128 THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 
Rivers, noted author and pomologist. The variety was introduced into 
this country by Colonel Wilder * of Boston about 1842, and first fruited with 
him in 1845. The American Pomological Society added Beurré d’Anjou to 
its list of fruits recommended for general cultivation in 1852. 
Tree large, vigorous, spreading, hardy, an uncertain bearer; trunk smooth; branches 
slightly zigzag, covered with gray scarf-skin over reddish-brown, with few small lenticels; 
branchlets long, with long internodes, reddish-brown tinged with green, smooth, glabrous, 
with many conspicuous, raised lenticels. 
Leaf-buds small, short, obtuse, nearly free. Leaves 33 in. long, 13 in. wide, elongated- 
oval, thin, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin nearly entire or crenate; petiole 2 in. long. 
Flower-buds large, long, conical, plump, free; flowers 13 in. across, showy, in dense clusters, 
from 8 to 12 buds in a cluster; pedicels $ in. long, very thick, pubescent, green. 
Fruit ripe November to early January; large, 3} in. long, 3 in. wide, uniform in size, 
oblong-obovate-pyriform, with surface irregular in outline, sides slightly unequal, uniform 
in shape; stem 3 in. long, short, very thick and woody; cavity obtuse, shallow, russeted 
and furrowed, usually lipped; calyx open; lobes separated at the base, long, narrow, acumi- 
nate; basin shallow, narrow, obtuse, smooth, symmetrical and regular; skin thin, tender, 
smooth, dull; color yellow, clouded with russet around the basin and occasionally with 
1 Marshall P. Wilder contributed to all fields of American horticulture as an ardent amateur grower and 
as a most generous patron. But it was as a pomologist and especially as a grower of grapes and pears that 
he established a permanent place for himself in the horticulture of the country. He was born in New Hamp- 
shire in 1798 and died in Boston in 1886, having lived in Dorchester, a suburb of Boston, for upwards of a 
half century. By vocation a merchant, he wasa captain of industry in his day, yet most of his life, especially 
after the prime had been passed, was devoted to the avocation of horticulture. He was one of the founders of 
the American Pomological Society and had the great honor of being its president, excepting a single two- 
year term, from the first meeting in 1850 until his death. During the last years of his presidency, Wilder 
actively engaged in the reform of pomological nomenclature which the Society was then carrying on. 
He was an active member of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society for fifty-six years and its president from 
1841 to 1848. He was also one of the founders of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, of the Massa- 
chusetts Agricultural Society, of the United States Agricultural Society, and was a trustee of the Massa- 
chusetts Institute of Technology. Besides membership and activity in these agricultural organizations, 
he served as colonel and commander in a military company and as president of the New England Historic 
and Genealogical Society from 1868 until his death. Wilder was a zealous collector and introducer of 
flowers. He specialized in camellias, azaleas, orchids, and roses. A rose bearing his name is still a garden 
favorite. Many floral novelties of his day owe their origin or introduction to Marshall P. Wilder. He was 
ever enthusiastic over American grapes and tested all of the many new varieties introduced about the 
middle of the last century. But the pear was even more to his fancy than the grape, and he endeavored to 
grow every native variety of any promise whatsoever. All told, he tested over 1200 varieties, and in 1873 
exhibited more than 400 varieties. He originated several new pears and to him is due the honor of having 
introduced the Beurre d’Anjou in 1844. At his death he left the American Pomological Society $1000 for 
Wilder medals for new fruits and $4000 for general purposes. To the Massachusetts Horticultural 
Society, he left $1000 to encourage the introduction of new American pears and grapes. Among many 
distinguished American pomologists who sought to improve the pear, Marshall P. Wilder deserves most 
of any recognition for his services and a place is therefore accorded him for his likeness in the frontispiece 
of The Pears of New York and the book is thereby dedicated to him. 
