138 STATE P03I0L0GICAL SOCIETY. 



Stark — Origin unknown, giown in some parts of Ohio, and valued 

 as a long keeper and profitable market fruit ; tree vigorous, upright, 

 spreading ; young shoots dark brownish red ; fruit large, roundish, 

 inclining to conic, sometimes a littit oblique ; skin greenish yellow, 

 shaded, splashed and striped with light and dark red nearly over the 

 whole surface, and thickly sprinkled with light and brown dots, a 

 poition of them areole dots ; stalk short, rather stout, inserted in a 

 medium cavity ; calyx closed ; basin rather large, slightly corrugated ; 

 flesh yellowish, a little coarse, moderately juic3', mild sub-acid ; good ; 

 core small; January to May. — Doioning. 



Some confusion has arisen regarding this apple and the Starkey to 

 which reference is made by Mr. Blossom on page 12.5 of the Trans- 

 actions. 



PEARS. 



Summer — Bartlett, Brandy wine, Glapp's Favorite, Osband's 

 Summer. 



Autumn — Belle Lucrative, Beurre Superfine, Eastern Belle, Good- 

 ale. Louise Bonne de Jerse}', Nickerson, Seckel, Sheldo7i. 



Winter — Beurre cV Avjou. Lawrence. 



HISTORY OF THE BARTLETT PEAR. 



Mr. Thomas W. Silloway in the Massachusetts Ploughman, after 

 years of careful investigation gives to the public the following facts- 

 regarding this excellent pear : 



I am clear that our Bartlett pear and the English "Williams' Bon Chre- 

 tien" are one and the same thing. I make no especial claim to this dis- 

 covery for it has been accepted as a fact for something more than sixty 

 years. 



Early in my investigations I became convinced that the pear did not 

 originate with Mr. Bartlett of our Roxbury, and from whom it took its 

 American name, but that it was of English origin and imported. 



I am now able to say that such is the fact, and that it has been known 

 there by its English name for more than a century. The words "Bon 

 Chretien" ai'e pure French, meaning Good Christian. There was at the 

 time another pear known as the "Bon Chretien," and that I think was of 

 French origin, and hence its name. Mr. Williams of England as will be 

 seen later on, having presented the new one to the public, gave it his 

 name, a half century later, the same pear in America took the name of its 

 raiser and owner, Mr. Bartlett. 



The first notice ot the fruit I have been able to find is in the second 

 edition of William Forsyth's treatise on the culture of fruit trees. Mr. 



