from: Pacific Rural Press, Volume 104, Number 18, 28 October 1922 RESISTANT PEARS. PROF. WAITE'S BLIGHT-
To the Editor: I am interested in your allusion to my work for immune pears in your issue of September 23. I may say that I got three thousand seedlings from my crosses several years ago, planting them out on a small plot of ground at Arlington Farm, so that they grew up in a kind of a thicket. We rogued out the small, wiry, undesirable seedling type with a grub hoe until they are down to one hundred or so, and out of the lot we have twelve or possibly fourteen that are more blight resistant than the Kieffer and better in Quality. I fully realize that the latter does not mean much in California, and of the lot I concur with you that none of these are fit for substitution for the best pure Europeans grown in California. One of the lot, however, appears to be a real gem. It carries the S. P. I. No. 49490, and may be described as a giant Seckel, with almost exactly the color, of somewhat similar shape, but not so pyriform, of similar quality, probably not quite as good, and twice the diameter, which means eight times the size of the Seckel. The tree is apparently more vigorous with larger twigs and larger leaves than the Seckel. It is very resistant to blight, only two infections having ever occurred on this tree. It went through a regular epidemic this season, with only one infection, while some of the seedlings, discarded of course, had thirty to fifty, and Kieffers nearby on the same soil had from thirty to one hundred infections. Here, again, I realize that you are not especially interested in the Seckel type in California. One pear, S. P. I. No. 49492, distinctly resembles the Bartlett, but at Arlington is a great big vigorous tree, more vigorous than the Kieffer, and apparently very resistant to blight. --M. B. Waite, Pathologist in Charge, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.