A silly question but it's raining today, nyuk,... peaches have no real stem to speak of so they have to be snapped off when thinning. Pears have pretty long fruit stems so it's pretty easy to snip them off with clippers. The spring season here had no killing frost so the trees are loaded down with fruit. It's been a long time since that has happened. Snapping off pears/stems can damage the spur when removing 4-5 other pears if not careful, snipping is easier but I'm not sure if it makes a difference in the health of the remaining pear, or apple for that matter. Thanks for your thoughts....still raining......