F. L., Madison, Wisconsin, writes: "Would you be kind enough to give us some information about this fruit which seems to be widely pushed from your section of the country, and is pronounced to be wholly free from the common diseases of the pear?"

[We cannot say more than we have said, viz., that it is a seedling from the Chinese Sand Pear, but that the fruit in quality and appearance is like a first class Flemish Beauty. As to its being "free from the ordinary diseases of the pear," we regard it entirely too soon to make any such claim, as the variety has not been growing for more than a year anywhere outside of a locality near Philadelphia, where the ordinary pear is unusually healthy and free from disease. It is therefore no rule as to how it will behave elsewhere. - Ed. G. M.]