THE PEAR 33 
powder called pollen that falls upon the ends of those threads 
having no balls, and makes the seeds grow. The whole pear 
grows at the same time that the seeds are growing. 
The petals fall off when the seeds begin to ripen, but the fine 
white threads remain behind and turn brown. They can still be 
seen even after the pear is ripe. If you raise two or three of the 
points at the blossom end, you will find them hidden away. 
Pear trees bear a great many blossoms, but only a very few 
' become large pears and ripen. Most of the pears drop off when 
they are very small and only the best live to maturity. 
There are a great inany different kinds of pears, and they vary 
in color, size, and taste. In fact there are almost as many kinds 
of pears as there are kinds of apples. 
The colors of pears are not so varied as the colors of plums, 
. being yellow, green, or brown, with sometimes a blush of red on 
one cheek. Nobody has ever seen a purple pear, and, perhaps, 
like a blue rose, it 1s one of nature’s impossibilities. 
One of the best of all pears is the Seckel pear, and it is one of 
the most interesting too; for there is a mystery about it that has 
never been solved. 
Nearly a hundred years ago, in 1819, a tree was found grow- 
ing on the farm of a Mr. Seckel, near Philadelphia. It was filled 
with small, but delicious fruit. How it came there nobody ever 
knew, but there it was. In a few years the pears became famous 
in the country round about. Being so unlike other pears and 
growing on only one known tree, they were always spoken of as 
Seckel’s pears, and the name has clung to them ever since. 
Cuttings and buds from this tree were obtained by growers, 
NATURE STUDY —3 
