PLATE XXVIII. 
i. SECKLE. 
[Syn : Sec/tel; Sicker; New York Red Cheek; Shakespear; Lammas , of the Americans.] 
The Seckle Pear is an American production. Its precise origin is unknown. Downing, in his 
“Fruits and Fruit Trees of America ,” says, “Its affinity to the Rotisselet , a well-known German Pear, 
leads to the supposition that the seeds of the latter Pear, having been brought by some of the 
Germans settling near Philadelphia, by chance produced this superior variety.” It is first noticed 
by Coxe, an American pomologist, in his work “ View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees .” It was 
sent to the London Horticultural Society in 1819, by Dr. Hosack, of Philadelphia, with several 
other fruits. 
The original tree is still in existence, and is over a hundred years old. It grows in a meadow 
in Passyunk township, about a quarter of a mile from the Delaware, opposite League Island, and 
about three miles and a half from Philadelphia. It is about thirty feet high ; the diameter of the 
trunk at a foot from the ground, is six feet ; and at five feet from the ground, it is four feet 
nine inches. The trunk is hollow and very much decayed ; the bark, half way round to the height 
of six feet, is entirely gone ; and the progress of decay has advanced so far, that it is feared in a 
few more years the tree will have ceased to exist. There are, however, young suckers growing 
from the root, by which the original stock will be preserved ; but it is to be regretted that means 
were not taken to preserve the original tree, by the very simple process of plaistering up the 
decayed portion. The property on which the tree stands belonged in 1817, according to Coxe, 
to Mr. Seckle (not Seckel), of Philadelphia, and hence the origin of the name. 
“ The following morceau of its history may be relied on,” Downing adds, “ it having been 
related by the late venerable Bishop White, whose tenacity of memory is well known. About 1765, 
when the Bishop was a lad, there was a well-known sportsman and cattle dealer in Philadelphia, 
