STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 139- 



Forsyth was superintendent of St. James and Kensington gardens at 

 London, and died in 1804. [n the work referred to, published in 1784, one 

 hundred and six years ago. he says of the Williams' Bon Chretien : 



"'This is a seedling pear from Williams' nursery at Turnhara Green,, 

 originally from Berkshire. It resembles the summer Bon Chretien, but 

 it is more juicy; it is a great bearer, and ripens in (August on walls) 

 September. This pear will be a valuable acquisition to the market gar- 

 deners as it immediately succeeds the Windsor pear. It is of a large 

 pyramidial shape; the eye not sunk; of a pale green color, spotted with 

 darker green and russet brown, turning yellowish and faintly tinged with 

 red next the sun when fully ripe; the flesh whitish, tender, and full of 

 sweet perfumed juice.'' 



The next information I quote from the '"Transactions of the London 

 Horticultural Society." Page 250 of Vol. 2. 



''LXV. Account of a new pear (with a figure) called Williams' Bon 

 Chretien ; in a letter to Joseph Sabine, Esq., Secretary. By Wm. Hooker,. 

 Esq., F. H S. 



"Dear Sir : I beg leave to lay before the Horticultural Society an 

 account, which I have obtained at your request, of a variety of pear : speci- 

 mens of which were communicated to the Society in August last by Mr. 

 Richard Williams of Turnham Green, and much approved. 



It will be remembered that Mr. Forsyth spoke of it as a "seedling from 

 Williams' nursery at Turnham Green, originally from Berkshire." 



The statement of its being a seedlhig from Williams' nursery, would 

 imply that it originated there, but the additional remarks, "originally^ 

 from Berkshire," raises the question, which of the two, the pear, or the 

 nursery itself, was originally there. All is yet in the dark, but the "miss- 

 ing link" is found in a work by William Alton, "Hortus Kewensis," pub- 

 lished in London, in 1789, just a century ago. Mr. Aiton was superin- 

 tendent of the royal gardens at Kew, as early as 1759, and he did much to 

 improve and prepare them as we see them to-day. In the work named 

 he remarks as follows : 



"The Williams' Bon Chretien, appears to have sprung from a seed in the 

 garden of Mr. Wheeler, a schoolmaster at Aldermaston in Berkshire, 

 about twenty years ago. It was suffered to remain in order to prove the 

 value of its fruit. Subsequently, grafts have been extensivelj^ dispersed^ 

 and many trees are now in Mr. Williams' nursery and other gardens about 

 London." 



As Mr. Aiton wrote sometime before 1789, and states that the seedlings 

 originated about twenty years before, we have as the date of its appear- 

 ance not far from 1769. 



I now return to Mr. Hooker's letter before spoken of, and in it he 

 desciibes the fruit as follows : 



"The trees of this variety are of vigorous growth and fertile habit;, 

 their branches remarkably erect and straight until bent by the weight 

 of fruit. Leaves broad, deep green, very sharply serrated. Fruit, 

 of an irregular pyramidal and somewhat truncated form ; large, being 



