204 THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 



man and horticulturist of Rochester, New York. Of many scores of seed- 

 lings raised by Mr. Fox only this one, Fox, and Colonel Wilder were con- 

 sidered by the originator to be worthy of propagation. All these received 

 Wilder medals from the American Pomological Society in 1875 and 1881. 

 In 1909, this Society added P. Barry to its catalog-list of fruits. 



Tree variable in size, lacking in vigor, spreading, open-topped, unusually hardy, medium 

 in productiveness; trunk slender; branches stocky, zigzag, reddish-brown mingled with 

 gray scarf-skin, marked with large lenticels; branchlets slender, long, with long intemodes, 

 reddish-brown, smooth, glabrous, with few small, very slightly raised lenticels. 



Leaf-buds small, short, conical, free. Leaves if in. long, ig in. wide, leathery; apex 

 abruptly pointed ; margin finely serrate, tipped with few glands; petiole 15 in. long. Flower- 

 buds small, short, somewhat obtuse, free; flowers open late, ij in. across, well distributed, 

 averaging 7 buds in a cluster; pedicels i in. long, slender, slightly pubescent, pale green. 



Fruit matures in late December to February; variable in size, averaging af in. long, 

 2 J in. wide, oblong-obtuse-pyriform, irregular, with unequal sides; stem i in. long, thick, 

 curved; cavity obtuse, narrow, furrowed, compressed, often lipped; calyx small, open; 

 lobes separated at the base, short, narrow, obtuse; basin shallow, narrow, obtuse, smooth 

 and regular; skin variable in smoothness, dull; color rich yellow, many specim.ens almost 



were no railroads, telegraph wires, nor ocean steamboats. It was during this early period that the Mount 

 Hope Nurseries began the importation of pears and soon built up one of the largest collections in the country 

 and one which was maintained long after the famous collections farther east had disappeared. At one 

 time or another over looo varieties of pears were tested on the grounds of this nursery. For a half century, 

 fruit-growers have studied with pleasure and profit the exhibits of pears made by EUwanger and Barry at 

 the State and National exhibitions of note. From 1844 to 1852, Patrick Barry edited The Genesee Farmer, 

 one of the best agricultural papers of its day and succeeded A. J. Downing in the editorship of The 

 Horticulturist which he brought to Rochester in 1855 where it was published until 1887. Barry's Treatise 

 on the Fruit-Garden appeared in 1 85 1 and at once became one of the most popular books on pomology. In 

 1872 the " Treatise " was rewritten and published as Barry's Fruit Garden. Another notable work of which 

 he was author was The Catalogue of Fruits of the A merican Pomological Society which was compiled by him. 

 Patrick Barry was one of the founders of the Western New York Horticultural Society, for many years 

 the leading horticultural organization of the continent, and of which he was president for more than 

 thirty years. Patrick Barry ranks with Coxe, Kenrick, the Downings, Warder, Eliot, and Thomas as 

 a great leader in pomology of the time in which he lived. 



William Crawford Barry, son of Patrick Barry of the preceding sketch, was bom in Rochester, New York, 

 in 1847. As a boy he attended parochial schools at Rochester and at Seton Hall, South Orange, New 

 Jersey. As a young man he studied in Berlin, Heidelberg, and the University of Louvain in Belgium. Upon 

 returning to America he took a position in a seed house in New York that he might have practical knowledge 

 of the seed business to bring to the firm of EUwanger and Barry of which he was soon to become a mem- 

 ber. After serving an apprenticeship in the seed business he returned to Rochester to enter the firm 

 which his father and George EUwanger had founded. From the time of entrance in this company he took 

 a prominent part in its affairs, and for many years before his death, December 12, 1916, he was president of 

 the corporation. Of his horticultural activities, he may be said to have been an organizer and promoter — 

 one of the captains in the industry. For twenty-six years he was president of the Western New York Horti- 

 culttu'al Society, having succeeded his father to this office. He was the first president of the American Rose 

 Society, and in 1882 was president of the Eastern Nurserymen's Association. For three years he was 



