38 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



many prove not to be of sufficient value to lead to their propagation and dissemi- 

 nation beyond the place of their origin, that to succeed, in the full attain- 

 ment of the object described as aimed at, was simply an impossibility. Yet was 

 there made a very considerable approach toward such attainment ; for the 

 different varieties of this fruit embraced in the large collections around Boston, 

 where such have been, or are now in the process of being proved, may be 

 counted almost by thousands, many hundred different sorts being to be 

 found in more than one of such collections. 



To those afflicted, this " mania " has not been particularly favorable, cer- 

 tainly in a pecuniary point of view, but even they by yielding to its impulses 

 have obtained for themselves an object of interesting occupation, while to 

 others, its gratification has been not only harmless, but exceedingly beneficial. 

 For these great collections of varieties constitute, as it were, a school of in- 

 struction, where the qualities of the different sorts may be thoroughly tested, 

 where the habits of the tree of each variety, its form, mode of growth, vigor, 

 hardiness, bearing, and all properties appertaining to it, that are of interest to 

 growers, and important for their guidance in its cultivation, may be carefully 

 studied. 



But as, in the long lists of pears which crowd the nurserymen's cata- 

 logues, a comparatively very small number prove on trial to be of value, 

 and a still smaller adapted in this climate to a general and extended culti- 

 vation ; if those who, in the indulgence of a very innocent gratification, have 

 been the means of bringing together the different varieties so that their 

 true qualities may be ascertained, are entitled to be considered as having 

 performed a public benefit, how much more should those, who should devote 

 themselves to the work of studying and making known the properties of the 

 different sorts, and who firmly and unsparingly, after having formed a care- 

 ful and deliberate judgment, should recommend to cultivators the rejection of 

 all such as do not possess some peculiar merit, be deemed public benefac- 

 tors. The attainment of this end has, in some countries, been thought an ob- 

 ject worthy of governmental assistance ; in our own this is not to be expected, 

 and, if ever arrived at, it can only be by voluntary contributions to the fund 

 of general knowledge by societies or individuals. 



That this is not a matter of trifling consequence seems a necessary infer- 

 ence from the fact, that the raising of pears for the market is one of the main 

 reliances of those who devote themselves to horticultural occupations, now a 

 somewhat numerous class, for a support, and that to such it is important that 

 they should occupy their time and means only with what will afford the best 

 and most adequate returns. For this a proper selection of varieties is an 

 indispensable requisite, and a knowledge of those that are such, of essential 

 importance. 



In view, then, of the facts that the cultivation of the pear is very general in 

 this vicinity, that it is so much an object of interest, and that new cultivators 

 are frequently greatly at a loss to know what kinds to select for their purpose, 



