"Another pear, nearly totally immune, is 
P yrus calleryana . The form from the Yangtze 
Valley seems to "be "better suited for Oregon 
than the one from So. China; this last one al- 
so seems more susceptible to "blight. As regards 
resistancy to cold, both the northern and the 
southern Chinese forms have stood 4° above (Pahr.) 
at Talent in January. 1916. and the Ichang form 
has withstood 5 winters in the Arnold Arboretum, 
Mass. 
"Besides these two very promising Chinese 
species of wild pears there are also a few cul- 
tivated varieties coming to the front which show 
an unusual amount of resistancy to blight. One 
is the 'Old Home' pear, obtained from Missouri; 
another is 'Orel No. 15', introduced by Prof. 
Budd of Iowa from Russia; still another is 
'Florida sandpear' . 
"Then there is a pear called Pyrus variolosa 
(?) which is almost immune and which is a remark- 
able vigorous grower. Prof. Reimer and Mr. Rehder 
of the Arnold Arboretum are trying to straighten 
out this species. 
"Prof. Reimer has originated a totally new 
method of setting out pear orchards. His idea 
is to set out seedlings, immune to blight, in 
their permanent location; when these seedlings 
have made a well developed head with 4-7 or 8 
main branches, bu d every branch to the desired 
variety in September; when the buds have taken 
cut the seedling growth back and from two to 
three years after that the orchard comes into 
bearing. The expense is only slightly larger 
than buying ordinary grafted or budded pear trees 
from a nursery and one has the satisfaction of 
knowing exactly what one has and better than that, 
the trunk and the roots can never be destroyed b^ 
the blight ! 
"I. have come to believe entirely in Prof. 
Reimer' s ideas and I do wish 1 had known them 
before this. I strongly suggest that any of our 
folks who pass Talent should stop over there long 
enough to see the remarkable work that is being 
done there. If you and Mr. Fairchild think it 
worth while, I would like to see Mr. Waite being 
infonaed of what I am writing you here. 
"Now to come down to my own work in con- 
nection with this blight, I am up against itl 
December 31, 1916. 
