Note 30 — Chapter IV · LEADING VARIETIES OF PEARS (continued 2)

Peter Kieffer, a nurseryman of good reputation in his state, deserves pomological honors because of his keenness of vision in selecting for distribution the pear which bears his name. Few men would have recognized merit in the seedling from which the Kieffer pear came. Peter Kieffer was born in Alsace in 1812, whence he emigrated to America in 1834. In Europe he had worked for twelve years in the garden of the King of France and upon his arrival in America sought employment as a gardener which he found on the estate of James Gowen at Mt. Airy, near Philadelphia. In 1853 he started a small nursery at Roxborough, a short distance from Philadelphia. Much of his stock was imported from Europe, most of which came from Van Houtte, the famous Belgian nurseryman. From Van Houtte, Kieffer obtained seeds of the Chinese Sand pear from which came the Kieffer pear as described in the history of the variety. As a token of his faith in his new variety, Kieffer planted an orchard of this pear, some of the trees of which still live and bear. Peter Kieffer died in 1890, having made an important contribution to horticulture even though the variety sent out by him is far from perfect and has been much over-praised and over-planted.