Narrative
North American Pomona Vol. XXIII Winter 1990. Exploring The LEDBETTER PEAR, Finding a Genetic Goldmine. by D.N. Griffith, Dadeville, AL 36853. The Ledbetter pear first came to my attention about 1970 when I started showing my interest in pear varieties that would thrive in the southeastern U.S. and also produce an acceptable quality fruit. I had talked with Dr. Alexander Nunn of Loachapoka, AL about it. He had a bearing tree in his home orchard which he had purchased from a local nurseryman named Barringer. Dr. Nunn was very enthusiastic about it, for the tree is almost immune to fireblight and leaf spot, is a strong-growing, globe-shaped tree, is self-pruning, blooms rather late, and is a fairly regular producer. The fruit is medium to large size, round, with an even russett skin. Lopsided fruit is uncommon. In my opinion the flavor is good but not outstanding. The texture is too coarse for most markets, having stone cells that are large but soft, so that they crunch when chewed... The fruit ripens in mid-August in mid-Alabama, ready to be eaten fresh from the tree or to be cooked, canned, or made into Southern-style crunchy-chewy preserves. (A) Ledbetter sons had told me that 'Papa was sawmilling down at Crossroads, between 1900 and 1905 when he saw a thrifty little pear seedling where one of the workers had tossed a core the year before. He dug it up and brought it home in his lunch bucket and set it out in the edge of the garden, beside the road. 'It was about forty feet high, about sixty feet spread and more than 21/2 feet across the single trunk, with only a few dead limbs... I also noticed a smaller tree up the hill, closer to the house-site with a good crop of similar fruit. Since I was on my way to visit Dr. Nunn... (kepping) the two batches separate. After careful scrutiny, he decided that they were from different clones, and comparing them to fruit from his own tree, decided that Mr. Barringer had taken scions from the younger tree. From the viewpoint of the plant breeder, it seems highly important that we have the parent of a good variety,... for more good breeding work. My graft from the older tree has had some minor damage from fire-blight... Then in the early 1980's a... timber company (had) harvested all marketable timber and bulldozed off... both pear trees,... But that wasn't the end of it... the real Ledbetter tree was a half mile away on the Arthur Ledbetter place, still producing well in spite of losing nearly half of its limbs in a storm. Arthur's daughter, Willie Ruth, told me that she remembered that their tree had been dug up and brought there from under the big tree on the Reynolds place, and that it is, now approximately 65 years old. This establishes the relationship of the Ledbetter tree to the big one, but what about the smaller one nearer the house site? And since Arthur had no sons, who was the man who told me that 'Papa was sawmilling down at...'? These questions led me to visit Uncle Benny Ledbetter who is 84... I learned... that there had been a John Ledbetter who had owned and lived on the property, about the turn of the century, which was later sold to Virgil Reynolds. John had a son named Homer... With the great similarity between the real Ledbetter pear that Mr. Barringer propagated and the younger tree at the Virgil Reynolds/John Ledbetter place... In conclusion, it appears that the chance seedling that John Ledbetter brought home in his lunch bucket, near the turn of the century, has produced two offspring, and possibly more, that are locally esteemed and have great resistance to disease. These same genes are still available for breeding more pear varieties for the Southeast. early 1980's a...