80 
BOTANICAL INBEX 
THE CHINESE SAND-PEAR. 
TRANSON BROTHERS, ORLEANS, FRANCE. 
r|Y what we know or have heard of the Japanese sorts of Pears, which have 
been introduced in Europe, we think that their right place is in the orna- 
mental garden more than in the orchard, as not one can be ranked among the 
good fruits. Their tine, erect growth, their large, serrated, shining leaves — 
larger than any other sort, their white liowers, somewhat tinted with rose, 
as in Mikado, with their largely divided, round petals, give them an appear- 
ance which is different from all other sorts of Pears. 
The fruits of the two varieties we possess, are : 
Mikado, Fig. 153: Fruit 
somewhat in the way of the 
Crassanne; skin green, of a fine 
yellow color when it is ripe, 
never colored ; slightly spotted 
with rough russet dots; stalk 
about two or three inches long, 
knobbed at apex; llesh coarse, 
yellowish, mixed with large 
proportions of sandy concre- 
tions, very watery, with a pecu- 
liar flavor which has something 
of the quince taste. The fruit 
of the Mikado ripens from Oct- 
ober to December. When ripe 
the fruit does not keep long, 
and is never good. 
Von Siebold, Fig. 154: 
Fruit borne in clusters from 
two to live together, globular, 
about two inches in diameter; 
stalk about two inches long; 
skin brown in the way of Bi-urre 
Capiaumout, spotted with white 
freckles; flesh coarse, gritty, 
sandy, yellowish, moderately 
sugared, with very little per- 
fume; ripens in autumn, and 
soon decays. 
These sorts cannot be recom- 
mended as good fruit, and can 
be grown only as curiosities, as 
they are very ornamental with 
their large and numerous flow- 
ers sometimes tinted with rose, 
and their leaves which are the 
largest of all the other sorts of 
Pears. 
The Japanese Pears live on 
the Quince stock, but they pre- 
fer to be budded on the Pear 
stock. 
[It is a well known fact, to fruit growers, especially, that Pear trees, as a class, 
are ■very badly diseased, and often short lived in America, and anything that can be 
done to improve the stock should be utilized, for the good varieties of Pears are 
among our choicest fruits. It is the almost universal judgment of horticulturists 
who have grown the Chinese Sand Pear, Pgr us fioribumla , that they are perfectly 
free, or nearly so, of that terrible blight, so fatal to the Pear stock now in cultiva- 
tion in America — the descendants of Pyrus communis, the native wild pear of Europe. 
True, the fruit of Pyrus floribunda is of itself not edible, or at least not a valuable 
dessert fruit, but by fertilizing the Chinese species with the pollen of some of the 
choice varieties of Pyrus communis now in cultivation, we shall soon be in possession 
of a small healthier race of Pears, and varieties just as valuable for dessert and culi- 
nary purposes. Again, the Chinese species seems to take more kindly to our soil 
