PREFACE 
The Pears of New York is sixth in the series of books on hardy fruits 
being published by the New York Agricultural Experiment Station. The 
object and scope of these treatises have been given in prefaces of the 
preceding books, and though this work does not differ from its predecessors, 
for the convenience of readers the aim and the contents of the book in 
hand are set forth in this foreword. 
Broadly speaking, the aim is to make The Pears of New York a 
complete record of the development of the pear wherever cultivated up 
to the present time. With this end in view an attempt is made: To give 
an account of the history and uses of the pear; to depict the botanical 
characters of cultivated pears; to describe pear growing in this country 
and more particularly in New York; and, lastly, to give in full detail the 
synonymy, bibliography, economic status, and full descriptions of the 
most important cultivated pears with brief notices of varieties of minor 
importance. 
The reader will want to know what considerations have governed the 
selection of varieties for color plates and full descriptions. These are 
several: (1) The value of a variety for home or commercial orchards. 
(2) Noteworthy new varieties. (3) Varieties desirable in breeding new 
pears. (4) A few sorts are described and illustrated to show the trend 
of evolution in the pear. 
In the use of horticultural names the rules of the American Pomo- 
logical Society as adopted at the meeting in Columbus, Ohio, in 1919, have 
been followed. With a very few varieties these rules have not been fol- 
lowed since the changes required by their strict observance would augment 
rather than diminish confusion. 
The references given are those that have been used in ascertaining the 
history and economic status or in verifying the description of varieties. 
The synonyms created by pomologists whose works we have had have 
been noted, but in no case are synonyms given only when quoted by 
pomologists from another writer. One of the chief aims of The Pears of 
New York is to set straight in high degree the names of pears. 
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