^^: 



READING PEAR * 



Size, rather large, 3^ inches long by 2f broad; form, pyriforra, tapering to the 

 crown; skin, greenish-yellow with numerous clots; stem, | of an inch long by j'^ 

 thick, somewhat fleshy at its insertion; cavity, none; calyx, open, segments erect, 

 set in a narrow, very superficial basin; cone, medium; seed, dark-brown, . long, 

 acuminate, i inch long, ^ broad, J- thick, many abortive ; flesh, greenish-white, 

 somewhat granular, juice abundant ; flavor, sprightly, vinous ; quality, " good ;" 

 maturity, January to March, even to May. 



Wood, young shoots slender, yellowish-olive ; old wood, gray-olive, 



THE SEED BUSINESS OF THE WEST. 



BY 'UTfLLIAM STOMS, CINCINNATI, OHIO. 



The great West has become a vast empire within itself, and among the varied 

 items that go to make up its commerce, that of the " Seed Business" is deserving 

 of notice. And yet, when we turn to the pages exhibiting our statistics of trade, 

 how deficient is everything on this important head. For this omission, there was 

 excuse, in the days of big wagons and four-horse teams, but in these times, when 

 our receipts are mostly by railroads, canals, and rivers, the apology is fallacious 

 and inexcusable. 



The great West, from a position absolutely beneath the dignity of statistical 

 research in the " Seed Business," say twenty years ago, has advanced in the com- 

 mercial scale, to operations, amounting annually to over two millions of dollars ! 



Our rapid growth and prosperity ofttimes quite make us forget our former 

 selves, and hence I propose briefly to notice the things and men that have gone 

 before, and also the present, pertaining to the " Seed Business" of the West. 



There are many readers of the Horticulturist, no doubt, both east and west, 

 who still remember the name of Mr. Parsons Gorham, who kept a small grocery 

 store on the corner of Lower Market and Sycamore Streets, Cincinnati, and whose 

 death occurred some eighteen years since. Some will doubtless recollect in this 

 city, when that gentleman was almost the only person of whom a little clover and 

 timothy-seed could be purchased after looking the town over. From the year 

 1S2T to that of 1831, Mr. Gorham may be considered the pioneer in the Grass- 

 Seed business. The amount of stock in trade, that is, of grass-seeds, at any one 

 time, during Mr. Gorham's engagement in business, was, perhaps, fifty bushels! 



* See Frontispiece. 



