110 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
fore, not so well suited for nursery work. The water 
pear is a rapid grower, quite resistant to leaf blight, pro¬ 
duces good roots, and has a budding season nearly as 
long as the calleryana pear. Up to this time the supply 
of this pear is limited, owing to the fact that the original 
quantity of seed secured was only seventeen ounces. It 
will probably not be practicable to again locate this pear. 
The Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction has a 
portion of an orchard worked over at Chico, California, 
and we expect to be securing seeds from this orchard in 
a year or two. We also have limited numbers of small 
trees and are securing others as rapidly as practicable by 
budding. The plan is to secure supplies of this pear to 
place in the hands of nurserymen and others interested 
for the home production of seed. 
The Chinese saw-leaved pear (. Pyrus serrulata S. P. I. 
34567 and 45832) is a third promising wild species for 
stock purposes. Only limited experiments so tar have 
been made with this pear as a stock. It is resistant to 
leaf blight and has a long budding season. Supplies of 
seed are not available. Like the calleryana pear and the 
water pear, we are developing supplies of this species 
with a view to establishing sources of seed. Those desir¬ 
ing to topwork pear trees or to develop a supply of trees 
through budding or grafting can be furnished with bud- 
wood or scion wood in season. 
The birch-leaved Chinese pear, ( Pyrus betualaefolia 
S. P. I. No. 21982) is one of considerable promise. It has 
been known for some time in this country, but mainly as 
a botanical novelty. Trees are growing at the Arnold Ar¬ 
boretum which were planted nearly thirty years ago. It 
is a clean, strong, upright grower, quite resistant to dis¬ 
ease, and very free from leaf blight in the nursery. Ac¬ 
cording to Prof. F. C. Reimer, of Talent, Oregon, who has 
done a great deal of pioneer work in pear stocks, this tree 
is extensively used in China as a stock. Nearly all cul¬ 
tivated varieties of pears take readily upon it and wher¬ 
ever observed such trees are vigorous growers and long 
lived. 
In conclusion it may be of interest to quote from sev¬ 
eral nurserymen to whom seed of these pear stocks were 
sent last year, with a view to having them tested in com¬ 
parison with French and Japanese stocks. Jackson & 
Perkins of Newark, New York, write: 
“We find the general habit of all the different 
types of Pyrus you sent us to be much more vigor¬ 
ous than that of French or Japanese pear stocks. The 
seedlings which you sent were small, being only of 
3-5 m. m. caliper. These stocks were planted out 
beside French stocks of 6-10 m. m. and 7-12 m. m. 
caliper. They were larger at the end of the season 
than were the French stocks. We find that Pyrus 
calleryana retains its foliage until hit by heavy frost. 
Pyrus usuriensis (the water pear) drops its foliage 
in the autumn, probably a month or six weeks pre¬ 
vious to the calleryana. We find this a great advan¬ 
tage in the extra growth which the stock attains over 
the French stocks. The French stocks attain prac- 
tecally no growth during the first season and de¬ 
foliate during the summer. The same applies to 
Japanese pear stocks. Owing to their vigorous habit 
of growth and also to the lateness of season in which 
Pyrus usuriensis and Pyrus calleryana grow, we find 
they can be budded over a much longer period than 
can either the French or Japanese pears. Some of 
the calleryana and usuriensis were budded in July 
with very good results and the balance were budded 
in September with results equally as good as the 
earlier budding. The stands we got on these stocks 
were all better than 98%, which is considered much 
better than the average stand on other pear seed¬ 
lings.” 
James Mills of the James Mills Orchards Corporation, 
Hamilton City, California, writes: 
“We noted that the growth of the seedlings sent us 
throughout the season was more rapid and consid¬ 
erably more luxuriant than the growth of any Jap¬ 
anese pear stocks we had; in fact, these seedlings 
gave us a top growth as big as two-year-old Jap¬ 
anese seedlings. The vigor and foliage during the 
season was considerably better than that of either 
the French or Japanese seedlings. In regard to the 
ability to bud them over a long period, we budded a 
part of them the second day in our budding work 
this year, and then after the red spider and cold 
weather made it impossible to bud our Myrobolan 
stock, we returned to our pear stocks and finished 
budding them.” 
It is interesting to note from Mr. Mills’ reports that he 
got the best results from a pear listed as S. P. I. No. 
45746. This is a seedling found growing near Washing¬ 
ton, D. C., which appears to be very closely related to the 
Chinese water pear referred to above. We are propagat¬ 
ing this promising number as rapidly as practicable. 
Stark Brothers of Louisiana, Missouri, received two 
types of Pyrus calleryana. The seed of these plants were 
collected by the late Frank N. Meyer in China and the 
seedlings were grown at Chico, California. Stark Broth¬ 
ers write: 
“Both numbers of pears sent us have taken buds in 
good shape, almost a perfect stand. S. P. I. No. 
45592, calleryana pear, has retained one-fourth of 
its foliage to date (December 22), indicating that it 
would take buds over a longer period than French or 
Japanese stocks. No signs of any fungous disease. 
While it has not made as much growth as Japanese 
stocks, it has made decidedly more growth than the 
French stocks We would consider 45592 the best of 
the two varieties of seedlings sent.” 
W. T. Hood & Company of Richmond, Virginia, received 
two types of the calleryana pear. Under date of Janu¬ 
ary 16, 1920, they write as follows: 
“We planted the pears beside about 30,000 Japan¬ 
ese stocks and they did very well. We think from the 
appearance of them now we shall have some nice 
trees from them. While the Japanese stocks did 
well, many of them lost their leaves during August 
and September, which causes some of the buds to 
push. The calleryana stocks held their leaves up to 
Christmas and some of them still have leaves on. The 
growth is sound up to the tips and shows no injury 
from cold.” 
On November 6, 1919, Mr. Hood’s nurseries were-vis- 
ited by Mr. H. E. Allanson of our office staff, who, in com¬ 
pany with Mr. Hood, made the following notes: 
“The calleryana seedlings when received were 
smaller than either French or Japanese stocks, but 
by fall were about the same size as the Japanese 
stocks. The foliage throughout the season on the 
calleryana was better and more vigorous than the 
Japanese and was retained on the tree over a con¬ 
siderably longer period on all numbers. Mr. Hood’s 
buds were all inserted about the same time, but from 
