212 KEW VARIETY Of PEAR. 



presented a much more favourable character; and I fancied 

 that I could discover in it some traces of the features of it« 

 male parent. This plant afforded blossoms in the spring of 

 1808, but 1 had very unfortunately removed it from the 

 seed bed, when it was fourteen feet high, in the preceding 

 winter, and as it had never been previously transplanted it 

 had retained but very few roots. Two of the blossoms, 

 nevertheless, afforded fruit ; which began to grow with ra- 

 pidity as soon as the tree had emitted new roots, but this 

 was not till late in the summer ; and on the 8th of October 

 the fruit was blown from the tree by a violent storm. The 

 two pears were then very nearly of the same weight and size, 

 each being somewhat more than eight inches in circumfe- 

 rence, and in form almost perfectly spherical. Though 

 bruised by their fall, the pears remained sound till the be- 

 ginning of December^ when they became sweet and melt- 

 _ ing, though not at all highly flavoured : their flavour was, 

 however, better than I expected, for they were blown from 

 the tree long before they would have ceased to grow larger, 

 if the state of the weather would have permitted ; and the 

 autumn of 1808 was so excessively wet, that some St. Ger- 

 main pears, which grew on a south wall in the same garden, 

 were wholly without richness or flavour. 



The new pear. The new pear very much resembled the St. Germain in the 

 form of the eye and stalk, and the almost perfectly spherical 

 shape is that which might have been anticipated from the 

 forms of its parents. It will probably acquire a very large 

 size under favourable circumstances; but removing from 

 ray late residence at Elton, I have been under the necessity 

 of again transplanting the tree, and therefore 1 cannot ex« 

 pect to see its fruit in any degree of perfection till the year 



Subsequent 1811. I have subsequently attempted to form other new 



aitempw. varieties by introducing the pollen of the beurree, crassane, 



and St. Germain pears, iato the prepared blossoms of the 

 autumn bergamot, the swan's egg, and Aston town pears ; 

 but I have not yet seen the result of the experiments. The 

 leave's and habits of some of the young plants afford, howe- 

 ver very favourable indications of the future produce. 



The seeds ^" ^^^ preceding experiments 1 have always chosen to 



propagate from the seeds of such varieties as aresufliciently 



hardy 



