476 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE N. A. POMOLOGICAL CONVENTION, 8tc. 



PEAR?. 



Fondante d'Automne, 

 Gansel's Bergamot, 

 Dix, 

 Beurre Bosc. 



this report. It appears to us, however, that 

 the vagueness of the old classification adopt- 

 ed ( " first rate, second rate," &c.,) has led 

 to apparent difference of opinion regarding 

 many sorts, when a more definite standard 

 of comparison would have settled the mat- 

 ter more definitely and speedily. The com- 

 parative terms for all fruits worthy of con- 

 sideration by the New-York convention is 

 much better, viz. — " good, very good, best ;" 

 and we think will come into general use. 



The fruits which were agreed upon as 

 " first rate," at Syracuse, are the follow- 

 ing:* 



PLUMS. 



Smith's Orleans, 

 Lawrence Favorite. 



APPLES. 



Roxbury Russet. 



The Duchess d'Angouleme pear gave 

 rise to a great deal of discussion, and finally 

 was pronounced first rate on quince, second 

 rate on pear stocks. Passe Colmar was 

 considered second rate, though Mr. Hovey, 

 of Boston, defended it stoutly as the " king 

 of pears, with good cultivation." Fulton, 

 St. Ghislain, Buffum and Beurre Diel, were 

 placed in a sort of purgatory, between first 

 and second rate. Easter Beurre, Long 

 Green, Julienne, Napoleon, Frederick of 

 Wurtemburgh, and Bleecker's Meadow, 

 were considered second rate, pretty unani- 

 mously. 



The following description of a new pear, 

 from Prof. Kirtland of Cleveland, Ohio, a 

 source we have much respect for, we copy 

 from the report. A pear that has the Seckel 

 for its mother, with a flavor " esteemed su- 

 perior to its parent by many people," is 

 worthy of a trial, to say the least. 



KIRTLAND PEAR. 



Synonyms— Seedling Seckel, Kirtland's Seedling. 



"Size medium; the circumference six and a 



half inches; length, including stem, two and a 



balf inches; form globular-ovate; exterior colour 



* In addition to the standard sorts selected last year. 



Fig. 409.— The Kirtland Pear. 



rich crimson russet, varying to a dull green; tex- 

 ture fine, melting, juicy and rich; colour of flesh 

 white; flavor aromatic, sweet, and in the highest 

 degree delicious; seeds unusually full, short, 

 blackish ; stem six-eighths of an inch in length, 

 thick, and somewhat curved; eye small, mode- 

 rately deep, with the segments of the calyx short, 

 reflexed and persistent ; season September. The 

 wood is the same colour as the fruit, and the 

 general habit of the tree resembles a thrifty White 

 Doyenne. 



" Remarks. — In the close of the year 1819, I 

 furnished my brother, H. T. Kirtland, with a 

 few seeds of the Seckel pear, grown in the state of 

 Connecticut. From thence he raised several trees 

 on his farm in Poland. Mahoning county, Ohio; 

 one of which he gave me in the year 1825, which 

 produced the fruit exhibited at the New- York 

 State Fair, last autumn, at Buffalo. It is no no- 

 velty in Mahoning county, Ohio, but is well known 

 by every cultivator of fruit, and is esteemed as 

 one of the first varieties. In hardiness and pro- 

 ductiveness it far excels the parent Seckel, and 

 in point of flavor is esteemed superior by many 

 people. The name attached to it has designated 

 it for years, and was applied by the public as a 

 compliment to the originator of the seedling, 

 Henry T. Kirtland." 



Among the reports from various states, 

 we notice a graphic one from Dr. Kenni- 

 cot, of Illinois, which lets us into the diffi- 

 culties of fruit culture on the prairie lands 

 of that state. The extremes of temperature, 

 and the sudden variations of climate — much 

 greater than we of the middle range of the 



