To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] exploring early pears
Date: Fri, 29 May 2009 23:04:50 -0500
I've found a tree in the middle of town that has ripe fruit June 15 thru
about July 1. I suspect it is the Early Harvest aka Chambers pear that was
grown all around Louisvillle Ky in the late 1800's. This pear is mentioned
in journals from Ontario thru Maryland where it originated, across Ky and
into Indiana. Lucky put me in touch with James Lawson, now 83, owner and
sole operator of the Lawson nursery in N GA. He has been selling the early
"sugar pear" that was already cropping on property his family bought in
1906. The tree is still cropping in 2009. The fruit is short lived, ripe
in June. He's really not all that far south of me. Years ago someone in KY
sent him scions of a really early pear, and he noted the leaves looked an
awful lot like his early pear. Then the guy sent him a shoebox full of
fruit and it was identical to his. I figure we're right in between those
two states, and anyway, the rather odd leaves on the local tree look much
like the odd leaves shown on the Corvallis site for Early Harvest. Anyone
else in the right part of the country know of a really early pear that
actually comes in right with or even before Yellow Transparent apples?
Donna Cookeville Tenn