Illustration: Crossing work in pears--view in Prof. N. E. Hansen's
Fruit-Breeding Greenhouse, State College, Brookings, S.D.]

I did not know whether immunity to blight is a possibility or only an
iridescent dream, so I made no charge for these scions. The only test of
a pear seedling, the same as with the apple, is that of propagation.
Furthermore, if you have but the one seedling tree you may lose it by
accident; whereas, if you send it out to a number of good men, you
cannot lose it.

It should be distinctly understood that none of these new seedlings have
borne fruit, but by what may be termed the projective efficiency of the
pedigree I am satisfied that some of them will be valuable. In like
manner, a horse-breeder depends so much on the pedigree in his colts
that he is willing to enter them in a race. I believe something of value
will come from this line of work. I do know that my _Pyrus Ovoidea_ is a
pretty good, juicy little pear, a whole lot better than no pear at all.
I hope these seedlings will keep up their immunity to blight. The
original seedling trees certainly have had every chance to become
affected by blight, as they were surrounded by blighting apple trees,
crab-apple trees and pear trees, and no blight was cut out. I thought
this was the best way, since that is the test they will have in the
farmers' orchards when they go out from the nursery.

_Hardy Pear Stocks._--Now we are up against the problem of stocks for
these hardy pears. The quince is a standard dwarf stock, but it is not
hardy enough for us. Last spring I planted 12,000 seedlings of the
various commercial pear stocks, including imported French pear
seedlings, American grown French pear seedlings, Kieffer pear seedlings
and Japan pear seedlings. From one season's experience I like the Japan
pear the best. The French pear seedlings, especially, did not do well.
The Japan pear stock is coming into high favor in recent years on our
Pacific slope, where it is sometimes called the Chinese blight-proof
stock. The French pear stock is not in favor on our Pacific slope owing
to their liability to blight. We may also expect from the French pear
stock a decided lack of hardiness. The Japan pear stock is probably some
form of the Chinese sand pear. The seed may come from too far south,
whereas we should plant only the northern form of the species. This
varying degree of hardiness in the Japan pear seedling of commerce I
find discussed in a German