EXPERIMENT STATION REPORT. 487 



The fruit, instead of being of the long, slender and often 

 curved form of the "Long Purj^le," or nearly oval, as in the 

 "New York Improved," is a combination of the two extremes, 

 with a general shape that agrees with that of the "Bartlett" pear. 

 No change in color has developed, as lx)th parents were of the 

 handsome deep purple so popular with the consumers of this 

 vegetable. Tlie fruit of the "Ncav York Improved"' are large 

 and oval, and the slices are not well suited for the frying-pan 

 or ser\'ing upon the table, while the cross is a decided improve- 

 ment in this respect. In the "Long Purple" the fiiiit is too long 

 and slender, but has the seeds confined to the lower half, and the 

 "Jersey Belle," holding to this latter characteristic, often has 

 two-thirds of its flesh free from seeds. The cross gives three 

 or more slices free from seeds, where the "New York Improved" 

 furnishes but one. 



In 1 901 it was particularly noted that the cross was remark- 

 able for earliness, for as the record runs its plants began to 

 yield marketable fruits on July 20th, while it was August 8th 

 before they could be gathered from the "New York Improved" 

 and were rare upon the "Long Purple" until September loth. 



In 1902 it was observed that "toward the close of the season 

 the parent sorts ceased blooming, while the ctoss blossomed 

 freely up to the time of frosts, and then the planes contained 

 many young fruits. It was noted that the general shaj^e (pear) 

 was adhered to, and not over 10 per cent, of the plants produced 

 fruits of the 'New York Improved type." 



In 1903 the record runs : "Two plots contained about two hun- 

 dred plants, represeijting the third generation of the above cross. 

 Some of the fruits resembled in form and size those of the parent 

 types, but the majority were noticeably different, and more or 

 less bell-shaped." Seeds were, of course, saved only from 

 plants that produced uniformly fine fruits of the pear-shape 

 above mentioned. 



Seed of the "Jersey Belle" will be ready for free distribution 

 to the truckers and pthers of the State in time for next season's 

 crop. 



Other Varieties Tested. 



Early Long Purple. Florida High Bush. 



Excelsior Tree. New Excelsior Tree. 



Fordhook's Imp. Spineless. Striped. 



Black Pekin. Scarlet Chinese. 

 Black Beauty. 



