File:Luther Burbank- his methods and discoveries and their practical application. Prepared from his original field notes covering more than 100,000 experiments made during forty years devoted to plant (14784706442).jpg

Identifier: lutherburbankhis04burbuoft (find matches)
Title: Luther Burbank: his methods and discoveries and their practical application. Prepared from his original field notes covering more than 100,000 experiments made during forty years devoted to plant improvement, with the assistance of the Luther Burbank Society and its entire membership, under the editorial direction of John Whitson and Robert John and Henry Smith Williams
Year: 1914 (1910s)
Authors: Burbank, Luther, 1849-1926 John, Robert Whitson, John Williams, Henry Smith, 1863-1943 Luther Burbank Society
Subjects: Plant-breeding
Publisher: New York Luther Burbank Press
Contributing Library: Gerstein - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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m near Philadelphia. The ownerof the farm was Mr. Peter Kieffer. The thing forwhich he was responsible was the introduction ofa pear bearing his name, which originated throughthe chance hybridization of a pear of Europeanstrain with the Chinese sand pear, which had beenintroduced as an ornamental garden tree not longafter relations were established between Americaand the Far East. The oriental pear which thus at last came tomingle its racial strains with those of this remoterelative, after the two had traveled around theworld in opposite directions, was a graceful treehaving large and attractive flowers and bearingfruit of a j>leasing fragrance but of such consist-ency as to be almost uneatable except whencooked. In spite of the defects of its fruit, how-ever, the oriental pear had certain qualities ofhardiness and resistance to disease that made it avaluable mate for its European cousin. So theKieffer pair soon gained popularity. So also did a number of other hybrid pears of (116)
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_ a = ;5 5- o i ^ * c ^ 5* 1 3 f O C 11 E a o :? o• I -.5 !■ g S a-Sa O ~. S — f» IQ ri a _. ^ • i ?3r X SO <o c ™ O a- ^o a oo 2 LUTHER BURBANK similar origin, including the Le Conte, the Garber,and the Smith. These hybrids soon became stand-ard pears in the Gulf States, where the Europeanpears do not thrive. Mammoth Pears in California The hybrid pears did not gain popularity inCalifornia, because the climate and soil of thisstate seemed to be peculiarly hospitable to theEuropean pears, notably the Bartlett. By crossbreeding and selection these havebeen so developed, without hybridization with theoriental species, as to assume almost colossal pro-portions, and while differing widely in flavor fromthe original stock, to retain enough characteristicsof the original to constitute a most valuable mar-ket fruit. The California pears, indeed, have quite out-done themselves. They have been described asgrand in

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