where the fruit actually reaches eating condition without developing the golden or bronze color characteristic of the variety. Experiments with fruit of this latter classification show that improvement in color can be brought about by delaying the time of picking for several days and by conditioning the fruit at eastern terminals at temperatures of about 55 degrees Fahrenheit instead of the customary 65 degrees Fahrenheit.
    In the course of these investigations, the author received valuable aid from many individuals and agencies, such as the aid of the Southern Oregon Experiment Station, in the preparation and shipment of the experimental lots of fruit; the storage concerns of New York City, particularly the Merchants Refrigeration Company, and the Union Terminal & Cold Storage Company, in the donation of space and the construction of special facilities for the work; the eastern pear distributors, particularly the New York Pear Company; the Erie & Pennsylvania railways; Pacific Fruit Express; the auction companies of New York City; the trucking concerns of New York City; the Medford Winter Pear Committee, Inc., many growers and shippers of Medford, particularly Southern Oregon Sales, Inc., Pinnacle Packing Corporation, and E. W. J. Hearty & Company; the Oregon State Agricultural College and the Oregon agricultural experiment station, in looking after the author's duties during his absence.
    Relations with these agencies were indeed pleasant, and the author takes this opportunity to express his appreciation of the many courtesies and acts of kindness extended during the entire time.
Medford Mail Tribune, July 12, 1931, page B1


    The nearness of the pear harvesting season is brought to mind by the fact that testing of pears for maturity by means of the pressure tester will start in the county agent's office July 20, according to an announcement today by County Agent L. P. Wilcox.
    This service is free and the pear growers, he says, can well afford to make use of this means to determine approximately their picking dates.
    The pressure test used in making maturity determination was worked out by the Oregon Experiment Station and is considered the most reliable method of telling when they should be picked in order to obtain maximum quality, he further relates, and then gives the following directions to the growers:
    "Select 10 or 12 specimens of healthy, normal fruit coming from several trees, so that the sample will represent an average for the entire crop. This should be done in the early morning while the fruit is cool. Bring the sample in for testing as soon after picking as possible. The test will then tell you where you stand."
Medford Mail Tribune, July 16, 1931, page 3


    David Rosenberg, president of the Pacific Pear Council, gave a report at the luncheon meeting of the Rogue Valley Traffic Association today in which he stated that the Medford district is backing the plan to advertise the winter pears by an assessment on each box marketed. A strong percentage of local growers have signed and still others are coming into the group, he said.
    California growers will not join the advertising movement this year, according to communication from that section read today. It was pointed out that many Northwest growers feel California should not join anyhow as there is little in common between the Northwest pears and those produced in that section.
    Several of the growers present said that they were not selling cull pears to the local cannery as they felt this was injurious to the pear market in general. A local cannery, it is understood, had contracted to buy cull Bartletts from two packing plants for canning.
    The matter of sending a representative of the local fruit growing industry to Portland for the forthcoming hearing on the proposed 15 percent freight increase. This was referred to the executive committee.
    Other business concerned largely the packing season and market conditions of this and other pear growing districts.
Medford Mail Tribune, July 30, 1931, page 6


    Picking and packing of the Bartlett pear crop of the Rogue River Valley started this morning in the packing plants and orchards and will be in full swing by mid-week, when it is estimated that 5000 men, women and children will be engaged in all the allied work of the fruit industry. Most of the packing houses started this morning. The Pinnacle plant started this afternoon, and the Kimball company will start tomorrow.
    A majority of the packing plants and orchards are employing valley help, and there is less transient labor than in any previous fruit season. The Rogue River Traffic Association, embracing most of the plants, recently went on record for the employment of home labor, as far as possible.
   The heat of the past week and the drought of the past year has affected the sizing of the pears in some sections. Reports from California today indicated that the crop there would be less than 60 percent of last season, and a brisker tone was predicted in eastern markets.
    It is expected that the first full train of Bartletts for eastern markets will be dispatched the end of the week. Small blocks of Bartletts, for export shipment, were scheduled to depart this evening and tomorrow. The first pack will go into cold storage here, for loading the latter part of the week.
    There have been no purchases of cannery Bartletts locally the past three or four days, but reports from the Wenatchee and Yakima sections indicated some activity, with the prices ranging from $27.50 to $37.50 per ton for extra fancy and fancy grades, and down to $10 for the smaller sizes and lower grades.
Medford Mail Tribune, August 3, 1931, page 2


    The reason why pears have held up in price during the 1931 depression, while practically every known commodity and product price has gone down, has not yet been satisfactorily explained and probably never will be.
    The most common explanation locally has been the short crop--the old inescapable law of supply and demand. That the short supply has been a factor no one denies, but that it has been the only--or even the dominant--factor has been seriously challenged.
    The basis for this challenge lies in the fact that the supply of pears thrown on the New York market this year compared with last, during the month of November, averaged only two cars less--a decrease of less than 10 percent. Yet while pears a year ago brought red ink--sometimes buckets of it--they have not only brought black ink this year, but as a whole, excellent profits.
    What is the cause of this sensational--and very gratifying--situation? Well, several leading orchardists in this valley who have studied the situation carefully, are convinced that the fact that this condition has existed the first time that pear advertising in New York City has been carried on upon a large scale is not a mere coincidence.
    They believe, in other words, that this advertising, while not entirely responsible, probably has been as potent as any other factor in putting the pear market up and keeping it there. Some even claim it has been entirely responsible, calling attention to the fact that in essential elements the only difference in the New York market this year over last, was the advertising carried on in New York City, and this, therefore, must be the determining cause of turning a disastrous market into a successful one--the only market of the kind in the entire economic field.
    That as it may be, there is no doubt that the value of advertising has been given a tremendous boost by the 1931 experience, and that stronger support from individual growers to the Northwest advertising than ever before is certain in 1932. The pear growers of Washington and Hood River did not need to be sold on the value of advertising, for they knew the sensational success of the apple growers' advertising campaign, but local orchardists did have to be--and many of them stayed out this past year, waiting to be shown.
    In the opinion of local members of the Washington-Oregon pear advertising bureau they have been shown and eastern pear advertising will go full steam ahead next year, as never before.
Medford Mail Tribune, December 6, 1931, page 1


    So much interest has been aroused among local orchardists, by the article in Sunday's Mail Tribune setting forth the effect of the eastern advertising campaign on the New York pear market, and there have been so many inquiries as to just what that campaign consisted of that the following facts concerning it are given herewith.
    The first advertising consisted of large colored posters placed in elevated trains and stations in New York City, enumerating the virtues of the Bosc "old gold outside, sugared sunshine inside" window strips were also placed in the retail fruit stores, and large display ads were run in the New York City dailies and in some of the leading Jewish papers. Also arrangements were made whereby the unemployed in the city were licensed to sell pears as well as apples on the street corners.
    This general advertising was followed up by 2000 personal calls on the trade in Chicago and 3000 in New York, the dealers being given the lowdown on pears, urged to stock them in larger quantities, and particular stress being laid upon the necessity of putting them on sale when ready to eat--not trying to sell hard green pears, and of course discarding overripe ones. This personal contact feature of the campaign is believed to have been particularly successful.
    The Oregon-Washington bureau now plans to run a specially attractive pear ad in the American Restaurant magazine, known as the "chefs' bible," and taken by practically every chef in the larger cities of the United States. These ads will contain halftones of various attractive pear dishes, and the publisher has also agreed to write an editorial urging the more extensive use of this succulent and delicious fruit.
    The bureau is also now preparing a retailers' manual on pears similar to the retailers' manual on apples, which made such a hit with the trade when it was first issued. This manual will have illustrations in color of all the leading types of pears, with detailed advice as to proper care and display, methods of ripening and the best seasons for each variety.
    For a first year's effort it is believed this is most inclusive and extensive advertising campaign ever carried on for the promotion of the consumption of any single fruit, and at a remarkably low cost to the individual producer.
Medford Mail Tribune, December 9, 1931, page 1


    From "way down east" to "the far west" (Maine to New York, New York to Illinois, Illinois to Oregon) came the Stewarts, all nurserymen, unto the fourth generation. True pioneer souls they were, with the courage and vision, patience and persistence which characterized those whom all Oregon is remembering today during her Diamond Jubilee. The courage to leave the familiar for the unknown, the vision to sense what the future could bring, the patience and persistence to work for it.
    "The Illinois State Agricultural Society award this diploma to Wm. Stewart and Sons, Hannibal Mo. for the best 25 varieties of fruit. October 4, 1856," reads a framed announcement hanging on the dining room wall of the Dillon Hill home on Kings Highway, where lives Wm. Stewart's granddaughter, Mrs. Hill. Opposite the diploma is a beautiful picture of a Rogue River Valley orchard in bloom, taken in 1914.
    Joseph H. Stewart, son of William, planted the first commercial orchard in this valley, the Eden Valley [orchard], now known as the Voorhies orchard and owned by Col. Gordon Voorhies, experienced and prominent grower. Mr. Stewart bought the tract of 160 acres in the spring of '85 when it was known as the old Ball place, and planted 100 acres in fruit. In '87, he bought what was known as the Justus place, now the George Marshall, and two years later planted about 76 acres in apples and pears.
    Spraying did not appear as necessary in those days, more moisture made less irrigating, and smudging had perhaps not been invented. Good corn could be and was raised without a drop of water, according to those who remember, and corn and watermelons were grown between trees in the orchards while they [i.e., the orchards] were growing. Blight was something of a problem, then as now, and the soil of the Eden Valley was a mixture of the sandy and "sticky."
    Mrs. Hill likes to recall that her father sent out the first carload of Ben Davis apples that ever left the valley. Their destination was Germany, she says. Bartletts, 'Anjous and Howells were the principal varieties, with the Bartlett considered the best commercial pear.
    The Dillon Hill home is a quaint and charming place, by the way. Marble-topped tables, capacious fireplaces, old-fashioned rocking chairs and a Steinway parlor grand piano, rosewood cased, combine to give an air of old-time repose and comfort. The house was built in 1905, a year before Joseph Stewart died. The lumber was hauled from a mill near Prospect by mule team. But all this does not concern orchards, nor growers.
    It was in 1901 that 160 additional acres of fruit land were purchased from Asa Fordyce. Fred Page of Portland bought much of Mr. Stewart's fruit, states Mrs. Hill. They also shipped to Sgobel and Day of New York, Ray and Hatfield of New York and Dennis and Sons of London, England. By this time, residents of the valley and others were ready to believe Mr. Stewart's evaluation when he predicted the Rogue River country would be the "ideal pear spot of the West." Mrs. Hill also likes to dwell somewhat on the visits to her father of both Mr. Sgobel and Day, whose names are still familiar to this section. For the possible encouragement of those who today may need it, there is Mr. Stewart's advice given so many years ago, "It may be slim in spots, but just grit your teeth and hang on."
    Mr. Stewart and his family took things as they came, from the time he took a crowbar and sounded the ground to find what he wanted until actual buying and selling took place. Sacks of flour were only 75 cents in those days, and a side of bacon cost about one dollar. "Father eventually sold enough fruit to make a good living," Mrs. Hill recalls, and "he was a good financier," she adds with pardonable pride.
    A story such as this must necessarily be written somewhat sketchily, for the writer is dependent upon memories for most of the information, and the present writer believes it is much better to give the readers of the Pear-O-Scope all she has been able to gather even if not presented in ordered sequence.
    For instance: The Eden Valley orchard boasted 50 varieties of pears and apples, the elder Stewart having brought his own nursery stock from Illinois. He came before there were any railroads. [This is incorrect.] His brothers came later and also bought fruit lands. The codling moth and the blight were early arrivals. Ninety acres were planted in melons. Although having been a commercial grower in New York and later in Illinois, Joseph Stewart encountered something "new and different" when he discovered "sticky."
    That he was considered in those early days to be "crazy" doesn't seem so unusual, for he had new ideas about fruit production and marketing. "A true conception of values in properties and varieties," states his daughter. Ninety-six cars of his own fruit were shipped in 1896.
    The price range was about the same as today, and the pack practically the same. Although it was thought the Newtown apple would last, the pear was even then considered the important product of the valley. The Clairgeau was once a moneymaker. The Nelis, the Bosc and Comice were first planted about 1890 by Will Stewart, a son, at what is now known as the Hillcrest orchards. Wagner Butte was planted by his brother, A. J. Stewart.
    Sons and sons-in-law planted and owned the Marshall orchard, the Hillcrest, the Hollywood, the Burch property and the Weeks tracts on the river. Also the piece now owned by Mrs. Jessie Minear close to Jacksonville.
    The Olwells were the next to join the growers in the Rogue Valley, then W. H. Norcross of Central Point and Mr. Whitman, grandfather of Olin Whitman. The Pellett orchard near Talent was one of the early tracts, also the Helms property near Ashland and the orchards of Chris Eismann and brothers at Grants Pass.
    If the Stewarts have a coat of arms, many of their friends think, it should bear an insignia of pears, for Joseph Stewart was surely a pear pioneer. He was a member of the first horticultural society in the United States, the American Pomological Society, which originated in 1848. Howard Hill, his grandson, has a most interesting copy of the proceedings of the eighth session of the society held at Philadelphia in 1860. Interesting and informative data taken from this book and other sources will follow in additional articles which will appear in the Pear-O-Scope from time to time, at the request of our readers.
Rogue River Valley Pear-O-Scope, May 1934, page 3




Last revised April 29, 2024