THE 



Canadian Horticulturist. 



Vol. XXII. 



1899. 



No. II 



THE SHELDON PEAR. 



^ ^HIS pear is an American seed- 

 ling. It was propagated acci- 

 dentally, on the farm of Norman 

 Sheldon, in the town of Huron, 

 Wayne County, N. Y., and has borne 

 several synonyms, as, for instance, Hu- 

 ron, and Wajne, from the places above 

 mentioned ; but, properly enough, the 

 name Sheldon prevailed, as being the 

 name of the originator. 



With regard to its adaptability to the 

 climate of Ontario, our reports show 

 that it is perfectly hardy in the Coun- 

 ties of Lincoln, Brant, Essex, Kent, and 

 even Huron, along the borders of the 

 lake, but in the County of York it is 

 not considered quite hardy. The con- 

 clusion, therefore, to be drawn is that 

 this pear is not suitable for planting 

 north of Toronto, except under some 

 particularly favorable circumstances. 



The pear ripens in October and No- 

 vember ; but it must be gathered in 

 good time, or a large portion of the 

 crop will need to be gathered from the 

 ground ; and it must be used just at the 



423 



hour it becomes mellow, or it will be 

 found too far gone for use. In this 

 respect it bears a worse character than 

 even the Bartlett. We esteem its qual- 

 ity very highly ; and a writer in the 

 Country Gentleman says that he thinks 

 that, when well grown and properly 

 ripened, it excels all other pears in 

 deliciousness of quality. It is as melt- 

 ing as ice cream, and its flavor is su- 

 perb. The pear, however, is variable in 

 quality and sometimes, when badly grown 

 and poorly ripened, might be called 

 poor. As a market pear the Sheldon 

 cannot be ranked high, first, because of 

 its russety appearance, which, however, 

 yellows up finely when ready for the 

 table, and, second, because the tree is 

 not sufl^ciently productive. 



A tree at Maplehurst, about thirty 

 years old, bears some years a few strag- 

 gling specimens, and other years possi- 

 bly a bushel or so ; certainly far below 

 the average yield of many other varie- 

 ties, as, for instance, the Buffum, Tyson, 

 Bartlett and Howell. But, whether 



