THE IDENTIFICATION OF PEAR VARIETIES 

 FROM NON-BEARING TREES 



By Lawrence Southwick, Research Assistant in Pomology, 



A. P. French, Professor of Pomology, and 



O. C. Roberts, Assistant Professor of Pomologyi 



This bulletin is the sixth in a series on the nursery identification of fruit vari- 

 eties. Bulletins relating to apples, cherries, and plums have been published 

 (1, 3,4, 5, 7). 



It is the purpose of this bulletin to acquaint the reader with the characteristics 

 of young, non-bearing pear trees which are utilized in the identification of vari- 

 eties. Identification of pear varieties in the nursery row is just as feasible and 

 positive as identification in the bearing orchard. In the one case, plant charac- 

 ters are used; in the other, mainly the fruit itself. The important advantage of 

 the first method is that variety mixtures, which occur for one reason or another 

 more or less frequently in commercial nurseries, can be detected and corrected 

 before the trees are dug. Annual inspection of fruit nursery stock for trueness- 

 to-name by men trained in variety identification is now a recognized nursery 

 practice. 



Although it is probably true that other tree fruits have been mixed in com- 

 mercial nurseries rather more generally and seriously than pears; yet in the ex- 

 perience of the authors, mixtures in pears are not infrequent, particularly among 

 some of the newer introductions. Over a period of years, many mixtures have 

 likewise been found among the old standard varieties. Hence, the need is ap- 

 parent for information which may help to eliminate such mixtures. 



This bulletin records in words and pictures much of the information necessary 

 to distinguish pear varieties from one another. The list of varieties includes a 

 majority of the pears now found in commercial nurseries as well as some less com- 

 mon old varieties and a number of the newer ones. The descriptions and illus- 

 trations were derived largely from one-year and two-year budded trees growing 

 in the Experiment Station, nurseries at Amherst. Every effort was made to 

 establish the identity of each variety. The sources of budwood include the 

 Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station at St. Paul, the New York State 

 Agricultural Experiment Station at Geneva, the Ohio Agricultural Experiment 

 Station at Wooster, the Ontario Horticultural Experiment Station at Vineland 

 (Canada), and our own bearing trees at Amherst. 



Previous publications dealing with varietal differences of pear varieties as 

 nursery trees are few. Upshall (8) has briefly described some of the more im- 

 portant old varieties, and Shoemaker (6) has made some brief comments con- 

 cerning certain characteristics useful in pear variety identification. Hedrick's 

 (2) descriptions of pear trees were made from bearing trees which cannot be relied 

 upon to portray accurately and completely the various character differences 

 which are found in vigorous nursery trees. 



It should be stressed here that, as with other tree fruits, the characteristics of 

 nursery pear trees cannot be learned satisfactorily from printed descriptions or 

 illustrations alone. Much time must be spent in close observation of nursery 

 trees that are known to be true-to-name before one can positively identify vari- 

 eties and accurately separate mixtures in the nursery row. 



^The writers are indebted to Dr. J. K. Shaw for valuable counsel both in the field work and in 

 the preparation of the manuscript and to R. L. Coffin for the photographic work. 



