PREFACE 



The Pears of New York is sixth in the series of books on hardy fruits 

 being published by the New York Agricultural Experiment Station. The 

 object and scope of these treatises have been given in prefaces of the 

 preceding books, and though this work does not differ from its predecessors, 

 for the convenience of readers the aim and the contents of the book in 

 hand are set forth in this foreword. 



Broadly speaking, the aim is to make The Pears of New York a 

 complete record of the development of the pear wherever cultivated up 

 to the present time. With this end in view an attempt is made: To give 

 an account of the history and uses of the pear; to depict the botanical 

 characters of cultivated pears; to describe pear growing in this country 

 and more particularly in New York; and, lastly, to give in full detail the 

 synonymy, bibliography, economic status, and full descriptions of the 

 most important cultivated pears with brief notices of varieties of minor 

 importance. 



The reader will want to know what considerations have governed the 

 selection of varieties for color plates and full descriptions. These are 

 several: (i) The value of a variety for home or commercial orchards. 

 (2) Noteworthy new varieties. (3) Varieties desirable in breeding new 

 pears. (4) A few sorts are described and illustrated to show the trend 

 of evolution in the pear. 



In the use of horticultural names the rules of the American Pomo- 

 logical Society as adopted at the meeting in Columbus, Ohio, in 1919, have 

 been followed. With a very few varieties these rules have not been fol- 

 lowed since the changes required by their strict observance wovild augment 

 rather than diminish confusion. 



The references given are those that have been used in ascertaining the 

 history and economic status or in verifying the description of varieties. 

 The synonyms created by pomologists whose works we have had have 

 been noted, but in no case are synonyms given only when quoted by 

 pomologists from another writer. One of the chief aims of The Pears of 

 New York is to set straight in high degree the names of pears. 



