220 THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 



Tree medium in size, upright, slightly spreading, dense-topped, productive; branches 

 reddish-brown overlaid with thin scarf-skin, marked with very conspicuous but scattering 

 lenticels; branchlets very thick and long, with long intemodes, light brown mingled with 

 green, dull, glabrous, sprinkled with small, conspicuous, raised lenticels. 



Leaf -buds very small, short, pointed, plump, free. Leaves 3 in. long, if in. wide; 

 apex abruptly pointed; margin uneven, finely serrate; petiole 2I in. long, tinged red. 

 Flower-buds small, short, conical, plump, free, singly on very short spurs; flowers open 

 late, showy, if in. across, average 7 buds in a cluster; pedicels ij in. long, slender. 



Fruit ripe the last of November and December; large, 35 in. long, 2f in. wide, oblong- 

 obovate-pyriform, the surface uneven; stem ij in. long, slender; cavity very obtuse and 

 shallow or lacking, the flesh drawn up about the base of the stem in a lip; calyx partly 

 open, small; lobes separated at the base, short, narrow, acute; basin shallow, narrow, 

 obtuse, wrinkled; skin thick, roughened with russet; color greenish-yellow, mottled and 

 patched with russet, sprinkled with many russet dots and often with russet overspreading 

 nearly the entire surface; dots numerous, russet, small; flesh yellowish, very granular near 

 the center, firm, crisp but tender, juicy, with a pleasant, aromatic, vinous flavor; quality 

 good to very good. Core large, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, 

 conical; seeds small, short, pliunp, acute, light brown. 



SUDDUTH 



I. III. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 144, PI. 1894. 2. Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 141. 1894. 3- Can. Horl. 19:126, 

 figs. 936 and 937. 1896. 4. Card. Chron. 3rd Ser. 19:108. 1896. 5. ///. Horl. Soc. Rpt. 9. 1897. 

 6. Budd-Hansen Am. Hort. Man. 2:264. 1903. 



Sudduth has little to recommend it for New York or eastern pear 

 regions, but it is a standard sort in parts of the Mississippi Valley. The 

 characters which give it a place in the pear flora of the region just named 

 are remarkable freedom from blight, hardiness to cold and heat, capacity 

 to withstand drought, early bearing, and great productiveness. The fruits 

 are neither attractive in appearance nor high in quality — hardly fit 

 for dessert, being but a grade or two better than the disreputable Kieffer. 

 Like those of the Kieffer, however, the fruits do very well for all culinary 

 purposes. They do not keep well as they soften at the center soon after 

 becoming edible. The trees are said to be nearly as hardy as those of the 

 wild crab-apple. The variety is desirable only where hardiness and 

 freedom from blight are prime requisites. 



The Sudduth pear was introduced about 1895, although the parent 

 tree was at that time fully seventy years old. It originated from seed 

 planted by Thomas Constant in 1820, in Sangamon County, Illinois. 

 Later, Judge Stephen A. Logan of Springfield, Abraham Lincoln's first 

 law partner, acquired the property on which the tree stood and from him 

 Titus Sudduth bought the place in 1862. Sudduth was so impressed with 



