10 
The wild Pear-trees. Much attention has been paid to the formation 
of the Arboretum collection of these trees because several of the 
species are among the most beautiful of all flowering trees. To pom- 
ologists, too, they are of special interest as the wild types from which 
the cultivated pears have been derived, and as possible factors in the 
production of new and perhaps hardier races of fruit trees. Wild 
Pear-trees are found in China, on the Himalayas, in southwestern Asia 
and in southeastern and southern Europe. There is no native Pear-tree 
in Japan or in any part of America. About twenty-five species are rec- 
ognized by botanists, and of these at least twenty with a few hybrids 
and varieties are now established in the Arboretum. The most impor- 
tant species but not the most beautiful in flower is Pyrus communis, 
one of the European species from which the common garden pears 
have been derived. The wild form of this tree is in the Arboretum 
collection. Some of the species, like P. elaeagrifolia of southeastern 
Europe, are conspicuous in early spring before the flowers open from 
the silvery color of the unfolding leaves, but as ornamental trees 
some of the Chinese species are better worth cultivating here than those 
of Europe or western Asia. All the eastern Asiatic species are now 
growing in the Arboretum; many of them have large, handsome 
and lustrous leaves, and on a few the fruit is conspicuous. Among the 
Chinese species which have been thoroughly tested in the Arboretum 
the handsomest perhaps is P. ovoidea, a native of the northern prov- 
inces and one of the first in the collection to open its flowers. These 
are followed by yellow juicy fruits of good flavor which, unlike those 
of all other Pear trees, are largest at the base and gradually taper to 
the apex. Another remarkable thing about this tree is that in the 
autumn the leaves turn as bright scarlet as those of any Asiatic Red 
Maple or Gum tree. As an ornamental tree this Pear deserves the 
attention of gardeners and its hardiness and the quality of its fruit 
suggests its possible value in the production of a new race of fruit 
trees. Another Chinese species, P. Bretschneideri, is also well worth 
the attention of pomologists; it is a tree with large lustrous leaves, 
large flowers and yellow, nearly globose fruit of good flavor. This is 
probably, in part at least, the wild origin of the excellent pears which 
are sold in Peking during September and October. The brown-fruited 
Pyrus serrulata, one of the new species discovered by Wilson in west- 
ern China, is of particular interest, too, as from this species are evi- 
dently derived the round russet pears which in many forms have been 
so generally cultivated in Japan and are occasionally seen in American 
collections. The largest specimen of P. serrulata in the Arboretum is 
growing among the Japanese Azaleas on the southern slope of Bussey 
Hill where it flowered for the first time last year. The Leconte and 
the Keiffer are two hybrid pears well known in this country where 
they were raised many years ago by crossing a garden pear with some 
Chinese species of doubtful identity and uncertain origin. These hy- 
brids have not proved very hardy in the north, but have been planted 
in immense numbers in some of the southern states where they pro- 
