Note 29 — Chapter IV · LEADING VARIETIES OF PEARS (continued 2)

Bernard S. Fox was a pioneer nurseryman and fruit-grower in California who gave much time to improving the pear through seedlings. During his stay of thirty years in the state of his adoption he was noted for his energy and enterprise in every industry that had to do with fruit-growing. Fox was an Irishman who came to America in 1848 and began work in the garden and nurseries of Hovey and Company of Boston. A few years later he emigrated with the gold-seekers to California where, shortly, he settled at San Jose as a nurseryman and fruit-grower. Eventually he became possessed of a considerable amount of land the increasing value of which made him a very wealthy man, and he took pleasure in being a patron of horticulture as well as a worker in its several fields. Early in his career at San Jose his interest was aroused in the production of new pears from seed. He was a most conscientious selecter and only the best survived in his orchards. He was at all times extremely anxious not to cumber the list of pears with worthless varieties. Out of a great number of seedlings, only three finally received his approval, P. Barry, Fox, and Colonel Wilder. All have high places in the pear lists of California and the United States, and do honor to an enthusiastic and painstaking breeder of pears. For many years before his death in July, 1880, he was the Vice President of the American Pomological Society for California. Bernard S. Fox was one of the first fruit-growers to bring fame to California, and Californians are justly proud of him.