76 THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 
furrowed or wrinkled; skin tough, smooth, waxy; color lemon-yellow, with russet lines 
and nettings and many russet specks; dots numerous, small, conspicuous, brownish- 
russet; flesh yellowish-white, very granular, crisp, tough, juicy, with a peculiar aroma 
unlike that of the common pear; poor in quality. Core large, open, axile, with clasping 
core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds roundish, of medium size, wide, plump, 
obtuse. 
The Sand pear differs from the type in fruit and foliage. The pears 
are much larger and are commonly apple-form as shown in the accompany- 
ing plate, but trees bearing pyriform fruits are not unknown. The leaves 
are larger and broader. Rehder, who separated this form from its species, 
writes, ‘“‘ The Japanese pear cultivated under the name Madame Von 
Siebold may be considered as representing the type of this variety.”” These 
pears are known to pomologists under several names; as Chinese Sand, 
Sand, Japanese, Hawaii, Sha Lea, Gold Dust, Mikado, and Diamyo, 
although it is possible that the last three are hybrids. The pear illustrated 
and described in this text as a representative of this botanical variety 
came from seed sent from Manchuria. 
The pears are attractive in appearance, keep well, and are palatable 
in culinary preparations, but are possessed of a gritty flesh and potato-like 
flavor which debar them as dessert fruits in all regions where the common 
pear can be grown. The several varieties of var. culta now in America 
came from Japan where the species must have been early introduced from 
China as this is now the most common fruit of the Japanese with the excep- 
tion ofthe persimmon. In China and Japan there are a number of pomo- 
logical varieties, which, however, differ from each other less than varieties 
of the European pear. The fruits of the several varieties grown in America 
are often mistaken for apples, from which they are distinguished by their 
deciduous calyxes, rough, dry skins, long stems, juicy, gritty flesh, and 
insipid potato-like flavor. Seedlings of var. culta fail as stocks for European 
varieties in the same characters in which the species is unsatisfactory. 
This oriental pear hybridizes freely with the common pear, and it is 
for this purpose that it is most valuable in America. Several of these 
hybrids are important commercial varieties in North America of which 
Kieffer, Le Conte, and Garber, in the order named, are the best known and 
the most useful. Sterility is a common attribute of hybrids, but the hybrids 
between these two species are not more sterile than varieties of the parents. 
These hybrids are stronger and more. rapid in growth than the common 
pear and are more productive and more resistant to blight. The pears are 
