_The Pears of New York_ is sixth in the series of books on hardy fruits being published by the New York Agricultural Experiment Station. The object and scope of these treatises have been given in prefaces of the preceding books, and though this work does not differ from its predecessors, for the convenience of readers the aim and the contents of the book in hand are set forth in this foreword. Broadly speaking, the aim is to make _The Pears of New York_ a complete record of the development of the pear wherever cultivated up to the present time. With this end in view an attempt is made: To give an account of the history and uses of the pear; to depict the botanical characters of cultivated pears; to describe pear growing in this country and more particularly in New York; and, lastly, to give in full detail the synonymy, bibliography, economic status, and full descriptions of the most important cultivated pears with brief notices of varieties of minor importance. The reader will want to know what considerations have governed the selection of varieties for color plates and full descriptions. These are several: (1) The value of a variety for home or commercial orchards. (2) Noteworthy new varieties. (3) Varieties desirable in breeding new pears. (4) A few sorts are described and illustrated to show the trend of evolution in the pear. In the use of horticultural names the rules of the American Pomological Society as adopted at the meeting in Columbus, Ohio, in 1919, have been followed. With a very few varieties these rules have not been followed since the changes required by their strict observance would augment rather than diminish confusion. The references given are those that have been used in ascertaining the history and economic status or in verifying the description of varieties. The synonyms created by pomologists whose works we have had have been noted, but in no case are synonyms given only when quoted by pomologists from another writer. One of the chief aims of _The Pears of New York_ is to set straight in high degree the names of pears. Biographical sketches of men who have been most prominent in pear growing in the United States are to be found in the footnotes. These are written to give in some measure the credit and honor due to those who introduced new varieties or improved their culture. A knowledge of the career of these men is indispensable to a full comprehension of the industry of growing pears. U. P. HEDRICK, _Horticulturist, New York Agricultural Experiment Station_ TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE v INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS ix CHAPTER I.--HISTORY OF THE PEAR 1 CHAPTER II.--SPECIES OF PEARS AND THEIR CHARACTERS 57