1884.] 
AMEEIOA]N[ AGEIOULTUEIST. 
501 
A New Eace of Pears.—The Oriental. 
The Chinese Sand Pear, Pyrus Sinensis, a species 
quite distinct from the common pear, was intro¬ 
duced into England from China early in the present 
century. In due time it found its way to this 
country, being more or less planted as an orna¬ 
mental tree, and specimens are still to be seen upon 
old plaees. It grows to the hight of twenty feet 
or more, and is vigorous and healthy. The leaves 
are large and shining, the flowers white, tinted 
with pink, followed by a somewhat apple-shaped, 
warty, russeted fruit, of no value except for cook¬ 
ing. About half a century ago, Maj. LeConte, a 
noted naturalist, bought a Chinese Sand Pear and 
sent it to his niece in Liberty Co., 6a. This tree 
grew to a large size, bore abundantly, but its fruit 
was unlike that of the Sand Pear, and of sufficient¬ 
ly good quality to attract the attention of nursery¬ 
and the possibility of establishing a useful race of 
pears, to which the name “Oriental” has been 
given by Southern nurserymen. It is a strong 
point in favor of these pears that, though the Le¬ 
Conte and Kieffer have been planted extensively. 
North as well as South, not an instance has been 
reported in which the trees were attacked by blight 
or other disease. Experience with the common 
varieties has been very different, and in some cases 
most disastrous. The Orientals grow vigorously, 
bear early, and are abundantly fruitful. The en¬ 
gravings, from specimens of average size, show 
the relative shape and size of the varieties. The 
LeConte has a waxen yellow skin, with a crimson 
cheek in the sun. It is ripe in New Jersey the 
middle of August. Its quality is compared to that 
of the Vicar of Winktield and the Duchess. The 
Kieffer is of rich yellow color, with a bright red 
cheek, and a very showy fruit. It ripens about a 
involucre, instead of being sufficiently ample to 
completely cover the young nuts, is reduced to a 
mere plate, only largo enough to allow them a 
place to stand upon. The tree has a diameter of 
two feet at the base, and annually bears its 
crop of nuts exposed in this peculiar manner. 
We have asked Mr. Bagley to send us some of the ripe 
nuts; these not being confined by the bur, should be 
much larger and rounder than ordinary chestnuts. 
Clear up t he For est Eubbish. 
Forest fires are thought by those well qualified 
for judging, to be fully as destructive to our di¬ 
minishing store of timber as the axe and saw. The 
forthcoming volume of Special Forest Statistics by 
the Census Bureau, will contain a large number of 
valuable maps. Among these is one showing by 
colors tbe percentage of destruction by these fires 
men and orchardists as a market fruit. The tree 
was found to grow with tolerable certainty from 
cuttings, and quite a number were propagated in 
this manner in Thomas Co., Ga. The variety was 
named LeConte, in honor of the officer who was 
instrumental in introducing the tree. It is sup¬ 
posed that the tree which Maj. L. sent to Georgia 
was either a seedling of the Sand Pear, or an in¬ 
stance of bud variation or sporting. There was 
shown at the Centennial Exhibition a very showy 
fruit from the farm of Peter Kieffer, near Phila¬ 
delphia. The tree producing it was a seedling of 
the Chinese Sand Pear, but the fruit was so much 
superior to that of the original tree, that it was 
supposed to be the result of hybridizing that pear 
with some of the varieties of the common pear, 
and the fruit was named Kieffer’s Hybrid. Other 
seedlings of the Sand Pear show that it has a 
marked tendency to vary from the seed, and that it 
is not necessaiy to suppose that the Kieffer was 
the result of hybridizing. While tbe other seed¬ 
lings are Inferior to the LeConte and Kieffer,some of 
them have received names, such as Garbers, Conk¬ 
lin’s, and Smith’s Hybrids—though probably not 
hybrids—and have been propagated to a small ex¬ 
tent. They are chiefly of interest as showing the 
tendency of the Sand Pear to vary from the seed. 
month later than the LeConte. As to quality, we 
have had specimens which we preferred to the 
Bartlett. Neither of these varieties can take a 
high rank as to quality, but if one has a tree, be is 
quite sure to have fruit. For cooking, canning, 
and drying or evaporating, they'are valuable. If 
these varieties are worked upon quince or common 
pear stocks, they become diseased, and trees prop¬ 
agated from buds or grafts taken from trees on 
these stocks, are not to be relied upon. Those in¬ 
tending to plant these varieties, should insist upon 
having trees uncontaminated by any “ blood ” of 
tbe common pear or the quince. The Southern 
journals show that tbe LeConte pear has created a 
furore, and the acres that have been planted are 
numbered by hundreds. We are glad to see this 
indication of enterprise, and hope that those who 
have engaged in it have not overestimated the 
demand. Improvement should be the next step, 
by raising seedlings from the best of the Orientals. 
Burless Chestnuts. —H. Bagley, of Greene 
Co., N. T., sends us specimens of a peculiar 
chestnut. The young nuts, instead of being in¬ 
closed, as usual, in a prickly involucre which ripens 
into tbe bur, are quite naked and exposed. The 
in the wooded portion of the United States in a 
single specimen year—1882. It pi esents a striking 
and suggestive picture, especially when we remem¬ 
ber that, in the judgment of experts, the greater 
number of these fires are needless. The most fre¬ 
quent causes are carelessness in burning brush in 
neighboring clearings, in leaving camp-fires without 
thoroughly extinguishing them, which means some¬ 
thing more than just kicking the brands apart, in 
running locomotives that have no spark arresters, 
in neglecting to burn off grass, etc., from the space 
occupied by the roadway of the railroads at a time 
of year when it is safe to do so, and last and chief 
of all, in leaving the rubbish of lumbering — tops, 
limbs, etc., where it helps start and maintain fires. 
Some authorities contend that all who own timber 
land should be compelled by law to collect and 
burn all such debris, and to remove fallen limbs 
and dead trees from woods in which no lumbering 
is going on, in case they join woods owned by 
other parties. When we reflect that the damage 
done by these fires is probably not less than three 
hundred millions of dollars a year, and that it con¬ 
sumes that product, which of all others, is hardest 
to replaee, and yet is indisi)ensable to tbe national 
welfare, we see how imporlantit is that all i)ractic- 
able safeguards should be faithfully used. J.W. P. 
