LUTHER BURBANK 



At the time of its origin the Seckel was pro- 

 nounced by the conservative London Horticultur- 

 ist Society to be superior to any European variety 

 of fall pear then known. 



Rather curiously it chanced that the next very 

 notable step in the progress of the pear also took 

 place on a farm near Philadelphia. The owner 

 of the farm was Mr. Peter Kieffer. The thing for 

 which he was responsible was the introduction of 

 a pear bearing his name, which originated through 

 the chance hybridization of a pear of European 

 strain with the Chinese sand pear, which had been 

 introduced as an ornamental garden tree not long 

 after relations were established between America 

 and the Far East. 



The oriental pear which thus at last came to 

 mingle its racial strains with those of this remote 

 relative, after the two had traveled around the 

 world in opposite directions, was a graceful tree 

 having large and attractive flowers and bearing 

 fruit of a pleasing fragrance but of such consist- 

 ency as to be almost uneatable except when 

 cooked. In spite of the defects of its fruit, how- 

 ever, the oriental pear had certain qualities of 

 hardiness and resistance to disease that made it a 

 valuable mate for its European cousin. So the 

 Kieffer pair soon gained popularity. 



So also did a number of other hybrid pears of 



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