1 
-1923- 
VERONICA hulkeana (Scrophulariaceae) , 57860. From Nice, France. 
Seeds presented by Dr. A. Robertson Proschowsky . One of the handsomest 
and most graceful of all the New Zealand veronicas, and easily distin- 
guished from others of the group by its shining, dark-green, coarsely 
toothed leaves about 2 inches long, and its long sprays of lilac- 
colored flowers which are in panicles sometimes a foot in length. (A- 
dapted from Laing and Blackwell, Plants of New Zealand, p. 383, and from 
Bailey, Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, vol. 6, p. 3455.) 
The Favorita Pear 
(S.P.I. No. 33207) 
In January, 1912, Walter T. Swingle, of the Office of Crop Physi- 
ology and Breeding Investigations, Bureau of Plant Industry, was in 
Spain engaged upon agricultural exploration work. Dr. Swingle visited 
the old and well-known nurseries of Pedro Giraud at Granada, Spain. 
He placed an order with this firm for cuttings, scions, and grafts of 
a number of promising new fruit, nut, ornamental, and shade trees. . A- 
mong the lot were two small trees of a pear called "Favorita" by Giraud. 
The collection was received March 23, 1912. The two little pear trees, 
after being inventoried under S.P.I. No. 33207, were sent to Chico, 
Calif., and planted in the test orchard of the Plant Introduction 
Garden at that place. The only description we had of the pear was pub- 
lished in Plant Inventory No. 30, page 83, as follows: 
33207. "Favorita. This pear is described as follows: Fruit very 
large, lemon yellow, flesh buttery, sweet, savory. Ripens the middle 
of August. A summer pear." 
Three years after the little pear trees were planted, or in 1915, 
fruit was produced and it showed such valuable characters that five 
hundred trees were ordered propagated. From time to time other samples 
of fruit were received and its fine quality noted. In the summer of 
1920 we visited the Garden, and while there our attention was called to 
this I pear by W. F. Wight, of the Office of Horticultural Investiga- 
tions, who was then stationed at Chico. Mr. Wight had been using the 
Favorita pear in his breeding work and was struck with its excellent 
quality. From 1915 to 1922 the propagation was continued and some- 
thing like fifteen hundred small trees were distributed. These were 
sent into nearly every state in the Union, the heaviest distributions 
being on the Pacific Coast, in the Southern States, and states of the 
Ohio Valley. This year, 1923, a large crop of fruit was produced by the 
mother trees at Chico and opportunity for a more critical study was 
therefore afforded. From all the samples received, studied here, and 
submitted to experts for their opinions, it seems that the fruit of 
our S.P.I. No. 33207 so closely resembles the well-known Clapp Favorite 
as to be indistinguishable from that fruit. The time of ripening, 
