SECRETARY'S PORTFOLIO. 347 



to the public during the past few years. Mr. H. H. Sanford of Thomasville, 

 Georgia, kindly sent me specimens of this variety the last week of July of 1877 

 and 1878, being then ready for market. They were of good flavor, good size, 

 ovate pyriform in shape, and of a pale yellow, or a delicate greenish-white 

 color, flesh white with a peculiar flavor, being a mixture of the saccharine and 

 vinous, having a slight astringency which may have been caused by not being 

 fully ripe; they were not, however, equal in quality to many of our best garden 

 varieties. Mr. Sanford informed me that the trees were hardy, very vigorous, 

 early and very abundant bearers, and the fruit commands a high price in the 

 market; the foliage is large and glossy, which gives the tree a handsome 

 appearance. 



From the different reports, the Le Conte has succeeded remarkably well in 

 the South, being suited to the climate, hardy, free from blight, a very prolific 

 bearer, and profitable. It has not fruited sufficiently at the north, to my 

 knowledge, to give an opinion of its merits or value. The Chinese Sand pear 

 and the Japan pear (the latter originating in New Jersey from seed brought 

 from Japan) are hardy and free-growing trees in this locality; they bear early, 

 and very abundantly, medium size and handsome fruit, not eatable out-of- 

 hand, but make a good sauce, and also good for canning; the fruit will keep 

 till midwinter or longer, with care ; the foliage, especially of the Japan variety, 

 is very large, glossy, and will make a beautiful lawn tree, and so far is free 

 from the blight of our cultivated pears, and if it continues, will be an acquisi- 

 tion, that is, if the seedlings or hybrids will produce varieties equal to our best 

 garden sorts. Keiffer' s Hybrid, is another seedling of the Chinese Sand pear, 

 which originated in the garden of Mr. Peter Keiffer, near Philadelphia, and 

 which tree was growing near Beurre d' Anjou, Bartlett, Duchess, etc., the pro- 

 duct being Keiffer's Hybrid, which is of very good quality, good size, deep 

 yellow color, and orange yellow where exposed to the sun, ripening in October, 

 and from what I have seen of it, it is a promising variety for market, as well as 

 for family use. — Charles Doiuning in New York Tribune. 



CRACKING OF THE PEAR. 



The Michigan Farmer quotes a communication in the Scientific American to 

 show the efficacy of iron in preventing the cracking of the pear. A tree of the 

 Flemish Beauty pear, 25 years old and 25 feet high, standing in grass, had a 

 circle dug four feet in diameter around the foot of the stem, treated with the 

 sweepings of a blacksmith's shop, which contain quantities of iron filings and 

 iron turnings. This tree bore several bushels of fair fruit, none of which was 

 cracked or defective, and its whole appearance was vigorous and healthy. In 

 the same neighborhood, and on similar soil, other trees of the Flemish 

 Beauty not thus treated bore scabby and cracked pears, which dropped prema- 

 turely and proved of no value. The conclusion directly drawn was that the 

 iron prevented the cracking, according to an old hypothesis which one has 

 copied from another, without as full proof as would be required to establish it 

 satisfactorily. 



Let us look a moment at this cited example. Trees send off their roots in 

 all directions to a distance fully equal to their height, and often much farther. 

 The newer outer roots feed the tree more than the large woody roots near the 

 trunk. A tree 25 feet high stands in the center of a circular net-work of its 



