North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

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

mIEKAL
   Look at their oriental list too.  Okolo is listed as pyrifolia, but it 
was an OP seedling of ussuriensis.  All the ussuriensis should be pretty 
hardy, and you may find one in there mentioned as having astringent fruit. 
Hung Li is one I think.  That will let you grow pears that are fit to eat, 
and have just one tree to make horrible fruit for blending.  You can vary 
your mix in pressing till you find the perfect ratio.  The tannins should be 
considerably higher in the newly pressed juice than what you'll want in the 
finished product, because a lot will drop out as it ferments.  I think 
another reason you'll be happy with the ussuriensis crosses is that 
supposedly the asian pears crop younger than the Europeans.  I came across 
some reason why they'd stopped using ussuriensis in crosses, but can't 
remember what it is, so it must not have sounded very important to me. 
Hardiness was not the problem.  Oh, but be sure to check that the rootstock 
you get is also hardy, and that is is compatible with asians.  I don't have 
to worry about these things down here, it's all calleryana rootstocks down 
here.  Have fun!  Donna