50 



THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 



City. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, many Huguenots 

 fled to America. In 1689, some of these French emigres settled at New 

 Rochelle, New York, and on Long Island. The trees grown by the Hugue- 

 nots were usually grafted, the parent plants having been brought from 

 France. No doubt, it was from these importations that White Doyenne, 

 Brown Beurre, St. Germain, Virgouleuse, and many other old French 

 sorts that seem to have been in America from time immemorial came. 

 However, the pear, in common with other fruits, was more largely 

 grown from seeds in these pioneer days than from buds or grafts. Fruits 

 were known and grown as species and not as varieties almost wholly in 

 America until the nineteenth century. The sale of budded or grafted 

 trees began in New York, so far as records show, with the establishment 

 of a nursery at Flushing, Long Island, in 1730, by Robert Prince. This 

 nursery afterwards became the famous Linnaean Botanic Garden. At 

 what date Prince began to offer grafted pears for sale cannot now be ascer- 

 tained, but advertisements appearing in 1767, 1771, and 1790 offer named 

 varieties at these dates. The following is a list of pears offered by the 

 Princes in 1771 :^ 



Russelet 



Early sugar 



Baurre vert 



Winter baurre 



Baurre de roy 



Green chissel 



Swan's egg 



Colmar 



Cressan 



Spanish bon Cretan 



Large bell 



La Chassaire 



Hampden's bergamot 



Doctor Uvedale's St. Germain 



Large winter, weighs near two pounds 



Pear wardens 



Empress 



Large summer baking 



The black pear of Worcester or Parkinson's 

 warden 



The skinless 



Bergamot 



Catharine 



Vergalieu 



July 



Monsier Jean 



Trom valette 



French primative 



Winter bon Cretan 



Easter bergamot 



Amber 



Chaumontelle 



Citron de camis 



Summer bergamot 



Autiomn bergamot 



Amozelle 



Lent St. Germain 



Brocaus bergamot 



Winter bergamot 



Jargonelle 



Roussilon 



Cuissemadam 



Green Catharine 



Prince, William Cat. 1771. 



