About twenty-five years ago I commenced to plant the seed of a few of the best pears, in hopes of raising some good and acceptable varieties. Whether or not I have been successful, I shall not at present attempt to decide - wishing to show more particularly the physiological influences at work in their varied production, whether the fruit be good or bad. To me - a mere amateur cultivator - the subject has been very interesting, at times fascinating. It required much patience; but I endeavored to forget the previous seedlings (when well started or grafted on good stocks) by my interest in planting new. It requires from about five to fifteen years for their production of fruit from the seed; usually they bear near the tenth. One graft, which bore this year for the first time, is twenty years old, though in its course it has met with some accidents and neglect.