THE FULTON PEAR. 



Fulton. New England Farmer, vol. vii. p. 386. 



The Fulton is one of the earliest of our native 

 pears which were brought to the attention of 

 cultivators. At the time it first fruited in the 

 vicinity of Boston, in 1828, there were not more 

 than eight or ten American varieties of any ac- 

 knowledged excellence. Samuel Downer, Esq., 

 of Dorchester, first made known its merits, and 

 it is doing no more than justice to his excellent 

 knowledge of fruits, to say that the encomiums 

 which he bestowed upon it have been fully de- 

 served, and that at the present time, after the 

 lapse of a quarter of a century, and after the introduction of so many 

 others, both native and foreign, it still maintains its good character, and 

 is eagerly sought after by every cultivator of fine pears. It possesses a 

 combination of good qualities. It is a rich looking fruit, having a fine 

 cinnamon russet, skin when fully mature ; it is an abundant bearer ; a 

 hardy and vigorous tree ; ripens its fruit well and in long succession, 

 and though not so highly perfumed as some others, has a fine melting 

 flesh and delicious flavor. 



The Fulton originated in Topsham, Me., and we cannot better state 

 its history and introduction than in giving an extract of a letter from 

 Mr. John Abbott, of Brunswick, Me., in answer to the inquiries of Mr, 

 Downer, in tracing out its origin : — 



" With respect to its history, I have to inform you that a family by 

 the name of Fulton, about fifty years ago, removed from the county of 

 Plymouth, Mass., to Topsham, in this neighborhood, and commenced a 

 new farm. In a year or two after they commenced their farm, Mr. 

 Fulton and his wife, as the woman informed me, returned to Massachu- 

 setts, to visit her friends, where she collected a considerable quantity of 

 pear seeds, which she planted on her return home. I have counted on 

 this farm, by this woman's planting, forty trees; but they are all ordi- 

 nary — some of them very ordinary — except this. I have resided in 

 Brunswick twenty-six years, and have nearly as long been acquainted 

 with this pear. As this is the only good pear for the market in the 

 neighborhood, I supply myself with it for three or four weeks by having 

 them gathered and brought me before they soften." 



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