North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Kieran &/or Donna" <holycow@frontiernet.net>]

Yes, the trouble with clones is that no matter how nice they are, one 
becomes tired of them.  The first Bradford pear I ever saw was beautiful. 
The next 10 were pretty nice.  But the next 100 began to irritate me.  Too 
much perfection, too bland, like living room furniture instead of living 
plants.  Now Bradfords look like sore spots on the landscape to me.  I just 
could never take anyone seriously if I knew they planted one.
   Clones are so much alike that after seeing a zillion Kieffer trees, one 
glance at other pear varieties is enough to tell me I'm looking at something 
different.  There, I brought that back to fruit trees very nicely didn't I? 
Hey Jim, that reminds me.  That pear rootstock probably has nice long 
leaves, bigger than a normal pear leaf, eh?  Same for this sour round thing 
I found, only what I found is probably pyrifolia.  The pure Aisans have big 
long weird leaves.  The Henderson I got from Chris Inhulsen looks like it 
will be very pretty.  I've only seen his in winter.  Donna