When judged by American tastes and standards, the Ya Kuang Li is unquestionably the finest variety of China. It resembles the better American or European pears in tenderness, juiciness, flavor, and quality more closely than any other pear in China. In quality, it is equaled by only one other Oriental pear -- the famous Peking Pai Li. It is equal in this respect to our better American varieties, and certainly as good if not better than our Bartlett. It is large, somewhat variable in shape, although usually somewhat quince-shaped. The color is an attractive cinnamon yellow. The calyx is always persistent. The skin is rather thick and slightly rough. The flesh is tender, melting, juicy, creamy white in color, and grit cells not noticeable in eating. excepting around the core. It is aromatic, sweet with slight acidity, sprightly, very agreeable. This variety is grown only in northern China. The fruit is found on the peking market from early October until the first of January, and is one of the three most popular varieties on that market. I regard this as the most promising Oriental variety ever introduced into this country. While the variety is good enough to introduce and grow just as it is, it may prove of even greater value for breeding purposes. This variety certainly contains considerable P. ussuriensis blood. It may have derived solely from that species, although it appears to be a hybrid between this and some other species. Judging from this, we should expect it to shoe a high degree of resistance to pear blight, and should prove valuable in breeding new blight resistant varieties. Inoculation experiments have shown that it blights in the young shoots but appears to be very resistant in the older wood. Judging from its parentage, it should also prove valuable in breeding hardy varieties for cold regions. The tree is a vigorous, rather spreading grower. -- F.C. Reimer. 1919. Report of a trip to the Orient to collect and study Oriental pears.