98 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



from Mr. Bardall that this was a Chinese sand pear which was 

 imported by "John S. Collins and Sons," of New Jersey, and 

 supposed by them to bear a large sized fruit but of only cook- 

 ing quality. Mr. Bardall had a few one-year trees growing, 

 and two years later I planted one of these between the two 

 Longworths, which I had set about twenty feet apart. Close 

 to these I set a Seckel and an Anjou. The Seckel is early and 

 of the highest quality, and the Anjou good and late in season. 



Up to this time, I had never seen blight on the Longworth 

 and have seen very little since. I had learned by reading and 

 correspondence with pear growers, mainly in eastern Wiscon- 

 sin, northern Illinois and in Iowa, that these good pears were 

 reasonably hardy and most free from blight. Thus had I 

 grouped together a combination which I hoped would produce 

 hardy, blight resisting pears for the northwest, and it now 

 seems certain that such a result has been obtained. 



In the fall of 1895, I had about one hundred and fifty 

 trees as a result of this experiment. The same fall ill health 

 again sent me to California for the winter. These trees were, 

 unfortunately, transplanted between older apple trees, which 

 considerably retarded their growth, and a railroad cutting 

 through my ground necessitated the removal again of quite a 

 portion of them and with some loss also, but there are now 

 about one thousand two to four year selected seedlings, mainly 

 for use as stocks, and nearly as many cross-bred trees, mostly 

 two years old, from the original one hundred and fifty trees. 



The first tree of this Chinese specie was set in my old 

 experiment grounds thirty-two years ago. It is probably 

 Pyrus sinensis. About a dozen varieties have been top-grafted 

 on it. Five or six still remain. 



Another specie, brought to this country from China eight 

 years ago, is being experimented on with intense interest in 

 California and Oregon with the hope of securing stocks which 

 are resistant both to blight and the woolly aphis, on which to 

 graft their commercial pears, the common pear stocks or seed- 

 lings being subject to both of these enemies. This new specie 

 is known to botanists as Pyrus calleryana and is supposed to be 

 representative of several allied species in China. 



The historical part of this work so far may seem tame and 

 quite uninteresting, but I feel sure that it is crowded full of 

 promise for the future of pear growing throughout a large 

 portion of the United States. 





