THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 55 



Columbia to Lower California. So far, the plantings were fruit gardens, 

 not orchards. The era of commercial fruit-growing began in the year 

 1869 in which the first fresh fruits were sent east by rail, the shipment 

 amounting to thirty-three tons, mostly pears and apples. This event 

 marks the beginning of a great industry in growing pears on the Pacific 

 slope for the fresh fruit market, and was followed shortly by the introduction 

 of canning and evaporation to use up the surplus product. The special 

 demands of these three more or less distinct industries called for new 

 varieties, and American pomology has been enriched by a score or more 

 varieties of pears from this great pear region. 



An event which has had a profound influence on pear-growing in the 

 whole country was the introduction of Oriental pears and their hybrids. 

 The mongrel offspring of the Oriental with the European pear were unfor- 

 tunate in regions where pure-bred European sorts can be grown, but in 

 vast tracts of the United States, as almost the whole of the South and the 

 Middle West, only hybrids of the two species find a congenial environment, 

 and here varieties with Oriental blood became a great asset. The introduc- 

 tion of these pears, also, has greatly stimulated the canning of this fruit in 

 regions where fruit-preserving is an industry. It was hoped that these 

 hybrids could be used successfully as stocks upon which European varieties 

 could be worked, but the stocks have not proved satisfactory, and their 

 use is decreasing. 



The Oriental, Chinese, or Sand pear came into America from Asia by 

 the way of Europe. The importation into Europe was made by the Royal 

 Horticultural Society of London in 1820. There seems to be no record 

 of when these pears reached America, but they were growing in the Prince 

 Nursery as early as 1840 under the names Chinese pear and Sha Lea. 

 Here, or in one of several nurseries to which it was sent by Prince, the 

 Oriental seems to have hybridized with the European pear, the product 

 being the Le Conte, which came to notice in 1846 and is the first of these 

 hybrids on record. The Kieffer fruited first in 1873 and proved to be much 

 better than Le Conte except in certain parts of the South. The Garber, 

 another valuable hybrid, came to notice about 1880. There are now, 

 perhaps, two score of these hybrids, with new ones coming from time to 

 time. These hybrid pears, while not blight-proof, are more immune to 

 blight than the European varieties, and pear-breeders are hybridizing the 

 two species with the hope of obtaining a variety with the fruit of the 

 European type on a tree of the Oriental type. Several promising seedlings 



