192 MISSOTRI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



US that in his time there were known two hundred and fifty sorts from 

 which seventy or eighty could be selected as the best, Du Hamel, a 

 celebrated French writer on fruits and arbor trees, 1768, gives one 

 hundred and nineteen of better sorts, to which he could add thirty or 

 forty more he did not esteem so well for culture. 



The efforts of Dr. Van Mons and others during]; the first quarter of 

 the present century, gave an increased intersest in pear culture. The 

 result of their labors was an acquisition of many of the very best vari- 

 eties we cultivate now. 



The number of kinds increased very rapidly during the century^ 

 preceding the year'1831. During this period it reached from the amount 

 as stated to that of 677, and to this the additions made almost annually 

 are very numerous. 



The tree is one of great longevity. In its native haunts, it generally 

 occupies soils and positions conducive to a very slow, firm growth, 

 just the opposite of the apple, as the latter fiourighes best in rich, deep, 

 loamy locations. The productiveness of the pear tree increases with 

 age. In our own land many fine old trees are found — become famous 

 by their age and the great crops they have borne. 



With feelings of much gratitude may we of the present generation 

 look back upon the labors of the first settlers in their endeavors to in- 

 troduce the cultivated fruits of the gardens they forsook for a new 

 home. So soon as the little cabin was built, the clearing made, the 

 chosen seeds they had brought with them were planted. From these 

 seedlings have sprung most of our choicest native pears, such as the 

 Dix, the Sekel, the Sheldon, the Howell, and many others; of the orig- 

 inal trees, after an elapse of fifty and sixty years, many are still bear- 

 ing and in healthy condition. 



This, certainly, demonstrates the fact (hat many places at least ex- 

 ist in the wide extent of this great land well adapted to the growing of 

 pears. 



From the fact, perhaps, that it is not indigenous to this continent,, 

 and the kinds that have been produced from American seedlings as 

 well as those of European origin, being subject to the same disease 

 alike — the perfect adaptability of varieties to certain soils, situations 

 and localities, will still require many years of patient study, observa- 

 tion and experiment ; moreover, with a country so extensive.^a climate 

 so diverse in its changes, we could not hope for success with all and 

 failure with none. 



The pear tree requires a dry situation, where drainage is perfect, a 

 moderate, rich loam, with subsoils at once dry and still retentive of 

 moisture, and where these overlie vast beds of limestone, it has been. 



