THE PEAR 165 



So the fact that the oriental pear has not 

 assumed this shape has a certain interest and 

 suggestiveness. 



The hybridizing experiments that were begun 

 as soon as I was in possession of the oriental 

 seedlings called for more patience, perhaps, than 

 almost any other tests that the fruit experi- 

 menter can make, for the very obvious reason 

 that the pear is the slowest to mature of all the 

 fruits grown in temperate climates. It often 

 requires from ten to twenty years for seedlings 

 of the pear to come to their first fruiting. The 

 matter may be forced a little by grafting the 

 pear cions on quince stock, but while this makes 

 them fruit earlier, it also tends to dwarf them, 

 and I do not recommend this as a general 

 practice, though highly desirable for special 

 purposes. 



Whoever has not patience to wait had best 

 not undertake experiments with the pear. 



With a tree of such slow development, it is 

 peculiarly desirable to make no mistakes in 

 selecting seedlings for preservation. Judgment 

 as to the future tree must be based, as with other 

 fruit, largely on its growth, and the appearance 

 of the foliage. Pear seedlings that have an 

 abundance of large leathery leaves, and strong, 

 thick, short- jointed wood, and thick, fat buds, 



