=1.= Prince _Pom. Man._ =1=:139. 1831. =2.= Kenrick _Am. Orch._ 183. 1832. =3.= _Gard. Chron._ 708, fig. 1842. =4.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 415, fig. 188. 1845. =5.= _Proc. Nat. Con. Fr. Gr._ 51. 1848. =6.= Hovey _Fr. Am._ =2=:33, Pl. 1851. =7.= _Mag. Hort._ =19=:457, fig. 34. 1853. =8.= Mas _Le Verger_ =3=: Pt. 1, 29, fig. 13. 1866-73. =9.= Leroy _Dict. Pom._ =2=:656, figs. 1869. =10.= _Guide Prat._ 63, 303. 1876. _Seckle._ =11.= Coxe _Cult. Fr. Trees_ 189, fig. 25. 1817. =12.= _Trans. Lond. Hort. Soc._ =3=:256, Pl. 9. 1820. =13.= _Pom. Mag._ =2=:72, Pl. 1829. =14.= _Hort. Reg._ (Eng.) =1=:488. 1833. =15.= _Pom. France_ =2=: No. 64, Pl. 64. 1864. =16.= _Jour. Hort._ 3rd Ser. =4=:128. 1882. =17.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 644. 1884. =18.= Bunyard _Handb. Hardy Fr._ 197. 1920. Seckel is an American pear distinct in type from any European variety. Among the several hundred pears that are grown on this side of the Atlantic, Seckel stands almost alone in vigor of tree, productiveness, and immunity to blight, and is equalled by no other variety in high quality of fruit. If the fruits were larger, Seckel would challenge the world as a pear for the markets as it now does as a pear for the home orchard. After Bartlett and the disreputable Kieffer, it is now more grown than any other variety in America, everywhere being used as the standard for excellence. The fruits are small, not highly colored, but attractive because clean and trim in contour. But it is the flesh-characters that give the fruits their high standing. The flesh is melting, juicy, perfumed and most exquisitely and delicately flavored, with the curious character of having much of its spicy, aromatic flavor in the skin, which should never be discarded in eating. The reddish-brown color of the fruit is another distinguishing character of Seckel. Unlike most other dessert pears, the fruits of this one are excellent for culinary purposes. Still another distinctive character is that the fruits do not lose much in quality by ripening on the tree. Besides being nearly iron-clad in resistance to blight and very productive, the trees are almost as hardy as those of any other pear, and are remarkable for their large, low, compact, broadly pyramidal tops. The tree is further distinguished by its short-jointed, stout, olive-colored wood, and its habit of bearing fruits in clusters on the ends of the branches. The trees do best in fertile soils which must not be a heavy clay. Its blossoms are markedly self-fertile. There are several faults of fruit and tree. The fruits are small and do not keep after maturity; it costs twice as much to pick them as it does the large-fruited Bartlett; fruit and foliage are susceptible to scab; the pears are too small for commercial canning; and the trees are late in coming in bearing. With these several faults, however, Seckel is usually a profitable commercial variety as a well-grown crop almost always commands a fancy price.