The Pears of New York. U. P. Hedrick
unusually conspicuous, raised lenticels. Leaf-buds sharply pointed, plump, thick at the base, free; leaf-scars prominent. Leaves 4⅛ in. long, 2⅝ in. wide, thick, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin tipped with very fine reddish-brown glands, finely serrate; petiole thick, 2 in. long, lightly pubescent, greenish-red. Flower-buds thick, short, conical, plump, free, arranged singly on very short spurs; flowers with a disagreeable odor, bloom in mid-season, 1¼ in. across, averaging 7 buds in a cluster; calyx-lobes long, narrow, acuminate, glandular, reflexed, lightly pubescent within and without; petals broadly oval, entire, apex rounded; pistils 4 or 5, from a common base, longer than the stamens, pubescent at base; stamens ¼ in. long, with dull red anthers; pedicels 1½ in. long, slender, thinly pubescent, pale green.
Fruit ripe February-March; 2¼ in. long, 2⅛ in. wide, round, slightly pyriform, irregularly ribbed, with unequal sides; stem 1½ in. long, curved, slender; cavity acute, deep, narrow, furrowed, lipped; calyx deciduous; basin shallow, wide, obtuse, gently furrowed or wrinkled; skin tough, smooth, waxy; color lemon-yellow, with russet lines and nettings and many russet specks; dots numerous, small, conspicuous, brownish-russet; flesh yellowish-white, very granular, crisp, tough, juicy, with a peculiar aroma unlike that of the common pear; poor in quality. Core large, open, axile, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds roundish, of medium size, wide, plump, obtuse.
The Sand pear differs from the type in fruit and foliage. The pears are much larger and are commonly apple-form as shown in the accompanying plate, but trees bearing pyriform fruits are not unknown. The leaves are larger and broader. Rehder, who separated this form from its species, writes, “The Japanese pear cultivated under the name Madame Von Siebold may be considered as representing the type of this variety.” These pears are known to pomologists under several names; as Chinese Sand, Sand, Japanese, Hawaii, Sha Lea, Gold Dust, Mikado, and Diamyo, although it is possible that the last three are hybrids. The pear illustrated and described in this text as a representative of this botanical variety came from seed sent from Manchuria.
The pears are attractive in appearance, keep well, and are palatable in culinary preparations, but are possessed of a gritty flesh and potato-like flavor which debar them as dessert fruits in all regions where the common pear can be grown. The several varieties of var. culta now in America came from Japan where the species must have been early introduced from China as this is now the most common fruit of the Japanese with the exception of the persimmon. In China and Japan there are a number of pomological varieties, which, however, differ from each other less than varieties of the European pear. The fruits of the several varieties grown in America are often mistaken for apples, from which they are distinguished by their deciduous calyxes, rough, dry skins, long stems, juicy, gritty flesh, and insipid potato-like flavor. Seedlings of var. culta fail as stocks for European varieties in the same characters in which the species is unsatisfactory.
This oriental pear hybridizes freely with the common pear, and it is for this purpose that it is most valuable in America. Several of these hybrids are important commercial varieties in North America of which Kieffer, Le Conte, and Garber, in the order named, are the best known and the most useful. Sterility is a common attribute of hybrids, but the hybrids between these two species are not more sterile than varieties of the parents. These hybrids are stronger and more rapid in growth than the common pear and are more productive and more resistant to blight. The pears are more pyriform and of much better flavor than those of the oriental parent. The calyx of hybrid fruits is sometimes persistent and sometimes deciduous. The hybrids do not make good stocks and intergraft but poorly with the common pear. Of all pear-trees, these are handsomest in growth when in perfect health and make excellent ornamental trees. The strong, clean growth, luxuriant green foliage, beautifully tinted in the autumn, resembles the oriental rather than the occidental parent. It is doubtful whether hybrid trees will attain the great size of those of the common pear, and they seem to succumb to the ills of old age rather more quickly than those of the European parent. The hybrid pears seem less well liked by the pestiferous San Jose scale than the common pear. The first flush of popularity having passed, hybrid pears have found their proper place in American pomology. They belong to the South and Middle West where the common pear is illy adapted to the climate. In the North and on the Pacific slope, pear-growers are wisely planting varieties the fruits of which are better in quality.
5. PYRUS USSURIENSIS Maximowicz
1. P. ussuriensis Maximowicz Bull. Acad. Sci. St. Petersb. 15:132. 1857. 2. P. sinensis Decaisne Bull. Acad. Sci. St. Petersb. 19:172. 1883. 3. P. simonii Carrière Rev. Hort. 28. 1872. fig. 3. 4. P. sinensis ussuriensis Makino Tokyo Bot. Mag. 22:69. 1908.
Rehder says of P. ussuriensis,[15] “This species differs from the allied species chiefly in the short stalk of the globose fruit with persistent calyx, in the broad, often nearly orbicular, strongly setosely serrate leaves and in the lighter yellowish-brown branches; the flower clusters are, owing to the short stalks, rather dense and hemispherical, the petals are obovate and rather gradually narrowed toward the base; the styles are distinctly pilose near the base.”
Wilson,[16] describing the vegetation of Korea, says of this species: “Pyrus ussuriensis is abundant and this year is laden with fruit. On some trees the fruit is wholly green, on others reddish on one side; the length of the peduncle varies and the same is true of the leaf-structure; the calyx is persistent or deciduous often on fruits on the same branch.”
The habitat of this species is northern and northeastern China and eastern Siberia. Manchuria, Korea, Amurland, and Ussurri are named as regions in which it is most commonly found. A glance at the map shows that this habitat is in the far north for pears, and it might well be suspected that this would be one of the hardiest of all pears, and this proves to be the case. Horticultural varieties are reported by Chinese explorers, some of which have been introduced by the United States Department of Agriculture. These no doubt have some value in the most northern fruit regions of America and if not for their fruits, they may prove useful in hybridization. But it is as a possible stock resistant to blight that the species has received most attention in this country.
Reimer, of Oregon, found this species to be very resistant to fire-blight and at first thought it might prove to be a valuable stock. Following Reimer’s experiments much was said of it as a promising new stock, and the United States Department of Agriculture gave it a thorough trial from the results of which they discouraged its use. The tree proved to be a slow grower; very subject to leaf-blight, therefore unable to hold its leaves during the growing and budding season, difficult to use in budding as the tough bark did not “slip” easily, and but a small number of the buds took. According to Galloway,[17] however, the Kuan li or Chinese water pear, which he says belongs to the Ussuriensis group, is one of the most promising pear stocks. Both for its fruits and as a stock, this species is likely to receive much attention in the United States for some time to come. The difficulty at present, as we have found at this Station, is to get seeds or budding wood true to name of the forms of the species that seem to be most desirable.
6. PYRUS SERRULATA Rehder
1. P. serrulata Rehder Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. 50:234. 1915.
Chinese Saw-leafed Pear. This species, according to Rehder, is closely related to P. serotina but differs from it chiefly in its serrulate, not setosely serrate, generally broader, leaves, in the smaller flowers with usually three or four styles, and in the shorter sepals and smaller fruit.
This pear was first found by E. H. Wilson in 1907 in western Hupeh. The province of Hupeh is 800 or 900 miles west and south of Shanghai. The pears in this location grow in thickets at an altitude of 4000 to 5000 feet. Reimer found the species at Ichang, in Hupeh, at elevations of 3000 to 3700 feet. Its occurrence at these altitudes indicates that it is a hardy form. Whether the species is likely to be valuable for its fruits, or for hybridization, does not appear, but Galloway,[17] reporting on it as tested by the United States Department of Agriculture, says that it is affected but slightly by leaf-blight, holds its foliage well in hot summers, and has a long budding season. These statements indicate