50 THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 
City. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, many Huguenots 
fled to America. In 1689, some of these French emigrés settled at New 
Rochelle, New York, and on Long Island. The trees grown by the Hugue- 
nots were usually grafted, the parent plants having been brought from 
France. No doubt, it was from these importations that White Doyenné, 
Brown Beurré, St. Germain, Virgouleuse, and many other old French 
sorts that seem to have been in America from time immemorial came. 
However, the pear, in common with other fruits, was more largely 
grown from seeds in these pioneer days than from buds or grafts. Fruits 
were known and grown as species and not as varieties almost wholly in 
America until the nineteenth century. The sale of budded or grafted 
trees began in New York, so far as records show, with the establishment 
of a nursery at Flushing, Long Island, in 1730, by Robert Prince. This 
nursery afterwards became the famous Linnaean Botanic Garden. At 
what date Prince began to offer grafted pears for sale cannot now be ascer- 
tained, but advertisements appearing in 1767, 1771, and 1790 offer named 
varieties at these dates. The following is a list of pears offered by the 
Princes in 1771:! 
Bergamot Russelet 
Catharine Early sugar 
Vergalieu Baurre vert 
July Winter baurre 
Monsier Jean Baurre de roy 
Trom valette Green chissel 
French primative Swan’s egg 
Winter bon cretan Colmar 
Easter bergamot Cressan 
Amber Spanish bon cretan 
Chaumontelle Large bell 
Citron de camis La Chassaire 
Summer bergamot Hampden’s bergamot 
Autumn bergamot Doctor Uvedale’s St. Germain 
Amozelle Large winter, weighs near two pounds 
Lent St. Germain Pear wardens 
Brocaus bergamot Empress 
Winter bergamot Large summer baking 
Jargonelle The black pear of Worcester or Parkinson’s 
Roussilon warden 
Cuissemadam The skinless 
Green catharine 
1 Prince, William Cat. 1771. 
