ON THE PEAR 



In the mere matter of size, then, there remains 

 little to be desired; but there are other qualities 

 as to which not so much can be said. In particu- 

 lar the pear is often susceptible to disease, and in 

 general the extreme development of productivity 

 has been more or less associated with a tendency 

 to lose vigor, rapidity of growth and general 

 vitality. 



For this and sundry other reasons it seemed 

 to me that it might be desirable to make further 

 experiments in the blending of the oriental and 

 occidental heredities. So as early as 1884 I made 

 importations of the seeds of the Japanese pear. 

 In a shipment containing loquats, plums, chest- 

 nuts, persimmons, gooseberries, blackberries, 

 peaches and raspberries, I received also twenty 

 pounds of pear seeds. 



The seedlings were grown, but at first little use 

 was made of them except as grafting stocks. 



The valuable developments that ultimately 

 came from the introduction of the oriental hered- 

 ities were not secured at the outset. 



Traits of the Oriental Pear 



About 1890 I imported from Japan large quan- 

 tities of the seeds of the Chinese sand pear. The 

 seedlings proved extremely variable. Some of 

 them grew six or seven feet the first year, while 

 others from the same lot of seed, under exactly 



[119] 



