STATE HORTICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 55 



pears, but when it is so it is not like Eastern grown pears. I would 

 be in favor of discai"ding it. 



Mr. Douglas — Why I move to strike it from the list is this: It 

 €rack')d at Boston twenty-five years ago. After that it was the best 

 pear in Western New York, and it was the only pear that came to 

 the Chicago market; but it has cracked there and is worthless there. 

 It finally began to crack near Waukegan. About three or four years 

 after it began to crack on sandy or gravelly soil it began to crack on 

 clay land. At Freeport a gentleman from Iowa said it was the best 

 pear there. Why I move to strike it out is that if we do not it will 

 be planted in new places and people will be sorry for it afterwards. 



Mr. Bryant, Sr. — It has cracked with me this season the first time; 

 previously it has always been fair. 



Mr. Freeman — At South Pass it was up for discussion and was 

 retained on the list through the influence of the gentleman who 

 occupies the chair. That leads me to make a remark which may influ- 

 ence its cultivation and suggest a remedy for the faults complained of. 

 The circumstance struck me very forcibly as indicating that there was 

 something in the soil that had to do with it. But since this meeting 

 referred to I have been investigating these soils, and it is a soil very 

 •different to what we have at South Pass ; it is what is known in geology 

 as the loess, and is a magnificent species of soil for producing fine 

 growths. Mr. Douglas states that it fails on sandy soil first and on clay 

 soil later. The soil where he lives is well calculated to retain moisture 

 to that extent which moisture loving trees like, and I suppose this is 

 a clue to the cracking. Another thing, I could say, that the climate 

 at Judge Brown's is also somewhat favorable. 



Mr. Pierson — I have studied the pear in a great many localities in 

 our State, and my impression now is that in 19 out of 20 localities this 

 pear is a failure, and it strikes me that to keep it on our list when it 

 fails in nineteen-twentieths of cases is very bad policy. If it were a 

 new pear there would be some room for investigation, but I see no 

 motive for cultivating where it was so certain it would fail. In my 



