The pears of northern China and eastern Siberia are usually called the Chinese sand pear and have been given various names, Pyrus Sinensis, Pyrus Ussuriensis, Pyrus Simoni.  The form I am working with mainly was received in the spring of 1899 at the South Dakota Station under the name of Pyrus Simoni, from Dr. C.S.  Sargent, Director of the Arnold Arboretum, Boston, Massachusetts.  Since the publication of Bulletin 159, of the South Dakota Experiment Station, April, 1915, in which I give a brief outline of this work, the pears of this region have been studied by Dr. Alfred Rehder of the Arnold Arboretum, and it now appears that the true name of Pyrus Simonii should be Pyrus Ovoidea.  These trees have proved perfectly hardy at Brookings and have never suffered from blight.  Varieties of other pears have been top-grafted on this tree, and they have blighted, but the blight did not affect the rest of the tree.  Mr. Charles G. Patten, Charles City, Iowa, also has a form of the Chinese sand pear which has proven immune to blight.  In other places sand pears have been under trial which have suffered from winter-killing.  However, I understand that the pear Mr. Patten has tapers toward the stem, while the pear received by me as Pyrus Simonii tapers toward the blossom end.  The actual source of seed is really of greater importance than the botanical name, as it is possible to get the seed from too far south, whereas we should plant only the northern form of the species.

The fruits of Pyrus Ovoidea correspond in size to the ordinary pear much like the Whitney crab-apple does to the apple.  It is a real pear, juicy and sweet, but not high flavored.  Other varieties of pears have been top-grafted on this tree and have blighted, but the blight did not affect the rest of the tree.  During the many seasons I have had this pear the tip of one twig only showed a very slight trace the past season, but I did not determine it was really blight.  It is practically immune.

I have also worked the Birch-Leaved pear, Pyrus betulifolia, Bunge, a native of northern China, and a choice ornamental tree.  Trees of this species were received from a nursery in Germany in the fall of 1896 and have proven perfectly hardy and quite resistant to blight.  The fruit is quite small, usually less than one-half inch in diameter, covered with thick russet. Betulifolia means birch-leaved, alluding to the shape of the leaf.

Now, the pear is a difficult thing to work with on account of blight.  What is blight?  It is an American bacterial disease, not found in the home of the pear, Asia or Europe, so that during the 6,000 years of its cultivation of recorded history the pear has never had to meet the bacterial enemy known as blight.  That is one of the reasons, I presume, why they have such strict quarantine in Europe against American trees.  The question with pears is, will they stand blight or not?  They are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in California to keep out blight.  Blight is a native of the northeast United States, and they are keeping it down on the Pacific slope, but they are always on the edge of the precipice.  The whole pear culture of America is in an unsatisfactory state, owing to this danger.