ARE THE OLD PEARS EXTINCT f 



425 



medium fertility, and with little or no cul- 

 tivation. It is scarcely necessary to add, 

 that the highly respectable individuals who 

 have kindly furnished me statements, are 

 most of them thoroughly conversant with 

 our finest varieties, and that there cannot 

 be any doubt that the trees they possess 

 are the veritable White Doyenne, almost 

 universally known in western New-York as 

 the " Virgalieu." Nearly all agree in the 

 opinion, that it is remarkably free from at- 

 tacks of the blight. 



The lowest price I have heard of, is 

 $1.50 per bushel upon the tree. Ten dol- 

 lars per barrel in New-York city, has been 

 common for some years past. Judge Phelps 

 writes, in addition to the facts already quo- 

 ted, — "I have been credibly informed by 

 persons dealing in them, that they have sold 

 in Albany and New-York from $10 to $12 

 per barrel, of two and a half bushels, I 

 saw them sold in October, 1843, in Fulton 

 market. New- York, by the peck, at the rate 

 of $6 per bushel." P. Barry also states, — 

 " The pedlers of our city collect them from 

 every part of the country within fifty or 

 sixty miles, ripen them gradually in their 

 houses, and sell them during October and 

 November at two to six cents each." A. 

 Thorp, of Syracuse, informs me that at that 

 place, where this pear flourishes admirably, 

 the usual price is $3 per bushel. 



In answer to an inquiry, David Tho- 

 mas of Aurora, Cayuga county, writes, — 

 '* My trees of this variety are among the 

 most hardy and productive. Edwin B. 

 Morgan told me yesterday that his had 

 done finely, while all his other pear trees 

 had been injured by blight. Several gen- 

 tlemen with whom I conversed, laughed 

 scornfully at the idea, that any one should 

 think the Virgalieu was not one of the very 

 best, most productive, and most hardy va- 

 rieties ; it was so very ridiculous ! From 

 Vol. u. 64 



three trees, at C. C. Young's, (at Aurora,) 

 $39 were obtained from their fruit in the 

 autumn of 1846." J. J. Thojias. 



Macedoiiy'id mo., 12, 1843. 



We may add to the foregoing evidences 

 of the productiveness and value of this finest 

 of old pears, the following : We know very 

 well a large fruit grower and fruit dealer in 

 western New-York, Avho sent to the New- 

 York market in the past two seasons nearly 

 two thousand dollars worth of this variety of 

 fruit, — so beautiful and fair as to command 

 the very highest price. 



Instances of the great productiveness of 

 the Doyenne are quite common in this state. 

 We received very fine specimens of this 

 pear last autumn, from J. C. Hastings, Esq., 

 of Clinton, N. Y., with the following state- 

 ment : — "This fruit was raised by my fa- 

 ther. Dr. Seth Hastings, of this place. I 

 give you the following account of the tree 

 which grew it. He sold five and a half 

 barrels from the tree this season, and had 

 from one and a half bushels to three pecks 

 that fell from the tree, and were bruised, 

 rendering them unfit to pick and send off. 

 The five and a half barrels were sold for 

 $9 per barrel at home ; and, with what fell 

 from the tree, he estimated the whole pro- 

 duce of the tree at over $50. You can de- 

 pend on this statement as correct in every 

 particular; and I think it would be difficult 

 to find many pear trees more productive." 



With this kind of evidence, (and the same 

 is true of the Brown Beurre and other old 

 pears,) that, as Mr. Thomas says truly, may 

 be multiplied in western New- York ten 

 fold, we think it can no longer be said, with 

 any show of correctness, that these fruits 

 are " run out j" that they are in their de- 

 cadence ; that they are unworthy of culti- 

 vation. 



What, then, is the explanation of the ab- 



