The pears of New York

by U. P. Hedrick

[31] Patrick Barry, one of the founders of the firm of Ellwanger and Barry, whose Mount Hope Nurseries at Rochester, New York, were long of national and international reputation, was born in Belfast, Ireland, in 1816 and died in Rochester, N. Y., in 1890. Besides contributing to the fame of the nursery company he helped to found, Barry was for many years one of the leading pomological editors and authors of the country. New York, especially western New York, is greatly indebted to George Ellwanger and Patrick Barry for the horticultural services of their firm. It is not an exaggeration to say that they introduced fruit-growing in western New York, a region now famous for its fruits. So, also, the parks and home grounds of the many beautiful cities, towns, and villages in western New York are adorned and enriched by ornamental trees, shrubs and vines from the nurseries of Ellwanger and Barry. Patrick Barry came to America in 1836 and with George Ellwanger founded the Mount Hope Nurseries in 1840. Here for a half century he devoted himself to the introduction and distribution of fruit and out-of-door ornamental plants. In the early life of the nursery company many importations were made from Europe and at a time when there were no railroads, telegraph wires, nor ocean steamboats. It was during this early period that the Mount Hope Nurseries began the importation of pears and soon built up one of the largest collections in the country and one which was maintained long after the famous collections farther east had disappeared. At one time or another over 1000 varieties of pears were tested on the grounds of this nursery. For a half century, fruit-growers have studied with pleasure and profit the exhibits of pears made by Ellwanger and Barry at the State and National exhibitions of note. From 1844 to 1852, Patrick Barry edited The Genesee Farmer, one of the best agricultural papers of its day and succeeded A. J. Downing in the editorship of The Horticulturist which he brought to Rochester in 1855 where it was published until 1887. Barry’s Treatise on the Fruit-Garden appeared in 1851 and at once became one of the most popular books on pomology. In 1872 the "Treatise" was rewritten and published as Barry’s Fruit Garden. Another notable work of which he was author was The Catalogue of Fruits of the American Pomological Society which was compiled by him. Patrick Barry was one of the founders of the Western New York Horticultural Society, for many years the leading horticultural organization of the continent, and of which he was president for more than thirty years. Patrick Barry ranks with Coxe, Kenrick, the Downings, Warder, Eliot, and Thomas as a great leader in pomology of the time in which he lived.

William Crawford Barry, son of Patrick Barry of the preceding sketch, was born in Rochester, New York, in 1847. As a boy he attended parochial schools at Rochester and at Seton Hall, South Orange, New Jersey. As a young man he studied in Berlin, Heidelberg, and the University of Louvain in Belgium. Upon returning to America he took a position in a seed house in New York that he might have practical knowledge of the seed business to bring to the firm of Ellwanger and Barry of which he was soon to become a member. After serving an apprenticeship in the seed business he returned to Rochester to enter the firm which his father and George Ellwanger had founded. From the time of entrance in this company he took a prominent part in its affairs, and for many years before his death, December 12, 1916, he was president of the corporation. Of his horticultural activities, he may be said to have been an organizer and promotor—one of the captains in the industry. For twenty-six years he was president of the Western New York Horticultural Society, having succeeded his father to this office. He was the first president of the American Rose Society, and in 1882 was president of the Eastern Nurserymen’s Association. For three years he was president of the Board of Control of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station. He helped to establish and took a leader’s part in developing the parks of Rochester which have made that city famous among lovers of landscapes. Highland Park was almost a creation of the firm of Ellwanger and Barry. In 1888 the firm gave the city twenty acres of land adjoining the Highland reservoir as the first step in establishing a park system for Rochester. Mr. Barry was chairman of the committee of the park board having in charge Highland Park from the creation of the board until the year before his death when it passed out of existence. Besides these horticultural activities, Mr. Barry was either president or an officer in six banks and trust companies in Rochester. His was a commanding figure in the horticulture of New York. No one attending the meetings of the Western New York Horticultural Society during the twenty-six years he was president can forget Mr. Barry. His knowledge in every division of horticulture, his devotion to grape and pear culture, his genial manner and pleasant greeting to all members, and his force and tact as a presiding officer fitted him so preëminently well for the place that he was unopposed for the presidency during twenty-six terms following the death of his father and until his death.

George Ellwanger, one of the founders and thereafter until his death one of the partners in the Mount Hope Nurseries, Rochester, New York, was born in Germany in 1816 and died in Rochester, New York, in 1906. He came to the United States in 1835, having been educated as a horticulturist in Stuttgart, although possibly the training he received throughout his youth from his father, a grower of grapes and fruits, taught him most, for Ellwanger often said that it was from his father that he acquired his love of horticulture and was by him persuaded to devote his life to the vocation of nurseryman. Ellwanger settled in Rochester in 1839, and the next year joined with Patrick Barry in forming the nursery and seed firm of Ellwanger and Barry, calling their place of business "Mount Hope Nurseries." Ellwanger was one of the founders of the American Pomological Society, and of the Western New York Horticultural Society and throughout his life took an active interest in both organizations. Mr. Ellwanger had large business interests in Rochester and western New York and helped most materially to develop the city and the country about. His chief contributions to horticulture were made through the Mount Hope Nurseries, the influence of which is briefly set forth in the sketch of the life of Patrick Barry.

[32] Henry Waggoman Edwards, at one time Governor of Connecticut, was a pioneer American pear breeder credited with making the first systematic attempt to grow new pears in this country. He was a grandson of the eminent theologian, Jonathan Edwards, was born at New Haven, Conn., in 1779, graduated at Princeton College in 1797, studied law at the Litchfield School and almost immediately entered into public life shortly to become prominent and famous in state and nation. He served Connecticut with honors as its Governor, and in the nation he distinguished himself as Representative in the House from Connecticut, Speaker of the House and as Senator. But it is as a pomologist that his career is of concern to the reader. Always interested in pomology, and no doubt especially interested in pears through the spectacular work of Van Mons, he planted pear seeds in the fall of 1817 with the aim of obtaining new and superior varieties of this fruit. Great success did not attend his attempts at pear breeding, but Governor Edwards made a start in work which Manning, Wilder and a score of others were to carry forward with more striking results. Out of many seedlings, at least five were named and were grown for a longer or shorter time by the pear-growers of a century ago. These are Elizabeth, Calhoun, Dallas, Henrietta and Citron, all described among the minor varieties of this text. While hardly to be considered among the foremost pomologists of the country, Governor Edwards is in the front rank of the lesser men whose combined work has done so much to give weight and impulse to American pomology.

Transcriber's Notes:

Illustrations were relocated to correspond to their references in the text, therefore page numbers listed in the INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS are not accurate anymore.

Obvious printer errors corrected and inconsistent spellings have been kept, including inconsistent use of hyphen (e.g. "after-flavor" and "after flavor"), accents (e.g. "Müskirte" and "Muskirte"), capitalisation (e.g. "Nec plus Meuris" and "Nec Plus Meuris"), and proper names (e.g. "Luxemburg" and "Luxembourg").

Index entries that do not match their referenced text corrected (except where the text is an obvious printer error) and if necessary moved to the correct position according to alphabetical order, e.g. "Langstielege Zuckerbirne" corrected to be "Langstielige Zuckerbirne". Index entries that refer to non-existent text have been deleted.

Page 247, word "it" removed from sentence "...though it it seems...."

Page 284, word "it" removed from sentence "...where it it is...."