326 



LEECH'S KINGSESSING PEAR. 



from more temperate climates, exhibit their 

 adaptation — if there exist any — to the 

 development of the industry and wealth of 

 our people. It is doubtless within the me- 

 mory of many, that the cotton plant was 

 scarcely known in this country, and its in- 

 troduction or general cultivation deemed 

 the wild project of some enthusiast ; yet 

 what is cotton now, less than one of our 

 most important staples, and an article the 

 growth of which we almost entirely mono- 

 polize. Such has been the wealth we have 

 derived from one foreign plant. Are there 

 no others that can be profitably cultivated 

 here ? Part of our country is within the 

 tropics ; and the banana, with other tropical 

 fruits, can be ripened in Florida. Is it well 



ascertained that the tea plant, the coffee 

 tree, the cocoa, the various spices, the 

 caoutchouc, the Manilla hemp, and various 

 other articles of eastern produce, cannot be 

 also profitably cultivated in our Southern 

 States ? This is a prolific subject, and pages 

 might be written to prove the great benefit 

 to be derived from gardens of acclimatation. 

 It is scarcely adapted, however, to the li- 

 mits of an article like this ; and we can 

 only express our hope that Congress will 

 not delay to act in this matter, and to give 

 our agricultural and horticultural industry a 

 measure of the benefits and encouragements 

 which are bestowed upon it by all the prin- 

 cipal European powers. S. B. P. 



Flushing, Dec. 7, 1847. 



LEECH'S KINGSESSING PEAR. 



BY DR. W. D. BRINCKLE, PHILADELPHIA. 



This fine new pear is a natural seedling, 

 which sprung up in the family burial ground 

 of Mr. Isaac Leech, in Kingsessing town- 

 ship, about four miles from Philadelphia. 

 The tree is about fifteen years old, and has 

 been in bearing four or five years. I did 

 not become aware of its existence until this 

 summer ; and as it was nameless, I gave 

 to it the name at the head of this article, in 

 honor of the township where it originated, 

 and the owner of the ground on which it 

 grew. From the close resemblance of the 

 fruit to that of the Chapman, it is probably 

 a seedling of that variety, or of its parent 

 the Petre. It is larger, however, than ei- 

 ther of those kinds ; and from the former, 

 it differs essentially in being very buttery. 

 The original trees of the Chairman and 

 Petre are less than a mile from the King- 

 sessing. 



The tree is somewhat thorny, and of up- 

 right and vigorous growth. The wood on 



the young thrifty shoots, is of a light yel- 

 lowish green, becoming brownish olive, 

 sprinkled with numerous gray dots ; leaf 

 rather large, of a bright shining green, with 

 superficial curvilinear serratures ; petiole 

 long, and of a pale yellowish colour, as is 

 also the midrib. 



Fruit three inches long, and two and a 

 half in breadth ; form obovate, and some- 

 times obtuse pyriform ; colour sea-green, 

 covered with patches of dark green ; stem 

 one inch long, rather stout and somewhat 

 fleshy at its lower termination, which is 

 inserted usually into a flat surface, and 

 sometimes into a slight depression ; calyx 

 small, in a very shallow basin ; flesh rich, 

 buttery, and delicately flavored. Ripe, last 

 of August. W. D. B. 



Phladelpkia, Nov. 18, 1847; 



[We are gratified to publish, for the first 

 time, the foregoing account of a fine new 

 Pennsylvania Pear. 



