Pomological Gossip. 73 



own tree, and believing it to be true to name, from the source 

 we obtained it, we could not reconcile the similarity ; and 

 we maintained their distinctness until our tree came into 

 bearing in 1847, when it proved to be the Bloodgood ! Our 

 views were then immediately changed, and upon an exami- 

 nation of the Gushing, in Mr. Manning's garden, not having 

 it in our collection only under the name of Hanners, we were 

 convinced that he was right. Other opportunities have since 

 occurred to settle the question beyond doubt. We are there- 

 fore happy, even at this late hour, to do justice to Mr. Man- 

 ning's discriminating judgment in the detection of the syn- 

 onyme. 



The question then arises, where did the tree in Mr. Han- 

 ners's garden come from ? The Gushing was first introduced 

 to notice by Mr. S. Downer in 1829, while the Hanners, so 

 called, had been in bearing more than twenty years, and the 

 fruit had been sold in Boston market under the name of St. 

 Michael for a long time. In our account of the Hanners 

 pear, gathered from Mr. Hanners himself, we stated that the 

 tree was one which he procured from the garden of his 

 neighbor, Mr. Webb, and had never been grafted. But from 

 the age of Mr. Hanners, and his confusion of facts in regard 

 to the tree, the statement we gave was that which we could 

 best gather from him. We think, however, that he stated he 

 purchased two small pear trees in the market, and, if so, 

 one of them might have been a sucker from the original 

 Gushing, or have been grafted by some person, who, even at 

 that early day, knew the merits of the variety. In no other 

 way can its existence in Mr. Hanners's garden be accounted 

 for. 



The Easter Beurre' Pear. — No pear has been more un- 

 justly abused than this. Acknowledged to be, when well 

 ripened, the finest of all winter pears, it would naturally be 

 supposed that considerable pains would be taken to raise so 

 valuable a fruit. Yet often we hear it condemned as an un- 

 certain variety, scarcely worthy a place in a good collection. 

 Mr. Rivers, an English nurseryman of some experience, 

 stated that ''he thought it a splendid pear, and one that musl 



VOL. XVI. — NO. ir. 10 



