Onlayn kitobni bepul oʻqish The Pears of New York
State of New York—Department of Agriculture
Twenty-ninth Annual Report—Vol. 2—Part II
THE
PEARS OF NEW YORK
BY
U. P. HEDRICK
ASSISTED BY
G. H. HOWE
O. M. TAYLOR
E. H. FRANCIS
H. B. TUKEY
Report of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station for the Year 1921
II
ALBANY
J. B. LYON COMPANY, PRINTERS
1921
NEW YORK AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION,
Geneva, N. Y., October 1, 1921.
To the Honorable Board of Control of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station:
Gentlemen:—I have the honor to transmit herewith the manuscript of the sixth of the series of monographs on fruits, to be entitled “The Pears of New York.” I recommend that, under the authority of chapter 636 of the Laws of 1919, this be submitted for publication as Part II of the report of this Station for 1921.
The wide-spread use of and frequent expressions of appreciation for the preceding books of this series are ample justification for the preparation and publication of this similar treatise on pears. Further, the added years of experience and observation of Dr. Hedrick and his assistants serve to bring each successive monograph to a higher state of excellence and completeness. The present work is a splendid example of painstaking care in the collection and compilation of all available evidence concerning all known varieties of pears.
With the publication of this volume, the series will include books on apples, peaches, plums, cherries and pears, all of our leading tree-fruits of the non-citrus type. The book on grapes and the “Sturtevant’s Notes on Edible Plants” are similar treatises published in uniform style with those dealing with tree-fruits and it is hoped that the series may eventually be extended to include similar discussions of small fruits.
“The Pears of New York” cannot fail to find an extremely useful place in the literature of fruit-growing, and its publication will be welcomed by the fruit growers of the State and by horticulturists the world over.
R. W. THATCHER,
Director
PREFACE
The Pears of New York is sixth in the series of books on hardy fruits being published by the New York Agricultural Experiment Station. The object and scope of these treatises have been given in prefaces of the preceding books, and though this work does not differ from its predecessors, for the convenience of readers the aim and the contents of the book in hand are set forth in this foreword.
Broadly speaking, the aim is to make The Pears of New York a complete record of the development of the pear wherever cultivated up to the present time. With this end in view an attempt is made: To give an account of the history and uses of the pear; to depict the botanical characters of cultivated pears; to describe pear growing in this country and more particularly in New York; and, lastly, to give in full detail the synonymy, bibliography, economic status, and full descriptions of the most important cultivated pears with brief notices of varieties of minor importance.
The reader will want to know what considerations have governed the selection of varieties for color plates and full descriptions. These are several: (1) The value of a variety for home or commercial orchards. (2) Noteworthy new varieties. (3) Varieties desirable in breeding new pears. (4) A few sorts are described and illustrated to show the trend of evolution in the pear.
In the use of horticultural names the rules of the American Pomological Society as adopted at the meeting in Columbus, Ohio, in 1919, have been followed. With a very few varieties these rules have not been followed since the changes required by their strict observance would augment rather than diminish confusion.
The references given are those that have been used in ascertaining the history and economic status or in verifying the description of varieties. The synonyms created by pomologists whose works we have had have been noted, but in no case are synonyms given only when quoted by pomologists from another writer. One of the chief aims of The Pears of New York is to set straight in high degree the names of pears.
Biographical sketches of men who have been most prominent in pear growing in the United States are to be found in the footnotes. These are written to give in some measure the credit and honor due to those who introduced new varieties or improved their culture. A knowledge of the career of these men is indispensable to a full comprehension of the industry of growing pears.
U. P. HEDRICK,
Horticulturist, New York Agricultural Experiment Station
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
Prefacev
Index to Illustrationsix
Chapter I. —History of the Pear1
Chapter II. —Species of Pears and Their Characters57
Chapter III. —Pear Culture83
Chapter IV. —Leading Varieties of Pears122
Chapter V. —Minor Varieties of Pears236
Bibliography, References, and Abbreviations589
Index599
INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS
Portrait of Marshall P. WilderFrontispiece
FACING PAGE Description of a Pear68
VARIETIES
André Desportes122
Ansault122
Bartlett124
Belle Lucrative126
Beurré D’Anjou128
Beurré Bosc130
Beurré Clairgeau132
Beurré Diel134
Beurré Giffard134
Beurré Hardy136
Beurré Superfin138
Bloodgood138
Brandywine140
Buffum142
Clapp Favorite142
Colonel Wilder144
Columbia144
Dana Hovey146
Dearborn148
Dorset150
Doyenné D’Alençon152
Doyenné Boussock152
Doyenné du Comice154
Duchesse D’Angoulême156
Duchesse D’Orléans156
Duhamel du Monceau158
Early Harvest158
Easter Beurré160
Elizabeth162
Flemish Beauty164
Fontenay166
Frederick Clapp170
Gansel Seckel170
Glou Morceau172
Guyot174
Howell174
Idaho176
Jargonelle178
Joséphine de Malines180
Kieffer182
Koonce184
Lamy184
Lawrence186
Le Conte188
Léon Leclerc (Van Mons)190
Lincoln190
Lincoln Coreless192
Louise Bonne de Jersey194
Madeleine196
Margaret196
Marie Louise198
Mount Vernon200
Onondaga202
Ontario202
P. Barry204
Passe Colmar206
Pitmaston208
Pound208
Président Drouard210
Pyrus betulaefolia80
Pyrus serotina74
Reeder212
Riehl Best212
Roosevelt214
Rutter214
Seckel216
Sheldon218
Souvenir du Congrès218
Souvenir D’Espéren220
Sudduth220
Summer Doyenné222
Tyson222
Urbaniste224
Vermont Beauty226
Vicar of Winkfield228
White Doyenné230
Wilder Early230
Winter Bartlett232
Winter Nelis234
Worden Seckel234
THE PEARS OF NEW YORK
CHAPTER I
HISTORY OF THE PEAR
The pear has no history if history be defined as a record of evolution. Even the annals of the pear, which but state events in chronological order, are a heap of confused facts and dates with important data missing at every turn. The origin of the cultivated pear is so completely hidden in prehistoric darkness that it can never be known precisely from what wild pear it came. The historian must content himself with recording what the pear was when written records began; what the touch of time has done since the first written accounts; and what the events and by whom directed which have aided time in making its impressions since cultivated pears have accompanied its flight.
Happily, it does not matter much what the pear was before husbandmen appeared on the scene. But from the day the pear began to supply the needs of men, and in its turn to require ministration from those it nourished, its history becomes of importance to all mankind. Those whom it helps sustain as well as those who tend the pear, may well ask: What was the raw material when the domestication of the pear began? How has this material been fashioned into the pear of the present? Who began domestication and who has carried it forward? And, gauged by past progress, what further progress is possible? These are questions of prime importance to those who seek to improve the pear; they throw light on the culture of the pear; and they are of general interest to all husbandmen, and to all interested in the world’s food supply. The history of the pear is important, as has been said, only as it is connected with the history of man. Yet, this history must begin with the wild pear.
WILD PEARS
Botanists number from twenty to twenty-five species of pears, all of which are found in the northern hemisphere of the Old World, there being no true pear native to the southern hemisphere or to the New World. Some ten or twelve wild pears are found in China, several of which overrun the limits of China; three or four are natives of Japan; at least one has its habitat in Korea; another is to be found in the western Himalayas; while the remainder, some eight or ten species, are found westward from Turkestan, through Persia and Asia Minor into southern and western Europe and northern Africa. From these statements as to habitats it is seen that pears grow wild over a very extended area and under quite varied conditions; therefore, it would be expected that the several species are quite distinct, differing chiefly, however, from a horticultural point of view, in the fruits.
But three of these wild species are now under common cultivation, though it is possible that through hybridization the blood of one or two more are to be found in cultivated varieties. Several others have horticultural possibilities either for their fruit, as means through which new characters may be introduced into cultivated pears, or as stocks upon which to grow orchard varieties. The three species of chief horticultural importance are Pyrus communis Linn., P. nivalis Jacq., and P. serotina Rehd.
The pear of common cultivation in ancient and modern orchards is Pyrus communis, native of southern Europe and Asia as far east as Kashmir. The species is now to be found naturalized in forests and byways of northern Europe, as it is in parts of America, so that it is impossible to tell precisely what its ancient habitat was. While most often to be found in mountainous regions in the great area which it inhabits, wild pears are common enough in the forests of Europe and western Asia so that it is probable that most of the early inhabitants of this part of the Old World enlivened their fare, obtained with the spear or the bow, with ready-made food from the pear. The species runs into at least three botanical forms, a dozen or more horticultural divisions and between two and three thousand orchard varieties.
Pyrus nivalis, the Snow pear, is a small tree native of southern Europe, more particularly of Austria and northern Italy, from which region it has spread in modern times as an escape from cultivation into neighboring countries. It is called Snow pear because the fruits are not fit to eat until after snow falls. The French call it the “Sage-leaved pear” (Poirier sauger), from the fact that the under side of the leaves is covered with down so that the leaf resembles that of garden sage. The Snow pear is cultivated in southern Europe, particularly in France, for the making of perry for which purpose several varieties are grown. Probably the Greeks and Romans used fruit of this species for perry so that it may be said to have had attention from man, if not care under cultivation, from the earliest times. It is doubtful if it has been hybridized with P. communis, parent of nearly all cultivated pears. The Snow pear is not cultivated in America but is to be found in botanical collections.
From Pyrus serotina came the Japanese, Chinese, or Sand pears of pomologists. The species is a native of central and eastern China and is found wild in Japan, but whether as a native or as an escape from cultivation it is impossible to say. There are three botanical forms of the species and possibly a score of horticultural varieties cultivated for their fruits and as ornamentals. Of all the species of Pyrus found in western Asia, this, in the light of present knowledge, is most closely related to the common pear, with which it hybridizes freely.
We have now discovered in what countries the progenitors of cultivated pears grow spontaneously, and are therefore ready to search for the first landmarks in the domestication of the three cultivated species. What has ancient literature to say on the subject? We turn first to the Bible and find that the pear is not mentioned in sacred literature, and that, according to commentators on the Sanscrit and Hebrew languages, there is no name in the tongues of Biblical lands for the pear. Nor should we expect ancient notices of the pear in north-west India or Persia, for the pear does not flourish in hot countries. The survey next turns to ancient Greece where landmarks are at once sighted which must be put down as the earliest records of the pear, and as such deserve full consideration.
THE PEAR IN ANCIENT GREECE
In ancient Greece we find the first landmarks and begin the history of the pear as a cultivated plant. It is wrong, however, to assume that the beginning of the cultivation of the pear, or of any plant, was contemporaneous with the writing of even the oldest books. Mention of a cultivated plant in a book is proof that its domestication antedates the writing of the book. It is not easy to imagine tribes of semi-civilized men in southern Europe and Asia who did not make use of the apples, pears, quinces, plums, cherries, almonds, olives, figs, pomegranates, and grapes which grew wild in this land of gardens and orchards, and who did not minister to their needs as husbandmen long before men wrote books. Names for orchard operations, as planting, grafting, and pruning, in the simplest dialects of primitive peoples, establish the fact that husbandry long antedates writing, as would be expected from the greater need of the one than of the other.
Plutarch, a Greek writer, A.D. 50-120, enlightens us as to the early use of the pear by the Greeks, and also as to the Grecian name for the fruit and tree. He says in his Greek Questions (51):
“Why do the boys of the Argives playing at a certain festival call themselves Ballachrades? (Ballo, I throw; achras, a wild pear.)
“It is because they say that those who were first brought down by Inachus (founder of Argos) from the rural districts into the plains were nourished on wild pears (achrades). But wild pears (they say) were first seen by the Greeks in Peloponnesus, when that country was still called Apia; whence wild pears were named apioi. (Apios, a pear-tree; apion, a pear.)”
The pear is one of the “gifts of the gods” which Homer tells us grew in the garden of Alcinöus. It is certain, therefore, whether or not this is the earliest mention of the pear in Greek literature, that in Homer’s time, nearly one thousand years before the Christian era, the pear was cultivated in Greece. As this garden of Alcinöus furnishes the earliest noteworthy landmarks of the pear, and is moreover the most renowned of heroic times, an early paradise of trees, vines, and herbs, it is worth while to take a look at it with a view of discovering the status of the pear at this early date. Stripped of the harmonious rhyme and pleasing rhythm of Homer’s poetry, the garden is described in English prose as follows:
“And without the court-yard hard by the door is a great garden, of four plough-gates, and a hedge runs round on either side. And there grow tall trees blossoming, pear-trees and pomegranates, and apple-trees with bright fruit, and sweet figs, and olives in their bloom. The fruit of these trees never perisheth, neither faileth winter or summer, enduring through all the year. Evermore the West Wind blowing brings some fruits to birth and ripens others. Pear upon pear waxes old, and apple on apple, yea, and cluster ripens upon cluster of the grape, and fig upon fig. There too hath he a faithful vineyard planted, whereof the one part is being dried by the heat, a sunny plot on level ground, while other grapes men are gathering, and yet others they are treading in the wine-press. In the foremost row are unripe grapes that cast the blossom, and others there be that are growing black to vintaging. There too, skirting the furthest line, are all manner of garden beds, planted trimly, that are perpetually fresh, and therein are two fountains of water, whereof one scatters his streams all about the garden, and the other runs over against it beneath the threshold of the court-yard, and issues by the lofty house, and thence did the townsfolk draw water.—These were the splendid gifts of the gods in the palace of Alcinöus.[1]”
Divested of the spell with which the poet’s flight of imagination bewitches us, we find that the wonderful garden of Alcinöus is, after all, rather trifling, probably of small extent, and containing an orchard, a vineyard, garden beds and two fountains of water, which brings us to the conclusion that this renowned garden would cut but a sorry figure beside modern gardens; but, on the other hand, we are made sure that certain fruits, among them the pear, were commonly cultivated in Greece a thousand years before Christ’s time. There is no hint in Homer as to whether there were as yet varieties of pears, or as to whether fruits were as yet pruned, grafted, fertilized and otherwise cared for. For indications that these arts of the orchard were under practice, we must pass on to the writings of another great Greek, Theophrastus.
Between Homer and Theophrastus nearly 600 years intervene, in all of which time traces of the pear are few and uncertain. But from Theophrastus, to whom botanists accord the title “Father of Botany,” we know that orcharding had been making progress, and that the pear, among other fruits, must have been as well known and nearly as well cared for in his time, 370-286 B.C., as in this twentieth century. All the expedients we now know to assist nature to bring pears to perfection, save spraying and cross-pollination, were known to Theophrastus, although of course the evolution from the wild state as indicated by number and diversity of kinds had not progressed so far. Out of one of the books of Theophrastus, Enquiry into Plants, a very good treatise on the pear might be compiled and one better worth following than many of his more modern imitators. To quote Theophrastus at length is impossible, but space must be given to a summary of what he says about pears.
Theophrastus distinguishes between wild and cultivated pears and says that the cultivated forms have received names. He speaks of the propagation of pears from seeds, roots, and cuttings and makes plain that plants grown from seed “lose the character of their kind and produce a degenerate kind.” Grafting is described. The nature of the ground is said to regulate the distance for planting pears, and the lower slopes of hills are recommended as the best sites for pear orchards. Root-pruning, girdling the stems, and driving iron pegs in the trunk and other methods of “punishing” trees are said to hasten the bearing time. Even the necessity of cross-pollination is recognized though of course the reasons for it are not known. Thus, Theophrastus says: “Trees which are apt to shed their fruit before ripening it are almond, apple, pomegranate, pear, and, above all, fig and date-palm; and men try to find the suitable remedies for this. This is the reason for the process called ‘caprification’; gall-insects come out of the wild figs which are hanging there, eat the tops of the cultivated figs, and so make them swell.” The growth of the pear on various soils and in diverse situations is compared; he makes mention of a “peculiar, red and hairy worm” which infested the pear of these old Greek orchards. In Pontus, it is stated, “pears and apples are abundant in a great variety of forms and are excellent.” “General diseases” are enumerated as “those of being worm-eaten, sun-scorched, and rot.” Certain affections due to season and situation are mentioned, as freezing, scorching, and injury from winds.
This is but a brief epitome of what Theophrastus writes of the pomology of the Greeks, and only topics in which the pear is specifically mentioned are set down and not all of these. By inference, one who reads Theophrastus might apply much more to the pear. Yet enough has been said to prove the point that pear culture was as well established in Greece 300 years B.C. as in 1900 years A.D. One leaves Theophrastus, satisfied that pear-growers of his day had about the same problems that growers have nowadays and solved them by the same sort of reasoning intelligence.
In crediting Theophrastus as the earliest writer on pomology, we may assume that there were earlier writers from whom he must have received much knowledge. Perhaps greater writers on botany and pomology preceded him, since he cites older authors on the same subjects whose books have been lost. His alone of the books of its kind have come down to us from ancient Greece. Theophrastus was the friend and pupil of Aristotle, another philosopher and prince of science, and both in turn were taught by Plato. Who shall say, then, from whence Theophrastus received his knowledge? Aristotle is said to have written two books on botany antedating the Enquiry into Plants of Theophrastus, neither of which has survived the passing centuries. May not these great minds have been indebted to authors whose books and names have perished? These speculations serve to remind us again that the beginnings of botany and pomology long antedate written records.
There were Greeks who wrote on agriculture after Theophrastus, and before the Roman treatises on farm management, a few of which are to be mentioned in the next topic. Of books, as monuments of vanished minds, however, there are none to indicate the activities of Greek farmers who wrote, but there are citations to show that ancient Greek literature on farming was voluminous. Thus, Marcus Terentius Varro (B.C. 116-28), called “the most learned of the Romans,” in his eightieth year wrote a book on Roman agriculture for the guidance of his wife in the practice of farming. Learned old Varro believed in “book farming,” or science with practice, of which we hear so much nowadays. He begins his treatise by invoking Greek and Roman deities to aid his wife, and names fifty monographs on husbandry written by Greeks, in which, he tells this early farmerette, she will find all of the practical information she needs. This is but one of several sources from which we learn that in the making of books on agriculture there was no end in the heroic days of Greece as in modern times.
THE PEAR IN ANCIENT ROME
Italy, by common consent, is the garden of the world, and it would be strange if the pear had not been taken to this favored land with the earliest tillers of orchards, or if attempts had not been made to domesticate the wild pears found in the northern mountains. And so we may assume, with no very definite proofs, that the pear was cultivated in ancient Rome some hundreds of years before the Christian era. In Cato, the first book written in Latin on agriculture, the pear is discussed, and six varieties are named and described. What had this illustrious Roman, known generally as a statesman and scholar, to do with pomology?
Marcus Portius Cato (B.C. 235-150), called the elder Cato, besides serving Rome in state and army, wrote a treatise on farming, fruit-growing, and gardening, which, first of its kind in Latin literature, may be read with greater profit than the works of most writers of our own day in agriculture. Cato was preeminently the first agricultural philosopher, and no one who has followed him has packed more shrewd agricultural philosophy in a book than he. But it is as a pomologist that Cato concerns us most at this time. Cato describes almost every method of propagating, grafting, caring for, and keeping fruits known to twentieth-century fruit-growers. He describes, also, many varieties of fruits, as well as of vegetables, grains, and breeds of farm animals. Among Cato’s fruits are six varieties of pears. What is of especial interest in this history is that Cato writes as if the practices of agriculture and the plants and animals he described were not only established but ancient in his time.
Varro, whose standing as a Roman writer on agriculture is noted above, says nothing of varieties of pears, but gives directions for grafting pear-trees, among other methods that of inarching of which he seems the first ancient writer to take note, thereby justifying, in small degree, it is true, the appellation often given him, “the most modern of all the ancients.” Varro also tells how pears should be stored. While, therefore, he says nothing that helps in following the evolution of the pear, yet his accounts of grafting and storing make plain the fact that this fruit was a standard product of the times. Were it worth while, still other early Roman treatises on husbandry might be quoted to establish the place of the pear in the agriculture of ancient Rome, but it is chiefly in the evolution of the fruit we are concerned and so pass from Varro to Pliny, who, in his Natural History, adds to Cato’s six varieties thirty-five new sorts, giving a total of forty-one for the generation following Christ.
Pliny, more or less discredited as a scientist because he was a compiler and, as the men of science for science sake never forget to point out, at all times of a utilitarian bent of mind, makes a most important contribution to the history of the pear as a domesticated fruit. Indefatigable compiler as he was, few cultivated pears of his or more ancient times could have escaped his notice, and the thread of the utilitarian running through his Natural History makes all the more important what he has to say in this study of the domestication and improvement of the pear. A good authority says that there are sixty manuscript copies of Pliny and eighty different editions, no two of which are exactly alike. Allowing some latitude, therefore, to the translator, Pliny’s descriptions of pears run as follows:
[1] The Odyssey, Book VII. Translated by S. H. Butcher and A. Lang.
“For the same reason (as in the case of apples) in the case of pears the name Superba (proud) is given; these are small, but earliest ripe. The Crustumia are most pleasant to all; next to these the Falerna, so called from the wine, since they have such abundance of sap or milk, as it is called; among these are those which others call Syrian from their dark color. Of the rest, some are called by one name in one place and by another in another. Some by their Roman names reveal their discoverers, as the Decimiana, and what they call the Pseudo-Decimiana, derived from that; the Dolabelliana with their long stalk; the Pomponiana of protuberant (full-breasted) shape; the Liceriana; the Seviana and those which spring from these, the Turraniana, distinguished by their length of stalk; the Favoniana of reddish color, a little larger than the Superba; the Lateriana; the Aniciana, which ripens in late autumn and has a pleasant acid flavor. The Tiberiana are so called because the Emperor Tiberius was very fond of them. They get more color from the sun and grow to larger size, but otherwise are the same as the Liceriana. These bear the name of the country from which they come; the Amerina, latest of all; the Picentina; the Numantina; the Alexandria; the Numidiana; the Greek and among them the Tarentine, the Signina, which others from their color call Testacea (like tiles, or brick-colored), like the Onychina (onyx) and Purpurea (purple). From their odor are named the Myrapia (myrrh-pear), Laurea (laurel), Nardina (nard); from their season the Hordearia (barley, at the barley-harvest); from the shape of their neck the Ampullacea (flask). The Coriolana and Bruttia have family-names (Coriolanus, Brutus); the Cucurbitina (gourd-pears) are so called from their bitter taste. The origin of the name is unknown in the case of the Barbarica and the Veneria which they call colored; the Regia, which are attached to a very short stalk; the Patricia; the Voconia, which are green and oblong. Virgil mentions also the Volema, taken from Cato, who names also the Sementiva and the Mustea.[2]”
It is pertinent to inquire, now, as to what types of pears the ancients had. Such an inquiry leads up to another and much more important question: Have new characters appeared in pears since Pliny wrote? If so, it may be possible that we shall be forced to assume that man’s dominancy over this fruit has produced the new characters, in which case search might be made for the key to unlock more new characters. For the present, however, only the first question can be considered, before going into which it is necessary to know what the most prominent characters of the pear are. Only those of the fruit need be named.
There are twenty outstanding characters which differentiate the varieties of pears now cultivated, not taking account of those introduced by the hybridization of P. communis with P. serotina which has given pomology the Kieffer-like varieties. These characters are: Smooth or russet skin; red, yellow, or green color; large or small size; early or late season; long or short stem; round, oblate, ovate, and pyriform shapes; granular, buttery, or breaking flesh; sweet or acid flavor. In the pears described by Pliny so many of these characters are mentioned or may be assumed to be present from inference, that the conclusion is forced that in the many new pure-bred pears of P. communis which have come into existence since Pliny’s time, showing a great shuffling of characters in pear-breeding, it is doubtful whether new characters have come into being in 2000 years. This, in turn, forces the conclusion that if this fruit is to be greatly changed, the change must come about through hybridization with other species.
Another quotation from Pliny shows that the Romans valued pears as a medicine as well as a food, had curious notions as to their digestibility, and, as with most plants, ascribed other marvelous qualities to them. Thus, Pliny says:
“All kinds of pears, as an aliment, are indigestible, to persons in robust health, even; but to invalids they are forbidden as rigidly as wine. Boiled, however, they are remarkably agreeable and wholesome, those of the Crustumium in particular. All kinds of pears, too, boiled with honey, are wholesome to the stomach. Cataplasms of a resolvent nature are made with pears, and a decoction of them is used to disperse indurations. They are efficacious, also, in cases of poisoning by mushrooms and fungi, as much by reason of their heaviness, as by the neutralizing effects of their juice.
“The wild pear ripens but very slowly. Cut in slices and hung in the air to dry, it arrests looseness of the bowels, an effect which is equally produced by a decoction of it taken in drink; in which case the leaves are also boiled up together with the fruit. The ashes of pear-tree wood are even more efficacious as an antidote to the poison of fungi.
“A load of apples or pears, however small, is singularly fatiguing to beasts of burden; the best plan to counteract this, they say, is to give the animals some to eat, or at least to show them the fruit before starting.”
There is in the books of these old farmer-writers a mass of sagacious teachings which can never be outlived—will always underlay the best practice. Followed carefully, except in the matter of pests, the precepts of Cato and Varro would as certainly lead to success as the mandates of the modern experiment stations with all the up-to-date appliances for carrying out their commands. Sagacity fails, however, in one respect in these Roman husbandmen—all are fettered by superstitions. In these old books on the arts of husbandry, woven in with the practical precepts, which stand well the test of science, superstitions abound beyond present belief. Thus, whenever the discourse turns to pears, from Diophanes, who lived in Asia Minor a century before Christ, down through the ages in Greece, Italy, France, Belgium to the eighteenth century in England, runs the superstition, with various modifications, that to grow the best pears you must bore a hole through the trunk at the ground and drive in a plug of oak or beech over which the earth must be drawn. If the wound does not heal, it must be washed for a fortnight with the lees of wine. As the superstition waned, the apologetic injunction usually follows, that, in any event the wine-lees will improve the flavor of the fruit. Another superstition, current for centuries, accepted by Cato and Varro, and handed on with abiding faith almost to modern times was, as stated by Barnaby Googe, a farmer and writer subject of Queen Elizabeth, “if you graffe your peare upon a Mulbery, you shall have red Peares.” Stories of promiscuous grafting abound in the old books. Another is that if an apple be grafted on the pear, the fruit is a “pearmain.”
After Pliny follows a dreary and impenetrable period of 1500 years, in which time but few new facts regarding the evolution of the pear come to light in what is now Italy. The pear is mentioned, it is true, by many Roman writers, but all copy Theophrastus, Cato, and Pliny. Dioscorides, a learned Greek physician and botanist, who may be said to have been the author of the first book of “applied science” in botany, was the great botanical and pomological authority for the first 1600 years of the present era, many editions of his book appeared and in several languages, and it is he who is most often quoted by writers on fruits even until the seventeenth century, but he adds nothing new on the pear, and does not even extend the list of known varieties. During these 1600 years a great number of voluminous commentaries on Dioscorides appeared, in several of which names of new pears are mentioned, but, with the exception of one writer, the descriptions are so terse that the new sorts cannot be connected with older or later periods. The exception is Matthiolus (1501-1577), but since the English herbalists, in their turn, largely copy Matthiolus, with valuable amplifications, it is better to give space further on to them.
Perhaps one more name should be mentioned among the Roman writers. Messer Pietro de Crescenzi, an Italian born at Bologna in 1230, wrote a book on agriculture in which the chapters on fruits are especially well written. For reasons to be mentioned, this book had a remarkable influence on the horticulture of Europe for the next three or four centuries. With the discovery of printing, nearly two centuries after the book was written, Crescenzi was published in numerous editions and in several languages to the great enlightenment of pomologists on the cultivation of fruits, but with small additions to the knowledge of the fruits themselves. Whether because the book was really the most serviceable of its kind in the world for four centuries, or whether by virtue of the happy circumstance of being many times printed, it had absolute supremacy over other agricultural texts, is now too late to judge. There is good reason to suspect that Crescenzi’s is the precedence of circumstance, for he stole page after page from Palladius, of the fourth century, who, to be sure, in his turn, copied Columella and the Greeks. Most of these borrowings, however, meet the requirement of being “bettered by the borrower” that separates adoption from plagiarism.
One other landmark, though a somewhat inconspicuous one, in the history of the pear in Italy, is deserving brief mention. Toward the middle of the sixteenth century Agostino Gallo, an Italian, wrote The Twenty Days of Agriculture and the Charms of Country Life. With the fall of the Roman Empire in the fifth century, agriculture was reduced to the production of the necessities of life and pomology all but perished. It required a thousand years to recover from the domination of the barbarian conqueror of Rome. Hence, it is not surprising that Gallo names but twelve varieties of pears instead of the forty-one of Pliny. Gallo says that he does not name all of the summer pears, but leaves the inference that his list is complete for autumn and winter sorts. There probably was a greater number under cultivation at this time in Italy, but Gallo’s list shows that the number was small. Gallo is regarded as the restorer of agriculture in Italy after the dark ages, and as one of the most enlightened men of his time, so that we may accept him as an accurate historian. Besides furnishing a list of the pears of his day in Italy, Gallo names two that are now under cultivation—Bergamot and Bon Chrétien.
THE PEAR IN FRANCE
Who introduced the pear in France matters little. The Greeks who founded Marseille 600 B.C. may have done so. The Romans, masters of ancient Gaul for centuries, undoubtedly planted pears at widely separated places and in earliest times of Roman occupation. Or, and quite possibly, the original natives of the land began the domestication of the pear for, as we have seen, two cultivated species grow wild in what is now France. Date and manner of introduction matter less than a recognizable landmark in the history of the pear as an orchard plant in France. There is such a landmark and a conspicuous one.
Charlemagne, the many-sided genius who ruled the Franks in the ninth century, exercised his powerful influence in behalf of agriculture during the time of his reign, and to him is due credit for establishing the first notable landmark in the history of the pear in France. We are well informed of Charlemagne’s various activities while in power, for official annals were kept at the Frankish Court. Charlemagne’s secretary has left a biography of his master, and many of the King’s Capitularies, or lists of laws, are extant. In these records, agriculture is a matter of constant comment and the pear is often up for discussion. One quotation serves to show that this fruit was cultivated in considerable variety in Charlemagne’s orchards.
In the Capitulaire de Villis, Chapter LXX, Charlemagne is reported to have commanded his orchardists to plant pears of distinct kinds for distinct purposes. That the command was of sufficient importance to be recorded in a capitulaire indicates that Charlemagne esteemed this fruit. The order runs: “Plant pear trees whose products, because of pleasant flavor, could be eaten raw, those which will furnish fruits for cooking, and, finally, those which mature late to serve for use in winter.” There is little information in this brief command, but it tells us that a considerable number of varieties of pears were grown in France in the ninth century, and that they were of sufficient importance to hold the attention of a great and busy monarch.
Either the culture of the pear abruptly ceased with the death of Charlemagne or records ceased to be kept that would throw light on the agriculture of the next five centuries, for from the tenth to the fifteenth century is an uncharted waste in the history of the pear in France. Undoubtedly pears were cultivated during this time by the monks who had the time, the taste, and the land for carrying on agriculture. When the pear comes to light again in the happier period for pomology of the sixteenth century, the many names of monasteries in the list of varieties suggest that the monks not only busied themselves with the culture of the fruit but greatly increased the number of kinds of pears.
Three great minds now appeared to make France the leading country in the production of agricultural literature in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and all paid attention to pomology. The names of Charles Estienne, Olivier de Serres, and Le Lectier in agriculture mark the departure from traditions handed down from the old Greeks and Romans to the beginning of a new agriculture founded on first-hand study and observation. The printing-press, it is true, was now an invaluable ally, but these three men were of an original bent of mind and would have been distinguished in any period before printing.
Charles Estienne, the first and the least of these three early geniuses of French agriculture, published several works on agriculture, mostly compilations, but all containing original observations, in one of which, his “Seminarium,” printed in Paris in 1540, is a list of sixteen pears with brief descriptions of each. Not one of Estienne’s pears is now important, but all appear in the histories of minor sorts in the last chapter of this text.
De Serres, known in France as “The Father of Agriculture,” published his Le Théâtre d’Agriculture in 1608, a book ever to be notable in agriculture as the first to break wholly away from the 1600 years of repetition of book after book in the languages of Europe which but copied the ancients. De Serres was a good farmer—most of his farming operations have not been improved upon; he founded the first experimental farm of which there is record at his home near Pradel and so became the first of a long line of modern experimenters in agriculture. Lastly, De Serres was a charming writer and his book rapidly ran through many editions and was translated into several languages. To him must be given credit for first sounding the alluring call of “back to the land” which rings from nearly every page of his books. Here is his appeal to plant pears; and words could hardly make it simpler, more charming, and more compelling:
“There is no tree among all those planted which abounds so much in kinds of fruits as the pear tree, whose different sorts are innumerable and their different qualities wonderful. For from the month of May to that of December pears good to eat are found on the trees. In considering particularly the different shapes, sizes, colors, flavors, and odors of the pear, who will not adore the wisdom of the creator. Pears are found round, long ‘goderonnees’[3] pointed, blunt, small, and large. Gold, silver, vermillion, and satin green are found among the pears. Sugar, honey, cinnamon, clove, flavor them. They smell of musk, amber, and chive. In short, so excellent are the fruits that an orchard would not be worth while in a place where pear trees do not thrive.”
This laudation of the pear, in which it is made manifest that many pears of diverse shapes, colors, flavors, and perfumes existed in the year 1600, is all that space permits from De Serres, though much could be quoted as to the care of pear orchards, and a list of kinds could be given, of which, however, the descriptions count for but little. Le Lectier, to whom we now come, is a better authority on varieties.
Le Lectier, an attorney of the king at Orleans, was an amateur fruit collector, but a collector who reflected and printed his reflections. He seems to have been about the first of the many collectors who, with fruit-growing as an avocation, have zealously sought to improve and distribute varieties, and thereby have done as much or more for pomology than those who have made fruit-growing a vocation. Though Le Lectier collected all of the fruits of his time and country, the pear was mistress of his passion, a passion which gave him such pleasure that it excited others to become amateurs and emulate him. The result was that a country-wide taste for pears was stimulated and a veritable craze for this fruit was started—everybody planted pears.
The famous collection of fruits was begun by Le Lectier in 1598. By 1628, the infatuation to plant had progressed until Le Lectier could send to his fellow amateurs a catalog of his possessions of fruits with the desire to exchange. His offer to exchange shows all of the collector’s zeal. It reads as follows:
“I beg all those who have good fruits (not contained in the present Catalogue) when he obtains them to inform me of it, so that I can have grafts of them in exchange for those which they have not, but which they wish to get from me, and which I will furnish them.
“Signed, Le Lectier, Attorney of the King at Orleans.
20th of December, 1628.”
From Le Lectier’s list we learn that 300 years ago the French had at least 254 pears. In this catalog are many pears in the pomologies of today, but, unfortunately without descriptions or any attempt to determine duplicates in names or varieties, the list serves for little more than a monument for one of the first and one of the most zealous collectors of pears. Le Lectier, however, may be said to have introduced the golden age of pomology in France; for, during historical times there seems to have been no other period in which pomology exercised the minds and hands of well-to-do people as in the century that followed Le Lectier. Even the kings of France took pleasure in using the spade and the pruning-knife. La Quintinye, the best of the pomological writers of the day, complained that the country was overwhelmed with books on pomology. Thus, was ushered in the period which we may call our own in which the history of the pear may be read in books innumerable.
As steps in the progress of the pear, the number of varieties may be noted as given by French pomologists in the modern era of pear-growing. Merlet, 1667, describes 187 varieties; La Quintinye, 1690, 67; Duhamel, 1768, 119; the Chartreuse fathers, 1775, 102; Tollard, 1805, 120; Noisette, 1833, 238; while Leroy, 1867, from whom the figures just given were taken, says that in the half century preceding, the number of pears in France was quadrupled and that there are 900 varieties for which there are 3000 names. Leroy notes three events as the cause of the generous multiplication of pears in the period of which he writes: The introduction of the many varieties grown by Van Mons and other Flemish pomologists beginning about 1805; a little later, the establishment of exchange relations with English nurseries; and still later, 1849, the importation of a great number of new varieties from America. To Americans, it is particularly significant to note that the great progress of the pear in France is due to amateur tendance and not commercial success.
THE PEAR IN BELGIUM
Providence ordained Belgium to produce the modern pear. The evolution of the pear proceeded slowly, indeed, until its culture became common on the clayey and chalky soils in the cool, moist climate of Belgium, where flavor, aroma, texture, size, and color reach perfection. The pear was improved more in one century in Belgium than in all the centuries that had past. The part Providence played in endowing the Belgians with an ideal soil and climate for the pear, is but one of two causes of the results in improving the pear in this country. The other is that the Belgians, ever notable horticulturists, give the pear assiduous care, cultivate only the most approved varieties, and in breeding, aim ever at high quality, so that Belgian pear-growers, as well as an ordained soil and climate, must be given credit for the modern pear.
The early history of the pear in Belgium follows step by step that of the pear in France. In the sixteenth century, botanists were numerous in the Low Countries, their zeal and activity showing forth in several of the best of the early herbals. These herbalists, however, gave scant attention to the pear. Dodoens, most noted Belgian botanist of the century, dismissed the matter of varieties with the statement that the names change from village to village, and that it is therefore useless to give them. From this we may assume that a considerable number of pears were cultivated in Belgium at the time Dodoens wrote, about the middle of the sixteenth century.
Pear-breeding began in Belgium about 1730, when Nicolas Hardenpont, 1705-1774, a priest in his native town of Mons, made a large sowing of pear seed with a view of obtaining new pears of superior quality. Time is fleeting in breeding tree fruits, and the Abbé Hardenpont waited nearly 30 years before introducing his selected seedlings, and then, beginning in 1758, he introduced one new variety after another until a dozen or more new pears were accredited to him. At least six of these are still grown in Europe, but only one, the Passe Colmar, is known in America. But before going further with the work of the Belgian breeders, it is necessary to take stock of what was on hand before their time.
La Quintinye, the most noted French pomologist of his time, in 1690 listed 67 pear varieties. The Belgians probably had all of these. What were they? Most of them were old sorts—some were centuries old. All, so far as their histories show, originated by chance in garden, orchard, hedge row, and forest. No one seems yet to have planted seed with a view of obtaining new and better pears. Camerarius in 1694 had made known the fact of sex in plants. Soon after, experiments in hybridization began, but no one as yet had hybridized pears. Lastly, nearly all pears, before the Belgians began to improve them, were crisp or breaking in flesh, the crevers of the French, while the soft-fleshed, melting pears, the beurrés of the French, were as yet hardly known. Now, mostly owing to the work of the Belgians, the buttery pears predominate.
Of the means by which Hardenpont obtained his superior pears, there is no precise knowledge. Whether his new sorts were lucky chances out of a large number of promiscuous seedlings, or whether he was a pioneer in hybridizing can never be known. Du Mortier, a distinguished Belgian botanist, gives the credit of hybridization to the Abbé, basing his opinion on the fact that the characters of most of Hardenpont’s varieties are plainly a commingling of two well-known parents which could hardly be the case if they were happy chances were fate ever so kindly disposed.
Hardenpont soon had many imitators in Belgium. Indeed, the Belgians seem to have been quite carried off their feet by pear-breeding, and during the first half of the nineteenth century a fad like the “tulip craze” of Holland and the “mulberry craze” of America reigned in the country. Among the breeders are found the names of priests, physicians, scientists, apothecaries, attorneys, tradesmen, and gentlemen of leisure. The introduction of new varieties made notable in horticulture the towns of Mons, Tournaii, Enghien, Louvain, Malines, and Brussels. The awarding of medals for new pears produced the horticultural sensations of the times. Hundreds if not thousands of new varieties were introduced, of which many, it is true, have proved worthless, others of but secondary merit, while still others, as we shall find, are even now among the best pears under cultivation. But the great fact, be it remembered, is that these amateur pear-breeders wrought in a few years a complete transformation in a fruit that had been domesticated and had been fairly stable for over 2000 years.
A few names besides Hardenpont stand out prominently and must be mentioned. Of these, Van Mons is best known. Jean Baptiste Van Mons, 1765-1842, was a pharmacist, physicist, and physician, one of the savants of his time, who, late in the eighteenth century, under the potent spell cast by Hardenpont’s work, began to breed pears. Space forbids an account of Van Mons’ experiments. Suffice to say that he introduced more than two scores of pears having lasting merit, and that in the height of his career he had in his “Nursery of Fidelity” at Louvain, eighty thousand seedlings. Van Mons outlives in fame the Belgian pear-breeders of his time because he propounded a theory for the origination of new varieties of plants, and this in its turn is famed as the first complete system of plant improvement. Van Mons contributed but little of direct value to plant-breeding, but indirectly he gave a great impetus to breeding pears and to the culture of the pear, more especially in America, and we must therefore glance at his theory and trace more in detail its influence on American pear-growing.
Van Mons’ theory, in brief, as expounded in various papers, is: A species does not vary in the place in which it is born; it reproduces only plants which resemble itself. The causes of variation are changes in soil, climate, or temperature. Whenever a species produces one or many varieties, these varieties continue to vary always. The source of all variation, which is transmissible by sowing, resides in the seeds. The older a variety, the less the seedlings vary, and the more they tend to return toward the primitive form, without being able ever to reach that state; the younger or newer the variety, the more the seedlings vary.
In putting his theory in practice Van Mons took the first seeds from wild plants or those little improved, from which he grew seedlings, and from these the seeds were taken from the first fruits to ripen for new sowings. This practice he repeated generation after generation. Thus, it is seen that Van Mons was an early apostle of selection. He is said to have distributed over 400 varieties, about 40 of which are still under cultivation. It is to be feared, however, that Van Mons’ theory was preconceived without experiment or even observation for a foundation. He devoted a life of most admirable zeal to verifying and developing this vision of his early years with some material reward it is true, but with a better foundation his prodigious labors would have yielded greater direct results in improving the pear. Still, the indirect results, his influence on the pomologists of two continents, even though they did not subscribe to his theories, was more valuable than the work of one mind and one pair of hands could possibly have been.
There must always be pioneers, men who stray from beaten paths, but pioneers seldom exert wide and deep influence at once—leave the worn path, so to speak, and at once construct a macadamized road—yet this was what Van Mons did. Pomologists agree that until his time no man had exerted so profound an influence on pomology. His love of discovery and love of labor permeated fruit-growing in Europe and America. Fortunately, it was the age of the amateur fruit-grower. Pleasure and progress, driven by curiosity, counted for more than commercial success, so that Van Mons’ new varieties at once gave him wide fame. He was made known to American pear-growers by Robert Manning who distributed his new varieties in this country and described them in the horticultural literature of the day and in his Book of Fruits published in 1838. Later, Andrew Jackson Downing, the brilliant genius of American horticulture, published Van Mons’ theories and described many of his new pears in his Fruits and Fruit Trees, which came from the press in 1845. Thus, Van Mons became the recognized authority in America on all matters relating to the pear. Indeed, it is hardly too much to say that we owe him obligations as the founder of pear-culture in this country.
But the work of the Belgians does not end with Van Mons. There were other breeders of pears, who, though not to be classed with Van Mons as a Titan, lacking the quality of mind to set forth a new philosophy, helped to enliven the impulse given by their leader to the improvement of the pear by originating new varieties. Chief of these are Major Espéren, of Malines, who introduced twenty of the pears mentioned in the Pears of New York; Bivort, who has twenty-three to his credit; Gregoire, forty-two; Simon Bouvier, eleven; De Jonghe, six; and De Nelis, five. While, if the lists of varieties in the last two chapters of this text be scanned for Belgians who introduced but one, two, or three new pears, the list runs up into the hundreds. Labor finds its summit in the work of these Belgian pear-breeders, who obtained petty rewards by sifting millions of seedlings through the coarse meshes of the sieve of selection. We can pardon these enthusiastic breeders with grace for over-zealousness in naming varieties obtained with such prodigious efforts.
THE PEAR IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
The pear can be improved only where the pear-tree flourishes, and then only when assisted by the foresight and desire of men. This happy combination seems not to exist in Europe outside of Italy, France, Belgium, and England. The pear flourishes along the Danube, in parts of Austria and southern Germany, and along the upper Rhine, but the people of these regions seem to have been followers rather than leaders in developing this fruit, having produced almost no meritorious varieties. America is indebted to the vast region of central and western Europe for but one major variety, the Forelle, and this sort is of little importance.
Pomology, the world over, however, is indebted to Germany for much valuable pomological literature. Cordus, Mayer, Christ, Diel, Dittrich, Truchsess, Hinkert, Dochnahl, Oberdieck, Engelbrecht, Lauche, and Gaucher, all Germans, and Kraft, an Austrian, have been industrious compilers, and have given pomology some of its best texts on systematic pomology.
Cordus, earliest German pomological writer, wrote an illuminating chapter in the history of the pear, which must be reproduced. Valerius Cordus, 1515-1544, a botanical genius, made botanical expeditions to nearly every part of Germany, in the course of which he made special study of the apple and the pear. He described fifty pears and thirty-one apples. These descriptions are noteworthy as the earliest for these fruits in Germany. Cordus is called by one great botanist, “the inventor of the art of describing plants;” by another, he is said to have been “first to teach men to cease from dependence on the poor descriptions of the ancients and to describe plants anew from nature;” a third botanical authority says of him, “the first of all men to excel in plant description;” while a fourth writes of the four books of his Historia Plantarum “truly extraordinary because of the accuracy with which the plants are described.” Thus, botanists accord him special distinction, but pomologists seem not to know this resplendent systemist of the sixteenth century, who, as we shall see, is especially deserving of pomological recognition.
Cordus is entitled to honor in the history of pomology as first to print descriptions of fruits for the purpose of identifying varieties. No doubt as soon as the earth ceased to furnish spontaneously the primitive luxury of ready-to-eat food in the shape of fruit, making culture necessary, varieties were acquired and became commodities as they are today. Varieties were certain to originate under cultivation, and their value was certain to be recognized by our first ancestors, to whom the convenience, necessity, and expediency of having a diversity of kinds of any fruit as well as of a means of keeping them true to kind, must have been apparent at the beginning of fruit culture. That such was the case, the most ancient sacred and profane writings assure us. Varieties of the fig, olive, grape, and other fruits are mentioned by all early writers on plants. That varieties of fruits would not come true to seed was early known, and propagation by cuttings, layers, and grafting was invented to preserve choice sorts. Many of the early writers name varieties, tell from whence they came, and some set forth a remarkable character or two, but none give detailed descriptions. Cordus was first to engage in this sort of enterprise.
This chapter from Cordus is important, too, because it makes plain that the pears grown in Germany four hundred years ago possessed all the characters to be found in modern pears. Culture has increased size, modified shapes, augmented flavors, brightened colors, and softened textures, but no characters that can be considered new or distinct, unit characters of the plant-breeder, have been introduced in the four centuries that have gone by. The characters possessed by these German pears are the same, so far as can be made out, as those of the varieties grown by the Greeks and Latins nearly 2000 years earlier. From this, the inference must be drawn that the characters of the pear have not originated under cultivation but exist in wild types. New and distinct characters can come only by hybridization with another species. Pears within a species are changed only by a recombination of the characters possessed by the species.
The descriptions of varieties from Cordus[4] that follow are commended to pomologists as models of brevity and accuracy. These word-pictures reproduce the pears as vividly as an artist could paint them. One sees at once that Cordus was no compiler. Such descriptions as Cordus writes can be made only in the orchard with the pear in hand.
“The domesticated pear-tree is like the wild tree in trunk, bark, timber, leaves and blossoms, but has straighter and more shapely boughs and leaves a little larger. Of the fruits themselves, which we call pears, there are innumerable kinds, of which we will describe some that are found in Germany, adding also their German names, which vary, however, in the different provinces.
“Probstbirn, that is, Provost pear, so-called from their broad base, near the stalk end in a blunt point, have a length of three inches, breadth a little less. Their color is pale green, speckled with green spots or dots; they are astringent to the taste, and by the abundance of their juice extinguish thirst. They ripen at the beginning of autumn, and quickly decay because of the abundance of watery and rather cold juice. They are found in abundance at Eisleben near the Harz forest in Saxony.
“Speckbirn, that is, Lard pear, swell in the middle with a thick belly, from which they suddenly taper off into a point; they have a length of more than three inches, a width somewhat less than three inches; they are of pale color, and like the Provost, speckled with green dots, rather mild and sweet to the taste, dissolving in the mouth like lard, whence they have received their name, and with the abundance of their juice they quench thirst; when they are peeled they give a sweet odor. They ripen at the beginning of autumn and very easily decay.
“Kaulbirn, that is, Ball pear, have almost the roundness of a globe, except that near the stalk they rise to a blunt and inconspicuous circle. Their length is scarcely two inches; they rarely exceed this, but in width slightly exceed their length. In color they are pale green, in taste and smell they rival the Lard with which also they come to ripeness; these too easily decay. They are found at Eisleben.
“Hanffbirn, that is, Hemp pear, are like the Ball but a little larger; they have a green color, marked with spots or dots; in taste they correspond to the Ball, but do not dissolve so readily in the mouth; they ripen at the same time, and are easily affected by decay. These too are found at Eisleben.
“Glockenbirn, that is, Bell pear, from a broad base narrow down to a sort of narrow neck and then end in a blunt head; they have quite the shape of a bell, whence they have received their name. They are wholly of a yellow color spotted with dots, in length a little less than three inches, but in width they do not reach two inches. They have no unpleasant odor, especially when peeled; in taste they correspond to the Hemp, and reach maturity at the same time, and easily decay. They grow in abundance at Eisleben.
“Königsbirn, King’s pear, or Regalbirn, Rule pear, that is, Royal pear, are large and big-bellied; they have a length sometimes of four inches, a width a little less; they are of bluish-gray color, but in that part where they have had the sun they become slightly red. They are astringent to the taste and with a copious juice, and that sweet and something like wine, they allay thirst. They ripen when the sun has entered Libra, and do not so easily decay.
“Klunssbirn, that is, Lump pear, are of two varieties; both kinds, however, correspond proportionately in shape to the Royal, but are inferior to them in size. There is a difference in color, for one kind has a bluish-gray color, the other reddish-gray. They have a juice similar in flavor to the Royal but more acid. They ripen with the Royal. In Saxony there is great abundance of them, especially at Hildesheim.
“Bonnebirn, that is, Bonn pear, so-called from the city of Bonn on the Rhine, from which they have been transplanted into other districts. They have an almost spherical shape, except that near the stalk they end in a blunt point. They are three inches in length, a little less in width. Their color is on one side green or pale, on the other, where they have been touched by the sun, reddish. They are moderately acid to the taste, and abound with copious juice, rather watery, very refreshing in effect. They ripen when the sun is hastening toward Scorpio. They are abundant at Marburg in Hesse.
“Schmalzbirn that is, Butter pear, so called because they melt in the mouth like fat or some liquid mixture; their fruit is generally swollen at the lower end and gradually tapers to a narrow neck toward the stem. Like gourds they are three inches in length or often more, but in breadth two and a half inches. They have a pale yellow color, a pleasing fragrance, but are very acid in taste, with the admixture of a peculiar, winey flavor; when insufficiently ripe and not thoroughly chewed or too greedily devoured they sometimes stick in the throat and choke the breathing; on the other hand, when ripe and well masticated they melt in the mouth like fat. They ripen before the sun passes into Libra. They are found in Hesse, especially in Frankenberg, where there is great abundance of them.
“Junckfrauenbirn gross, that is, Maiden pear, large, are like the Lump pear in color and shape, but in size somewhat smaller. In taste they are powerfully astringent, so that they irritate the throat and contract the lips into a pucker like a maiden’s kiss. They have a watery juice mixed as it were with sour wine. They ripen at the end of summer. At Brunswick in Saxony they are very abundant.
“Junckfrauenbirn klein, that is, Maiden pear, small, from a swelling belly they end in a narrow neck; they have a length a little less than three inches, but in breadth somewhat exceed an inch and a half; they are of beautiful color, as if one should mix dark blue-green with reddish-purple; they are besides speckled with dots, acid in taste, and in like manner are easily dissolved in the mouth. They ripen at the beginning of autumn. They are much cultivated at Eisleben.
“Hamelsswenstebirn, that is, Ram’s paunch pear, have received their name from the fact that in their swelling shape they resemble the bellies of wethers; they swell as it were with a thick paunch; reach three inches in length and often even more, but less in width. In color they are bluish-gray, but slightly reddish on that side which they have turned to the sun. They have a very acid flavor, with a certain pleasantness and a winey juice. They ripen at the end of summer. They are found in Hesse and neighboring districts, and there are preferred to other pears.
“Loewenbirn, that is, Lion pear, so called from their excellence; these are called Hessiatica in Thuringen and neighboring districts; their fruit is remarkable, holding the supremacy among all autumn fruits for duration and excellence of taste and juice. They are swollen in the lower part and generally unequal; they have a length of three inches and often greater; in width they not rarely exceed two inches. They are of greenish gray color, slightly reddened. They have an astringent taste of marked pleasantness. They abound in copious juice, winey, sweet-smelling, and very refreshing, so that they speedily quench thirst; indeed the pears themselves by their strong aromatic odor wonderfully revive the sick. They ripen when the sun has entered Libra; finally when stored away they last for a long time. They abound in Hesse, especially at Marburg and likewise at Frankenberg, a town near Marburg. They are called Barber’s pear, from a certain barber who first introduced them there.
“Hangelbirn, that is, Hanging pear, are equal to the Butter in shape, color, and size; they hang from a long stalk, whence they have received their name; in flavor they differ from the Butter, for their juice is not so winey nor so acid; they have a simpler flavor, not composed of so many qualities. However, they ripen at the same time. These too are cultivated in Hesse.
“Margarethenbirn, that is, Margaret’s pear, are so called because they become ripe about St. Margaret’s Day, when the sun is entering into Leo. They end in an oblong neck; in length they reach three inches, in width hardly two inches. They have a reddish-blue color. Their pulp is tender and juicy, of very sweet taste, easily melting in the mouth; they have a very pleasant smell. They abound at Brunswick in Saxony.
“Winterbirn, that is, Winter pear, from a round shape become slightly conical; they are less than three inches in length, little more than two inches in breadth. They have a green color, a very hard substance, so that they scarcely give way to the teeth. In taste they are very acid and refreshing, quenching the thirst with a watery, sour juice. They ripen late in autumn after all other fruits, after they have been touched with frosts and cold. They are found at Frankenberg in Hesse.
“Knochenbirn, that is, Bone pear, have received their name from their hardness; from a swelling belly they end gradually in a short and narrow neck. They rarely exceed two inches in length and an inch and a half in breadth. They have a light reddish color; they are of such hard substance that they cannot be chewed raw but only when cooked. They have a very acid taste. They ripen at the beginning of autumn. They are cultivated at Frankenberg in Hesse.
“Augustbirn, that is, August pear, would be almost round except that they end in a short point. Their length is a little more than two inches, their width a little less. They have a yellow color, at times turning to pale red. In taste they are acid, with a peculiar sweetness of juice. They ripen early in August, whence they have received their name. They are short-lived and do not last long. They abound everywhere in Hesse.
“Honigbirn gross, that is, Honey pear, large, end in an oblong cone: they are two inches and a half in length, but in breadth hardly reach two inches. They have a bluish-gray color verging on yellow, and a surface not so smooth; in taste they are acid and abound in sweet juice; they ripen at the beginning of autumn, lasting for a while. They are found at Wittenberg in upper Saxony.
“Honigbirn klein, that is, Honey pear, small, are of conical shape, in length do not exceed an inch and a half, in width are a little less; they have a light reddish color, a flavor very sweet and pleasant, whence they have received their name. They melt readily in the mouth of those who taste them. They ripen soon after the August pear. They abound in Hesse.
“Muscatellerbirn, that is, Musk pear, are very small and conical, in length a little more than an inch, in width a little less. Their color is green tinged with red, their taste most sweet and aromatic, as if it were flavored with a little musk, whence their name. They easily melt in the mouth; they have also a pleasing odor. They ripen in June. They are carefully cultivated in Meissen.
“Schaffbirn, that is, Sheep pear, are like the larger Honey in size, shape and color, but a little more oblong and narrow. They have a very sweet flavor, moderately astringent, and easily dissolve in the mouth on account of the tender softness of their pulp and juice. They ripen when the sun is hastening toward Libra. They are found in Frankenberg in Hesse.
“Waxbirn, that is, Wax pear, are big-bellied at the lower end, at the upper end taper off into a cone; in length sometimes exceed three inches by a little, but in width rarely exceed two inches. They have a yellow or wax-like color, whence their name has been given them, but on that side where they have received the sun they invite those who look upon them to eat them by their pleasing, speckled redness. They have a sweet flavor, slightly astringent; their pulp is soft and easily melts in the mouth. They ripen when the sun has entered Virgo; they are short-lived and do not last long. They are found at Marburg in Hesse.
“Rostbirn, that is, Rust pear, are big-bellied in the middle and narrow down at both ends; in length three inches and a half, in width two inches and a half. They have a yellow color, speckled with bluish-gray spots; they have a very mild, sweet flavor, and easily melt in the mouth; because of their extreme softness they last a very short time. They ripen at the beginning of autumn. They are cultivated at Eisleben and neighboring towns.
“Aschbirn, that is, Ash pear, have their name because they are soft like ashes and easily dissolve in the mouth. They resemble the Rust pear in shape, color, quality of pulp, and flavor; but are a little smaller, and more conical at one end toward the stalk, though sometimes they become big-bellied in the middle like the Rust. They ripen with the Rust. They are cultivated at Eisleben.
“Drinkebirn, that is, Drink pear, are so called because like a drink they drive away anybody’s thirst. They are swollen in the middle and end in a blunt point; in length a little over two inches, in width scarcely two inches. Their color is wholly yellow, but they redden on that side which is exposed to the sun; they have a sweet flavor, tender pulp, abounding with copious and drinkable juice. They ripen with the Rust and quickly decay just as they do. They are cultivated in the country near Eisleben.
“Eyerbirn, that is, Egg pear, have received their name from their shape, which becomes conical at both ends like a short egg; otherwise they do not differ much from the Drink pear in proportion and shape. They are, however, a little smaller, have a yellow color speckled with dots. In flavor they rival the Rust and like them are moderately astringent; they have a very sweet fragrance, ripen with the Drink pear, and quickly decay. They too are found at Eisleben and neighboring towns.
“Pfaltzgräuischbirn (Palatinate grayish-pear), that is, Palatina, which are called Mass pear in Hesse, are the most excellent of the short-lived ones, and in like manner generally end in a cone; in length they reach two inches and a half, in width rarely exceed two inches. Their color is mid-way between saffron and reddish purple. They have a tender, juicy pulp, an exceptionally sweet flavor, aromatic as it were. They have a most pleasing fragrance both when they are whole and when they are cut, surpassed in excellence by no other variety of pear. They ripen at the end of August, when the sun has entered Virgo. They are found in the Rhine Valley, in France, Hesse, and many other regions.
“Spindelbirn or Rautenbirn (Rhombus pear), that is, Spindle pear, are like the Rust in shape, color, and size, but a little narrower; in substance and flavor they differ from them, since they consist of harder pulp and so last longer; they have a flavor astringent and at the same time sweet. They ripen with the Rust, and are cultivated in the country about Eisleben.
“Zuckerbirn, that is, Sugar pear, are a little more than two inches in length, rarely as much in width; of greenish color; they have a tender pulp, melting easily in the mouth like sugar, sweet and of pleasant flavor. They ripen with the Egg pear and do not last long. They are cultivated in the country about Eisleben.
“Packelemischbirn, that is, Paclemiana, are like the Sugar in size and shape; their color is green and bluish-gray; their surface is rather rough, their pulp hard, juicy, and acid. They ripen with the Sugar, and if they receive no injury they do not easily decay, but may last for some time, as most others do which have hard pulp and acid taste. They are cultivated in the country about Eisleben.
“Kirchmessbirn, that is, Church Mass pear, are round and big-bellied, and end toward the stalk in a long, narrow, and much attenuated point. In length they are three and a half inches, in breadth over two inches, though even smaller ones are produced. They are yellow in color, tender and juicy in pulp, and like the Palatina and Drink in flavor. They ripen in autumn and last almost until the sun enters Sagittarius. They are found at Wittemberg.
“Knaustbirn or Gelbe Honigbirn (Yellow Honey pear), that is, Bread Crust pear, have a broad base and are swollen and almost round, toward the stalk ending in a short, blunt, and rounded point; both in length and in breadth they sometimes exceed two inches and a half, but rarely; they are of yellow color, speckled generally around the bottom; they resemble the larger Honey in color and acidity; their pulp is rather hard but juicy, stony around the seed-receptacles. They have a flavor between that of the larger Honey and the Lion and that very pleasing. They ripen in autumn and sometimes last almost to the winter solstice. They are cultivated at Wittemberg and neighboring places.
“Klosterbirn, that is, Cloister pear, swell out with uneven belly and toward the stalk become conical; they reach three inches in length and not much less in breadth. They have a yellow color, speckled with green dots; their pulp is rather hard and somewhat stony; their taste mildly astringent and of slightly glutinous sweetness. They ripen with the Bread Crust pear and last as long. They are found in the country about Wittemberg.
“Glassbirn, that is, Glass pear, are round and slightly conical; in length they generally reach two and one-third inches, in breadth a little over two inches; their color is light green verging on yellow; their flesh is tender, juicy, astringent to the taste, sweet and winey; they ripen with the Rust a little before the beginning of autumn. There is an abundant crop of them at Eisleben and neighboring towns. They last until the sun enters Sagittarius.
“Kirchbirn, that is, Church pear, have an oblong oval shape but end in a cone rather than an oval. They reach two inches in length, in width somewhat exceed an inch and a half. Their color is on one side yellowish-green, on the other, where they have received the sun, reddish. Their pulp is hard, rather juicy, slightly sour to the taste, and very astringent. They ripen at the end of summer and last for a long time. Of these too there is an abundant crop at Eisleben.
“Quittenbirn, that is, Quince pear, like the Cloister pear, swell out with uneven belly, and toward the stalk end in a short point, like the conical Cotonea, but protuberant ones are also found, whence the name was given them. In breadth as well as length they exceed two inches and a third. They have a green color, a hard, juicy pulp, rather winey and astringent to the taste. They ripen at the beginning of autumn and last till the winter. They are found at Eisleben.
“Parissbirn, that is, Parisiana, are round at the lower end and taper to a point at the upper end. Their length is two and a half inches, their width not over two inches, or rarely more. Their color on one side is yellow, but on the other, where they have felt the sun, purple. Their pulp is juicy, their taste pleasantly astringent. They ripen with those before mentioned, lasting into the winter. There is an abundant crop of them in the country about Eisleben.
“Weybersterbenbirn, that is, Women’s Death pear, would be round, except that toward the stalk they end in a short, blunt point. They generally exceed two inches in breadth as well as in length. They have a yellow color, saffron towards the base, speckled with purple dots. Their pulp is hard and rather stony, with juice slightly sour to the taste and very astringent, like the Church pear, with which also they ripen. They last into the winter. They are cultivated in the country about Eisleben.
“Kölbirn, that is, Cabbage pear, are large, almost round, tapering to a cone, three inches in length and one-half to one-third of an inch less in breadth. They have a pale green color, one side slightly reddish and speckled with dots. Their pulp is rather hard, juicy, somewhat sour and very astringent to the taste, like the Women’s Death pear, with which also they ripen, and they last as long. They are cultivated at Eisleben.
“Hölpenerbirn, that is, Hollow pear, are large, big-bellied, uneven, and conical; in length they sometimes exceed two and a half inches, in width almost equal their length. Their color is green; they have a juicy pulp, winey in taste, slightly acid, and more astringent than the Brassicana. They ripen at the beginning of autumn, and last long into the winter. There is a large crop of them in the country about Eisleben.
“Safftbirn, that is, Sap pear, are like the Hollow pear but a little smaller and less uneven, of a greenish-yellow color; their pulp is solid and when cut sheds a copious juice, when chewed passes almost wholly into juice and very little dry substance remains; when the juice is swallowed, it is cool to the taste, somewhat acid, winey, and astringent. They ripen at the beginning of autumn and last for a long time. They are found at Wittemberg.
“Eierlingebirn, that is, Little-egg pear, have received their name from their oval shape; in shape and size they are midway between the Drink and the Egg pear; their color is yellow, speckled with reddish dots on a dark background. They have hard, juicy pulp, acid to the taste, winey, and astringent. They ripen at the beginning of autumn and last for a long time. They grow at Wittemberg.
“Kruselbirn, that is, Curling pear, in shape resemble a top which boys throw upon the ground wound up with a string to make it spin. In length they reach three inches, in width two and a half. Their color is pale green, speckled with many green dots or spots; their pulp is solid, juicy, very astringent to the taste, somewhat acid and pleasant. They last until the sun has passed Aquarius or Pisces. They abound in Meissen.
“Bratbirn gross, also called Fregelbirn, that is, pears for roasting, are about the largest of all, for sometimes they weigh a mina (about 15.2 ounces) and a half; they are of globular shape, sometimes conical, and frequently irregular; of a color midway between pale green and red, redder on one side. They have a pulp with pleasant juice, astringent, partaking somewhat of acid. They grow in Meissen, especially at Leisnig and Koldit.
“Grauchenbirn, that is, Gray pear, have received their name from their color, since they are ash-colored and at the same time greenish. They are small and of globular shape, measuring an inch in breadth as well as in length; in appearance are in no way different from some of the wild pears; in taste are soft, mild, sweet, with a pleasantly astringent quality; they last till after the winter solstice. They grow in the country about Meissen and Leipzig.
“Gelbrotebirn, that is, Yellow-red pear, have an oblong pyramidal shape, generally reaching a length of three inches, and a width of two inches. Their color on one side is yellow, on the other saffron and purple; their pulp is soft, astringent to the taste, pleasant, slightly acid, and watery. They ripen at the beginning of autumn, and last till the winter solstice. They grow at Hildesheim in Saxony.
“Grünlingebirn, that is, Green pear, are quite large, since sometimes they exceed three inches in length, two inches in breadth; they have an oblong pyramidal shape, a green color, a juicy pulp, sharply astringent to the taste. They ripen at the beginning of autumn, and last till after the solstice. There is a large crop of them at Hildesheim.
“Wasserbirn, that is, Water pear, rival Green pear in size, they have a shape big-bellied in the middle and taper to a point at both ends, sharper and more oblong toward the stem, but shorter and blunter near the base. Their color on one side is pale, speckled with dots, on the other reddish, pale on the edges. They have juicy pulp, watery and rather pleasant to the taste. They become ripe with the Green pear but do not last so long. They grow at Hildesheim.
“Kegelbirn, that is, Cone pear, have the shape of a pine cone, and from a rather broad base end in a point; their length is three inches, their width two; their color on one side green, on the other reddish. Their pulp is juicy, harsh to the taste. Their maturity falls at the beginning of autumn, from which time they may last till the winter solstice. They are produced at Hildesheim.”
THE PEAR IN ENGLAND
Much as America owes England for fruit, farm, and garden crops, she is but little indebted to her for pears. Varieties of pears have come to the New World almost wholly from Belgium and France, not more than three or four major sorts of English origin being among those now commonly grown in America. But even though the line of march in the development of varieties scarcely touches England, all English speaking pear-growers have received instruction as to culture and have had knowledge of continental varieties transmitted to them through English publications. In the history of fruits in England, therefore, many gleams of light illuminate the path along which the pear has been brought from the ancients to America.
No doubt the pear was brought to Britain before the Roman conquest. Tacitus, in the first century, says the climate of Britain is suitable to the culture of all fruits and vegetables except the grape and the olive. Pliny writes that the Britains had the cherry before the middle of the first century, and almost certainly the pear and other fruits were introduced with it. There was, also, a Saxon name for the pear, pirige, so philologists say, before the fall of the Roman Empire. The years 43 and 407 mark the beginning and the end of the Romans and of civilization in Britain for many centuries, and whether or not the pear was permanently established during this time there are now no means of ascertaining. The climate and soil of England are congenial to the pear, however, and no doubt wild or little cultivated trees persisted until the Norman conquest, the spread of Christianity, and the building of many monasteries with orchards and gardens as essential adjuncts.
Even in England under the Normans who came in 1066, not much progress was made in fruit-growing. Tillers of the soil were hard pressed for the necessities of life and could only with difficulty harvest a bare sustenance from the land. Besides, monks and nobles preyed on the starving peasants so that at no time could the farmer be sure of reaping what he planted. Only these monks and nobles enjoyed luxuries. But even men who boasted of titles and owned large holdings of land had little room within fortified walls and on moated islands, which constant wars made necessary, for fruits; nor had they time from projects of war and the pleasures of the chase to devote to the art of agriculture. Fortunately, priors and abbots were well disposed toward the good things of life, therefore made much of fruits and vegetables, and with abundance of leisure the monks became the only proficients of the times in gardening and orcharding. Moreover, they were in constant correspondence with the continent and could ascertain what culture was needed to grow perfect fruits. Pear culture had its beginnings in England, then, in the monasteries established under the Normans.
Pressed for an exact date as to when the pear began to be cultivated in England, the historians would be troubled to name one. There is a plan of the monastery of Canterbury made in 1165 which shows an orchard and a vineyard. History, moreover, relates that armed men collected in an orchard to take hand in the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170. Men in those days set small store by written accounts, and history must be helped out by imagination, and we may imagine that there were pears in this orchard.
Pears by this time had become common, for there are records of varieties to a considerable number and in large quantities which could have been had only from rather extensive orchards. Mrs. Evelyn Cecil[5] publishes documents from the Record office of England which contain items of pears bought for Henry III and Edward I at different times in the thirteenth century, the first date being “probably for the year 1223.” The pears appear to be of French origin, and the varieties are Caloels, Pesse Pesceles, Ruler, and Martyns. In a later memorandum, 1292-93, still other varieties are named as the Regul, Calwel, Dieyer, Sorell, Chryfall, and Gold Knoper. The pears were sold by the hundred and were used for desert, though “pears in syrup” and pears for cider are mentioned. The perusal of these documents, printed in considerable detail in Mrs. Cecil’s admirable book, enables us to fix the beginning of commercial pear culture in England at as early a date as 1200.
Passing by several other references from records and financial accounts of monasteries in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries as too vague to be of importance, although they make certain that the pear was rather widely cultivated in England in these two centuries, we come at last to a noteworthy landmark in pear history in England, the introduction of the Warden pear, which may be put at the conveniently vague date of the end of the fourteenth century, 1388 being the first year they are mentioned.
“Warden” was a name used for centuries to designate a group of pear varieties having crisp, firm flesh and which were used for culinary purposes. Their history runs back to the Cistercian Abbey of Warden in Bedfordshire and to a date earlier than 1388. Warden pears were favorites for centuries for pies and pastries which every early cook-book contained recipes for making. In the early English literature they are considered a distinct fruit as “apples, pears, quinces, wardens,” and even the herbals and early fruit books count them as distinct. Shakespeare’s clown in A Winter’s Tale says: “I must have saffron to colour the Warden pies.” The name came to signify any long-keeping, cooking pear and even yet is so used in parts of England.
The most noteworthy landmark is found in the discussions of pears by the English herbalists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Turner, the first of these herbalists, in his Herbal of 1551, mentions the pear but without important details, though we may infer from what he says that the pear is now a common fruit. Thomas Tusser, in his Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandrie, published in 1573, gives a list of fruits to be set or removed in January in which he includes “pears of all sorts,” and then as a separate item includes “Warden, white and red,” showing that “Wardens” were held as distinct from the pear and that they were prominent in the orchards of the time. The century ends with John Gerarde’s Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes, 1597, in which we are brought to the realization that the pear is no longer a probationary fruit or even to be considered a novelty or luxury but a standard food product. Gerarde might well be quoted in full, but since Parkinson, a few years later, contains a “fuller discourse,” as one of Gerarde’s editors says, we take but a few sentences from Gerarde.
Varieties by this time had become numerous. Gerarde, while he names but eight, says he knew someone who grew “at the point of three score sundrie sorts of Peares, and those exceeding good; not doubting but that if his minde had beene to seeke after multitudes he might have gotten together the like number of those worse kindes ... to describe each pear apart, were to send an owle to Athens, or to number those things without number.” Eight sorts are considered worth figuring, those accorded the honor being: “the Jenneting, Saint James, Royall, Beugomot, Quince, Bishop, Katherine, and the Winter Peare.” Of these the Katherine is given further prominence by being listed as “known to all.” If one is to judge from number of varieties, the pear at this time is a more general favorite than the apple, a considerably greater number of sorts being indicated.
Parkinson’s account in his Paradisus of 1629, indeed does prove to be a “fuller discourse” for he names and describes 65 sorts; but these are not all for he says: “The variety of peares is as much or more then of apples, and I thinke it is as hard in this, as before in apples, for any to be so exquisite, as that hee could number up all the sorts that are to be had: for wee have in our country so manie, as I shall give you the names of by and by, and are hitherto come to our knowledge: but I verily beleeve that there be many, both in our country, and in others, that we have not yet knowne or heard of; for every yeare almost wee attaine to the knowledge of some, we knew not of before. Take therefore, according to the manner before held, the description of one, with the severall names of the rest, untill a more exact discourse be had of them, every one apart.” Some of the names in Parkinson’s list are group names covering several varieties. Thus, he says, “the Winter Bon Chretien is of many sorts;” and again, “the Winter Bergomot is of two or three sorts;” and, “the Winter peare is of many sorts.”
Parkinson’s descriptions are brief but written with rare clearness, and the old herbalist seems to have possessed a nicety of observation that commends him to all who have eyes for the distinguishing characters of fruits. With Parkinson our history of the pear in England must come to a close, since later accounts are available to all, and therefore as an important inventory, and because every word is pertinent, his account of varieties is republished.
[2] Pliny Nat. Hist. XV: 15. From a translation made for the writer by Professor H. H. Yeames; Hobart College, Geneva, N. Y.
[3] Goderonne: From godron, a sculptural ornament having the shape of an elongated egg.
[4] Cordus, Valerius Hist. Pl. 3:176-182. 1561.
[5] A Hist. of Gard. in Eng. 35-37. 1910.
“The Summer bon Chretien is somewhat a long peare, with a greene and yellow russetish coate, and will have sometimes red sides; it is ripe at Michaelmas: Some use to dry them as they doe Prunes, and keepe them all the yeare after. I have not seene or heard any more Summer kindes hereof then this one, and needeth no wall to nourse it as the other.
“The Winter bon Chretien is of many sorts, some greater, others lesser, and all good; but the greatest and best is that kinde that groweth at Syon: All the kinds of this Winter fruit must be planted against a wall, or else they will both seldome beare, and bring fewer also to ripenesse, comparable to the wall fruit: The kindes also are according to their lasting; for some will endure good much longer than others.
“The Summer Bergomot is an excellent well rellished peare, flattish, & short, not long like others, of a meane bignesse, and of a darke yellowish greene colour on the outside.
“The Winter Bergomot is of two or three sorts, being all of them small fruit, somewhat greener on the outside then the Summer kindes; all of them very delicate and good in their due time: For some will not be fit to bee eaten when others are well-nigh spent, every of them outlasting another by a moneth or more.
“The Diego peare is but a small peare, but an excellent well rellished fruit, tasting as if Muske had been put among it; many of them growe together, as it were in clusters.
“The Duetete or double headed peare, so called of the forme, is a very good peare, not very great, of a russettish browne colour on the outside.
“The Primating peare is a good moist peare, and early ripe.
“The Geneting peare is a very good early ripe peare.
“The greene Chesill is a delicate mellow peare, even melting as it were in the mouth of the eater, although greenish on the outside.
“The Catherine peare is knowne to all I thinke to be a yellow red sided peare, of a full waterish sweete taste, and ripe with the foremost.
“The King Catherine is greater than the other, and of the same goodnesse, or rather better.
“The Russet Catherine is a very good middle sized peare.
“The Windsor peare is an excellent good peare, well knowne to most persons, and of a reasonable greatnesse: it will beare fruit some times twice in a yeare (and as it is said) three times in some places.
“The Norwich peare is of two sorts, Summer and Winter, both of them good fruit, each in their season.
“The Worster peare is blackish, a farre better peare to bake (when as it will be like a Warden, and as good) than to eate rawe; yet so it is not to be misliked.
“The Muske peare is like unto a Catherine peare for bignesse, colour, and forme; but farre more excellent in taste, as the very name importeth.
“The Rosewater peare is a goodly faire peare, and of a delicate taste.
“The Sugar peare is an early peare, very sweete, but waterish.
"The Summer Popperin }both of them are very good dry firme peares, somewhat spotted, and brownish on the outside.
"The Winter Popperin“The greene Popperin is a winter fruit, of equall goodnesse with the former.
“The Soveraigne peare, that which I have seene and tasted, and so termed unto me, was a small brownish yellow peare, but of a most dainty taste; but some doe take a kind of Bon Chretien, called the Elizabeth peare, to be the Soveraigne peare; how truely let others judge.
“The Kings peare is a very good and well tasted peare.
“The peare Royall is a great peare, and of a good rellish.
“The Warwicke peare is a reasonable faire and good peare.
“The Greenfield peare is a very good peare, of a middle size.
“The Lewes peare is a brownish greene peare, ripe about the end of September, a resonable well rellished fruit, and very moist.
“The Bishop peare is a middle sized peare, of a reasonable good taste, not very waterish; but this property is oftentimes seene in it, that before the fruit is gathered, (but more usually those that fall of themselves, and the rest within a while after they are gathered) will be rotten at the core, when there will not be a spot or blemish to bee seene on the outside, or in all the peare, untill you come neare the core.
“The Wilford peare is a good and a faire peare.
“The Bell peare a very good greene peare.
“The Portingall peare is a great peare, but more goodly in shew than good indeed.
“The Gratiola peare is a kinde of Bon Chretien, called the Cowcumber peare, or Spinola’s peare.
“The Rowling peare is a good peare, but hard, and not good before it bee a little rowled or bruised, to make it eate the more mellow.
“The Pimpe peare is as great as the Windsor peare, but rounder, and of a very good rellish.
“The Turnep peare is a hard winter peare, not so good to eate rawe, as it is to bake.
“The Arundell peare is most plentifull in Suffolke, and there commended to be a verie good peare.
“The Berry peare is a Summer peare, reasonable faire and great, and of so good and wholesome a taste, that few or none take harme by eating never so many of them.
“The Sand peare is a reasonable good peare, but small.
“The Morley peare is a very good peare, like in forme and colour unto the Windsor, but somewhat grayer.
“The peare pricke is very like unto the Greenfield peare, being both faire, great, and good.
“The good Rewell is a reasonable great peare, as good to bake as to eate rawe, and both wayes it is a good fruit.
“The Hawkes Bill peare is of a middle size, somewhat like unto the Rowling peare.
“The Petworth peare is a winter peare, and is great, somewhat long, faire, and good.
“The Slipper peare is a reasonable good peare.
“The Robert peare is a very good peare, plentiful in Suffolke and Norfolke.
“The Pound peare is a reasonable good peare, both to eate rawe, and to bake.
“The Ten Pound peare, or the hundred pound peare, the truest and best, is the best Bon Chretien of Syon, so called, because the grafts cost the Master so much the fetching by the messengers expences, when he brought nothing else.
“The Gilloflower peare is a winter peare, faire in shew, but hard, and not fit to bee eaten rawe, but very good to bake.
“The peare Couteau is neither good one way nor other.
“The Binsce peare is a reasonable good winter peare, of a russetish colour, and a small fruit: but will abide good a long while.
“The Pucell is a greene peare, of an indifferent good taste.
“The blacke Sorrell is a reasonable great long peare, of a darke red colour on the outside.
“The red Sorrell is of a redder colour, else like the other.
“The Surrine is no very good peare.
“The Summer Hasting is a little greene peare, of an indifferent good rellish.
“Peare Gergonell is an early peare, somewhat long, and of a very pleasant taste.
“The white Genneting is a reasonable good peare, yet not equall to the other.
“The Sweater is somewhat like the Windsor for colour and bignesse, but nothing neare of so good a taste.
“The bloud red peare is of a darke red colour on the outside, but piercing very little into the inner pulpe.
“The Hony peare is a long greene Summer peare.
“The Winter peare is of many sorts, but this is onely so called, to bee distinguished from all other Winter peares, which have severall names given them, and is a very good peare.
“The Warden or Luke Wards peare of two sorts, both white and red, both great and small.
“The Spanish Warden is greater than either of both the former, and better also.
“The peare of Jerusalem, or the stript peare, whose barke while it is young, is as plainly seene to be stript with greene, red, and yellow, as the fruit it selfe is also, and is of a very good taste: being baked also, it is as red as the best Warden, whereof Master William Ward of Essex hath assured mee, who is the chiefe keeper of the Kings Granary at Whitehall.
“Hereof likewise there is a wilde kinde no bigger than ones thumbe, and striped in the like manner, but much more.
“The Choke peares, and other wilde peares, both great and small, as they are not to furnish our Orchard, but the Woods, Forrests, Fields, and Hedges, so wee leave them to their naturall places, and to them that keep them, and make good use of them.”
Three hundred years have played havoc with the pears Parkinson knew. None are known in America, and unless the Pound of Parkinson is the Pound of today, not a half dozen are found in current lists in England. Parkinson’s Catherine, Winter Bon Chretien, Windsor, Bergamot, possibly the Pound, and his Gergonell, the Jargonelle of today, are about all the names that would be recognized by modern pear-growers. The pear shows far fewer familiar names at the end of three centuries than Parkinson lists of apples, plums, cherries, or even the peach in Europe. Dropping old varieties can only be interpreted as improvement in the pear. The pear, it seems certain, has been more profoundly changed for the better through the touch of man’s hand than the other fruits named since Parkinson wrote. For this, pomology has the Belgians to thank.
Pear culture seems to have reached its height, if it be judged by its literature and by the number of varieties cultivated, early in the nineteenth century. The Belgians’ passion for pears was no doubt the chief stimulus, for the Belgian breeders spread their offerings with generous hand throughout England. In 1826, the catalog of the Horticultural Society of London listed 622 pears. Pomology in England was then, and is now as compared with America, an art of the leisure classes. This has been an advantage and a disadvantage to the pear in England. The advantage is that when fruit is grown for pleasure many varieties are grown to add novelty to luxury so that the fruit is thereby more rapidly improved and its culture brought to greater perfection. The disadvantage is that those who grow fruit for market find a poorer market for their wares since those who should be their best customers supply their own wants. For the reason, therefore, that the English take delight in growing their own fruit, pear-growing is not the great commercial enterprise that it is in America.
Pear-growing in England differs from that of America in another respect. The pear-tree in England is built as much as planted. In many plantations each tree has a precise architectural form. The plants are trained into fans, cordons, espaliers and u-forms on walls; or as pyramids, globes, or vases in the open; sometimes in fantastic shapes to suit the fancy of the grower; and now and then as a hedge or border. The undisciplined standards of America are hardly known, though what the English call a standard seems to be increasing. This difference in training is due in part to the necessity of meeting different climatic conditions, and in part to greater devotion on the Englishman’s part to the art of gardening—the use of the shears, the knife, and the billhook give the gardener greater scope. The pear-tree in England is often decorative as well as useful.
THE PEAR IN AMERICA
The pear is a popular fruit in America, but its culture as a commercial product is limited to a few favored localities. From the earliest records of fruit-growing in America the pear has been grown less than the apple and peach and scarcely more than the cherry and plum. In Europe, it is a question if the pear is not more commonly grown than the apple, and is much more common than the plum and the peach, the last-named fruit being grown out of doors for most part only in southern Europe. Pears are more varied in size, shape, texture, and flavor of flesh than others of the hardy tree-fruits, and in length of season exceed all others excepting the apple. Varieties of pears, possibly, have the charm of individuality more marked than varieties of its orchard associates. The trees, where environment permits their culture, are not difficult to grow, and attain greater size, produce larger crops, and live longer than any other hardy fruit. Why, then, is the pear not more popular in America? Conditions of climate, pests, season of ripening, taste, and trade prevent the expansion of pear-culture on this side of the Atlantic.
The climate in most parts of America is uncongenial to the pear. Pears from the European stock, to which most varieties grown in America belong, thrive only in relatively equable climates, and do not endure well the sudden and extreme variations in climate to which most parts of this continent are subject. Extremes of heat or cold, wetness or dryness, are fatal to the pear. In North America, therefore, commercial pear-culture is confined to favored localities on the Atlantic seaboard, about the Great Lakes, and on the Pacific slope. Even in these favored regions, pears sent to market come largely from the plantations of specialists. On the Atlantic seaboard, European pears are products of commerce only in southern New England and New York, westward through Ohio on the shores of Lake Erie, and in the southern lake regions of Michigan. Away from these bodies of water to the Pacific, varieties of European pears refuse to grow except with the utmost care in culture and selection of sites. On the Pacific slope, in the hardy-fruit regions, the pear reaches its highest development in the New World. Oriental pears, or varieties having Oriental blood, as Kieffer and Le Conte, are grown in every part of America where the culture of hardy fruits is attempted.
Liability to loss by pests is a great detriment to the popularity of the pear in America. The insect pests of pears are numerous. Codling-moths attack the fruit wherever the pear is grown in America, and can be kept down only by expensive arsenical sprays. The psylla, while irregular in its outbreaks, is most damaging and hard to control when it appears. These are the chief insect enemies, but a dozen others take more or less toll from tree or fruit. Foliage and fruit are attacked by several parasitic fungi, of which pear-scab is most troublesome, requiring treatment wherever the pear is grown, and under favorable conditions for the fungus preventives often fail to give the fruits a fair cheek. But of all diseases pear-blight is the most serious, its effects and virulency being such as to give it the popular name “fire-blight.” It is caused by a bacterium which cannot be checked by sprays, and must be combatted with expensive and unsatisfactory sanitary measures, such as cutting out branches and trees, so drastic as to make impossible commercial cultivation of pears in regions where climate favors the disease.
Pears compete with apples more than with any other fruit, but are at a disadvantage with this near relative in having a much shorter period during which the fruits can be used. Varieties of the two fruits begin to ripen at nearly the same season, but there are few sorts of pears in season later than December, and these are of poorer quality than the fall varieties; while apples are abundant and of prime quality four or five months later, and may be kept until early apples usher in a new season. During most of its season, also, the pear must compete with the perishable summer and autumn plums and peaches, so luscious and delectable that the firmer and less highly flavored pome-fruits suffer in comparison.
Still another reason why the pear is not a popular dessert fruit in America is that, of all fruits, the varieties of this one are the most variable in quality of the product. Sorts that should produce pears of highest quality bear fruits poor or indifferent in texture and flavor in unfavorable seasons, on unsuitable soils, or under neglect. Good pears can be grown only when environmental factors are favorable and under the most generous treatment. Extensive cultivation of the Kieffer and its kin for canning has hindered the cultivation of pears for the fruit-stand and to grace the table as a dessert fruit. So common has the Kieffer become that many of the present generation are hardly aware that the pear may be a delicious fruit to eat out of hand.
Lastly, the pear falls short of the apple as a commercial product because it is not nearly so satisfactory to handle as a commercial crop. Pears are more difficult to pack, and do not stand transportation as well as apples. They cannot be kept in cold storage nearly as long, and decay more quickly when brought into warmer temperatures. The demand for evaporated pears is slight in comparison with that for evaporated apples, and although perry, the expressed juice of pears, is quite as refreshing as cider, this by-product of the fruit is little known in America. As a prepared product, the pear surpasses the apple only as a canned fruit. Failing in comparison with the apple, as a commercial product, pears are largely left to fruit connoisseurs, and with these a generation ago the pear was the fruit of fruits, many splendid collections of it having been made in regions where pears could be grown. With the expansion of commercial fruit-growing, collections of pears, and with them many choice varieties, have gone out of cultivation—more is the pity—and pear-growing has expanded least of all the fruit industries in the United States.
With this brief discussion of the present status of pear-culture in this country, we can proceed to trace the history of the pear with more exactness by reason of knowing its limitations under American conditions.
The peach is the only hardy fruit that belongs to the heroic age of Spanish discovery in the New World. Pears, apples, plums, and cherries came to the new continent with the French and English. The early records of fruit-growing in America show that the pear came among the first luxuries of the land in the French and English settlements from Canada to Florida. Pioneers in any country begin at once to cultivate the soil for the means of sustenance. Naturally, cereals and easily-grown nutritious vegetables receive attention first as giving more immediate harvests and more sustaining fare to supplement game and fish. Agriculture and gardening usually precede orcharding, and this was the case in early settlements in America, but not long. The first generation born in colonial America knew and used all of the hardy fruits from Europe; as many records attest, and of which there is confirmatory proof with the pear in many ancient pear-trees of great size near the old settlements, some of which were planted by the first settlers from Europe. Of pears, many notable trees planted by the hands of the first English and French who crossed the seas to settle the new country were conspicuous monuments in various parts of America in the memory of men still living, if, indeed, some of the old trees themselves are not still standing.
Of these ancient pear-trees, New England furnishes the most notable monuments to mark the introduction of this fruit in the New World. Fortunately, their histories have been preserved in several horticultural annals, and of these accounts the fullest and best is by Robert Manning, Jr., in the Proceedings of the American Pomological Society for 1875, pages 100 to 103. Manning’s notes throw so much light on the early history of the pear in New England, as well as upon the varieties then grown, that they are published in full.
“The Endicott Pear. The tradition in the Endicott family is that this tree was planted in 1630. It is said that the trees constituting the original orchard came over from England in June, in the Arabella with Governor Winthrop, or in one of the other ships of the fleet arriving at Salem in June. The farm on which the tree now stands, not having been granted to Endicott until 1632, it is not probable that the trees were planted there before that time, but they might have been at first set in the Governor’s town garden at Salem, where the Rev. Francis Higginson, on his arrival in the summer of 1629, found a vine-yard already planted. The tradition further states that the Governor said that the tree was of the same date with a sun-dial which formerly stood near it. This dial, after having passed through the hands of the Rev. William Bentley, D.D., is now in the Essex Institute in Salem, and bears the date 1630, with the Governor’s initials. The farm, which early bore the name of ‘Orchard,’ was occupied and cultivated by the Governor and his descendants for 184 years, from 1632 to 1816, and was held solely by the original grant until 1828, a period of 196 years. Under these circumstances the history of the tree is more likely to have been handed down correctly than if the estate had changed hands. It is certain that Governor Endicott was early engaged in propagating trees, for in a letter to John Winthrop in 1644, he speaks of having at least 500 trees burnt by his children setting fire near them, and, in a letter to John Winthrop, Jr., a year later, of being engaged to pay for 1500 trees.
“As early as 1763 the tree was very old and decayed. It was very much injured in the gale of 1804. In the gale of 1815 it was so much shattered that its recovery was considered doubtful. It was injured again in a gale about 1843. For the last fifty years it has been protected by a fence around it. In 1837 it was eighty feet high by measurement and fifty-five feet in the circumference of its branches, and does not probably vary much from these dimensions now. Two suckers have sprung up on opposite sides of the tree, which bear the same fruit as the original, proving it to be ungrafted. It stands near the site of the first mansion of the Governor, on a slope where it is somewhat sheltered from the north and north-west winds. The soil is a light loam, with a substratum of clay. Grafts taken from the old tree grow very vigorously. From a pomological point of view, the fruit is of no value. It is hardly of medium size, roundish, green, with more or less rough russet, very coarse, and soon decays.
“It may be of interest to state that the farm on which the old tree stands is again in the Endicott name, having lately been purchased by a descendant of the Governor. The tree stands in the town of Danvers originally a part of Salem.
“For further facts concerning this tree, see the Transactions of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society for 1837, and also an article by Charles M. Endicott, a descendant of the Governor, in Hovey’s Magazine of Horticulture, vol. xix, p. 254, June, 1853, from which the above account has been mainly derived. Each of these articles is illustrated with a cut of the pear.
“The Orange Pear. This tree is owned by Capt. Charles H. Allen, and stands in his yard on Hardy street, Salem. The Rev. Dr. Bentley, who died about 1820, investigated the history of this tree and found it to be then 180 years old, which would make it now 235 years old. The trunk is hollow, nine feet five inches in circumference in the smallest part near the ground; just below the limbs it is several inches more. The tree is more than forty feet high, and the limbs are supported by shores. It was grafted in the limbs, as a branch fifteen or twenty years old, shooting out several feet higher than a man’s head, produces ‘Button’ pears, and a large limb, part of which was ‘Button’ which grew out still higher up, was blown off several years ago. In the very favorable pear season of 1862 it bore thirteen and a half bushels of pears. It bears in alternate years, having produced eight and a half bushels in 1873. The brittleness of the limbs of old pear trees is well known, yet Capt. Allen, with a care worthy of imitation, gathers every pear, excepting about a dozen specimens, by hand.
“This variety was, until the introduction of the modern kinds, highly esteemed. It is above medium size, averaging fifty-six pears to the peck, globular obtuse pyriform, covered with thin russet, juicy when gathered early and ripened in the house; of pleasant flavor but rather deficient in this respect. It is ripe about the middle of September. It was considered by my father a native, and was called by him the American Orange, and after examination of the descriptions and plates, I cannot think it the same as the Orange Rouge or Orange d’Automne of Duhamel, Decaisne, and Leroy. The Hon. Paul Dudley, Esq., of Roxbury, in some ‘Observations on some of the Plants in New England with remarkable Instances of the Power of Vegetation,’ communicated to the Royal Society of London (I quote from the ‘Philosophical Transactions,’ abridged, London, 1734, Vol. VI, Part II, p. 341), says: ‘An Orange Pear Tree grows the largest, and yields the fairest fruit. I know one of them near forty Foot high, that measures six Foot and six Inches in Girt, a Yard from the Ground, and has borne thirty Bushels at a Time, and this Year I measured an Orange pear, that grew in my own Orchard, of eleven Inches round the Bulge.’
“If this is, as believed, of native origin, it is the oldest American fruit in cultivation, unless we except the Apple pear, which is probably of about the same date. This is small, oblate, of pale yellow color, ripening in August. It is quite distinct from the Poire Pomme d’Hiver, of Leroy, and I think also from the Poire Pomme d’Été, of the same author. I had supposed the variety to be extinct, but last year discovered in a garden in Salem the remnant of an old tree with a trunk four feet in diameter, and still producing fruit.
“The Orange pear tree which produced the specimens exhibited, was inherited by the present owner from his father, to whom it came from his wife. It had descended to her almost from the first settlement of Salem, but partly in the female line, so that the name of the owner sometimes changed. The house on the estate was built in 1812, having replaced one which was pulled down after standing 150 years. Within the period of a generation there were standing in Salem several trees of the Orange pear, some of which were reputed to be more than two centuries old, and all of which were undoubtedly very ancient, but they are all now gone except Capt. Allen’s, the last one having been blown down in the winter of 1874-75. I have heard a tradition that this last mentioned tree was one of several imported from England and planted in gardens at intervals on the northerly side of the principal street in Salem. This tradition may or may not be true with regard to these trees, but it would not apply to the Allen tree, for the height at which it was grafted forbids the idea that it was imported from England in a grafted state.
“The Anthony Thacher Pear. This tree stands near the meadows about a fourth of a mile north of the Universalist church in Yarmouth, where Anthony Thacher’s house formerly stood. It is a large, rotten-hearted old tree. It has lost nearly all its old branches, but has thrown out many new ones. The late Judge George Thacher, who, if now living, would be 120 years old, inquired into its history, and made the matter certain that it was planted by Anthony Thacher about 1640. It is believed to be a grafted tree, as it contracts two or three inches at about a foot and a half from the ground. It is taken good care of and will probably last many years. It is now owned by the heirs of James C. Hallet. There are other trees of the same kind in the vicinity, but their age cannot be proved.
“The fruit is of medium size, ovate pyriform, green, changing to yellow at maturity, of tolerable quality, ripening early in September. For the specimens exhibited, as well as the facts above noted, I am indebted to the kindness of Amos Otis, Esq., of Yarmouth Port, who had made the local history of Cape Cod his study for the last fifty years, and who died much lamented on the 19th of October last.
“Anthony Thacher came from England in 1635, and after residing in Marshfield, removed to Yarmouth in 1639, being one of the three original grantees of land in that town. The late Dr. James Thacher, of Plymouth, author of the ‘American Orchardist’ (published in 1821), was a descendant of Anthony in the sixth generation. Anthony Thacher accompanied his cousin, Rev. John Avery, in that disastrous voyage of which Whittier has perpetuated the memory in his ballad, ‘The Swan Song of Parson Avery.’ Anthony Thacher got ashore on Thacher’s Island, the headland of Cape Ann, and gave name to the island. (See Whittier’s ‘Home Ballads’ and Young’s ‘Chronicles of the First Planters of Massachusetts,’ p. 485.)
“I endeavored, but without success, to obtain fruit from the pear tree planted at least as early as 1650, by Governor Prence, or Prince, at Eastham, on Cape Cod, and now owned by Capt. Ezekiel Doane. It is known as the Fall pear. It is about the size of a hen’s egg, tapering towards both ends, green, nearly covered with thin russet, of inferior quality, but not as coarse as the Endicott. In 1836 it was a flourishing, lofty tree, producing an average of fifteen bushels of fruit. It consisted of two stems, branching from the ground, the larger of which was blown down in the great storm of April, 1851. The portion now remaining is thirty-five feet high. It is a natural tree and has not failed of bearing for twenty years. It stands in low ground.
“The Pickering or Warden Pear. This tree was grafted on the 19th of April, 1775, the day the battle of Lexington was fought, and must have been at that time a small tree. It is called by the owner the Uvedale Warden or Pickering pear, which are synonyms of the Uvedale’s St. Germain or Pound, but it is entirely distinct from that variety, being much smaller as well as otherwise different. It resembles, and very probably is identical with, a variety which I have known as the English Warden, but which I do not find described in any pomological work, and have not seen for years. It is of medium size, turbinate, light yellow, with a dull brownish cheek, in use in winter, for cooking only. Paul Dudley says, in the paper above quoted, ‘I have a Warden Pear Tree that measures five Foot six Inches round.’
“The Pickering tree contracts suddenly at about a foot from the ground, where it must have been grafted. It shows no sign of being grafted elsewhere. Below the point of grafting, it is full two feet in diameter and is about twenty-five feet high. It stands in a low, moist place. The top was much injured by the great gale of September, 1869, losing several large limbs, but the tree is on the whole in good preservation. In the same garden is a tree probably as old or older, believed to be a Messire Jean.
“The estate, now much circumscribed from its original extent, on which this tree stands, has been in the same family since 1642, having been purchased in that year by John Pickering, who came from England in 1637, and built the house, now standing and occupied by the owner, in 1651. It is on Broad street, Salem. The tree was grafted by John Pickering, of the fifth generation.
“The Hon. Timothy Pickering, eminent for his incorruptible integrity and immovable firmness, who successively held the offices of Adjutant-general and Quartermaster-general in the Revolutionary army, and of Postmaster-general, Secretary of War, and Secretary of State in the Cabinet of President Washington, and continued to hold the last named office under President Adams, was a brother of John. At the breaking out of the Revolution he was Colonel of the Essex regiment, and on the day when this tree was grafted by John Pickering, who was an invalid, his more vigorous brother mustered his regiment and marched to intercept the retreating British troops. Timothy Pickering was also interested in agriculture, having been Secretary of the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, the oldest agricultural society in the United States, and after his return to Massachusetts, was the first President of the Essex County Agricultural Society. The estate on which the old pear tree stands was devised by John Pickering, who died unmarried, to his nephew John, son of Timothy, the most eminent American philologist of his time. On his death, it descended to his son John, the present owner, to whom I am indebted for the facts here stated, as well as for the specimens of fruit exhibited at Chicago last September.”
Out of an embarrassing number of references in regard to the early introduction of the pear in New England one may choose the following: Francis Higginson, writing in 1629, notes that pears are under cultivation in New England.[6] In the same year, a memorandum of the Massachusetts Company shows that seeds of pears, with those of other fruits were sent to the colony.[7] Trees from these seeds grew amazingly fast in the virgin soils of the colony, for John Josselyn, who made voyages to New England in 1638 and 1639, writing in his New England Rarities Discovered, notes that “fruit trees prosper abundantly” enumerating, among others, those of the pear.[8] Josselyn further says “the Kernels sown or Succors planted produce as fair and good fruit, without grafting, as the trees from which they were taken,” and that “the Countrey is replenished with fair and large Orchards.” As early as 1641 a nursery had been started in Massachusetts and no doubt was selling pear-trees. These probably came from seeds, for trees were not imported until in the next century. Varieties were few then as for many years later. In 1726, Paul Dudley, one of the Chief Justices of Massachusetts, in a paper in the Philosophical Transactions, says, “Our apples are without doubt as good as those of England, and much fairer to look to, and so are the pears, but we have not got all the sorts.” In another paragraph, Justice Dudley gives the following account of several varieties of pears in these first orchards in New England.
He says:[9]
“An Orange Pear Tree grows the largest and yields the fairest Fruit. I know one of them near forty Foot high, that measures six Foot and six Inches in Girt, a Yard from the Ground, and has borne thirty Bushels at a Time: and this year I measured an Orange Pear, that grew in my own Orchard, of eleven Inches round the Bulge. I have a Warden Pear Tree, that measures five Foot six Inches round. One of my Neighbors has a Bergamot Pear Tree that was brought from England in a Box, about the Year 1643, that now measures six Foot about, and has borne twenty-two Bushels of fine Pears in one Year. About twenty years since, the Owner took a Cyon, and grafted it upon a common Hedge Pear; but the Fruit does not prove altogether so good, and the Rind or Skin, is thicker than that of the Original.”
Thus, early in the history of Massachusetts, the pear was largely planted and became a prominent fruit. These early plantations grew so well that no doubt they inspired the horticulturists of the first half of the nineteenth century, of which the names of Dearborn, Hovey, Kenrick, the two Mannings, and Wilder are notable in the history of the pear in this country, to undertake the popularization of this fruit by extensive culture, by breeding new varieties, and by the introduction of the best pears from Europe. Their work, as we shall see later, gave pear-growing its first great impetus in America. Until the middle of the last century, the pear industry in America centered in Massachusetts; and most of the new varieties which originated in this country and nearly all of the introductions from abroad came from that state.
The pear was not neglected in the other New England states as the horticultural records of all attest, but its history in the several states is so similar in time and events that the account of its early culture in Massachusetts suffices for the whole region. It must, however, be noted that the pear was introduced in Maine at a very early date, probably by the French. In an orchard on the east bank of the Sheepscot, below Wiscasset Bay, a venerable pear-tree stood until early in the nineteenth century of such girt and height that it was supposed to be more than 200 years old. Of the planting of this orchard there are no records nor traditions. The most reasonable supposition was that the trees had been planted there by the French in one of the several attempts of France to colonize the coast of Maine.[10]
This introduction of the French in the history of the pear in the New World, brings us to a discussion of the part they took in bringing this fruit to America. The debt to France for early horticulture in America rests largely on tradition, but in the case of the pear, there are such substantial proofs of it in ancient pear-trees of enormous size found on the sites of old French settlements, that though there are no written records, and even the people and their habitations have disappeared, it is certain that the seeds from which these venerable trees sprang were planted by early French explorers or missionaries. The first plantings of pears made by the French were in Canada. History and tradition, substantiated by ancient trees, make certain that this fruit was planted by the first French settlers in Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island, in favored situations bordering on the St. Lawrence, and on the islands in this river, notably the Island of Montreal. Later plantations of fruit were set in the Niagara region and along the Detroit river. No new varieties seem to have come from these early plantings in Canada, but they demonstrated that pear-growing was possible.
The history of the pear in America cannot be written without making note of the magnificent specimens of this fruit standing until recent years—a few may still be found—about the old French settlements in Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois. These are offspring of seeds brought from France. A century ago the French habitants in Detroit had a tradition as to the manner in which these pears were introduced. The legend ran that an emigrant from France brought three pear seeds in his vest pocket, which, planted on the banks of the Detroit river, became the parents through suckers and seeds of the gigantic old pear-trees that have long been such striking landmarks of the towns and farms on the Detroit river. No doubt these trees are the remains of orchards in which there were apples, and possibly some plums and cherries, of which the shorter-lived trees long since disappeared, while the pears, flourishing in a green old age, are the sole remaining relics of the old French settlements of this region. The writer herewith puts on record another account of these truly remarkable pears as he saw them in 1899.
All of these ancient French pears are of the same type, but the fruits vary slightly, indicating that the trees were grown from seeds, although some may have come from sprouts since many of the trees throw out sprouts abundantly. The pears are of medium size, usually turbinate, and lemon-yellow is the predominating color. The ripening season runs from late summer to early winter. The flesh is melting, juicy, usually mildly sweet, spicy, not high in quality for dessert but excellent for all culinary purposes. But the most remarkable characters of these French pears are the great size of the trees and their vigor, healthfulness, productiveness, and longevity. The trees have the majestic port of a century-old elm or oak. They attain a height of eighty feet; a girt of eight or ten feet is not uncommon, while one monarch measured by the writer fell a few inches short of eleven feet in circumference three feet from the ground. The leaves are small but abundant, and are of the luxuriant green color that betokens great vigor. The trees have attained immunity to blight, but the fruits are inviting prey to codling-moth when that insect is rife. In these rich river-bottom lands the trees almost annually load themselves with fruit, a crop of from forty to fifty bushels on one tree not being uncommon. No one knows the age of most of these ancient lichen-covered giants, although one which stood until a few years ago was known to have been planted within the pickets of the palisaded fortress of Detroit in 1705.
A generation or two ago, these French pears were very common about the French settlements of Michigan and Canada in this region but they have been disappearing fast, until it is doubtful if any of those set by French habitants can be found now. The pears possessed no commercial value, and were replaced by named varieties better known by fruit-growers and nurserymen. It is doubtful if the trees of the newcomers will ever attain the age, size, vigor, and productiveness of these oldtimers of the French, characters which make them noteworthy in the history of the pear in America.
Pear-trees of enormous size survive on other sites of old French settlements in the United States to show what notable horticulturists the early missionaries of this people were, who, we are many times told in the early records, usually surrounded their missions and homes with trees of the apple, peach, pear, and cherry. Pear-trees very like those found about the French settlements in Canada and Michigan still grow in the rich intervale lands of the Wabash and Mississippi in Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. Vincennes, Indiana, was settled by the French in 1702; Kaskaskia and Cahokia, Illinois, about 1685; St. Louis, Missouri, in 1764. These may be set down as approximate dates in which horticulture began in these inland regions. When the English conquered these settlements they found giant pear-trees which persisted well into the last century, the second generation of which were scattered far and wide in the river settlements of this region. Tradition says that a Monsieur Girardin, a native of France, planted a pear orchard from seeds he brought with him at Cahokia about 1780, from which came the Prairie du Pont pear, a small, roundish, lemon-colored fruit similar to the French pears of Detroit, borne on an immense blight-proof tree. No doubt the variety could still be found in this part of the Mississippi valley. One wishes that the American-born descendants and the conquerers of these early settlers from Normandy were as energetic in forwarding horticulture as the first settlers. After the invasion of the English and later the Americans, there is little evidence of progress in horticulture in this region, until the early years of the nineteenth century.
Another famous pear-tree of the Middle West is worthy of notice as an evidence of early interest in horticulture. This tree, known as the Ockletree pear, from the name of its owner, has acquired fame as the largest pear-tree of which there is record. The tree was a seedling brought from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1804, and was planted in an orchard at Vincennes, Indiana. It bore a number of record-breaking crops, the largest of which was 140 bushels of pears borne in 1837. In 1855, the trunk measured ten and one-half feet in circumference at the smallest place below the limbs; the top was estimated to have a spread of 75 feet. The tree gained its great port and productiveness from spread of branch rather than height, which was estimated to be only 65 feet. The variety was unknown, but the fruit was said to be somewhat inferior in quality. This monarch of its species was struck by a tornado in 1867 which stripped off its branches and caused the death of the tree a few years later.
Another living monument marked the beginnings of pear-culture in America until 1866, when the trunk, little more than a shell, was broken down by a dray, having furnished shade and shelter in a New York garden for 220 years. This garden was laid out by the redoubtable Peter Stuyvesant who took the reins of government in New Amsterdam in 1647, at which time this pear-tree was planted. The pear was a Summer Bon Chrétien, said to have been imported from Holland in a tub. Stuyvesant’s garden, kept in a high state of cultivation by forty or fifty negro slaves, was called the “Bouwery,” now the Bowery, and the pear-tree in it stood at what is now the corner of Third Avenue and Thirteenth Street. No doubt other pears were imported from Holland at the same time, and from these and seeds and sprouts, this fruit was started in the Dutch settlements up and down the Hudson, where the pear even to this day is a favorite fruit, finding here a more congenial soil and climate than in any other part of America.
Soon after Governor Stuyvesant planted his bowery of fruits, flowers, and vegetables, the French laid out orchards in the vicinity of New York City. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, many Huguenots fled to America. In 1689, some of these French emigrés settled at New Rochelle, New York, and on Long Island. The trees grown by the Huguenots were usually grafted, the parent plants having been brought from France. No doubt, it was from these importations that White Doyenné, Brown Beurré, St. Germain, Virgouleuse, and many other old French sorts that seem to have been in America from time immemorial came.
However, the pear, in common with other fruits, was more largely grown from seeds in these pioneer days than from buds or grafts. Fruits were known and grown as species and not as varieties almost wholly in America until the nineteenth century. The sale of budded or grafted trees began in New York, so far as records show, with the establishment of a nursery at Flushing, Long Island, in 1730, by Robert Prince. This nursery afterwards became the famous Linnaean Botanic Garden. At what date Prince began to offer grafted pears for sale cannot now be ascertained, but advertisements appearing in 1767, 1771, and 1790 offer named varieties at these dates. The following is a list of pears offered by the Princes in 1771:[11]
Bergamot
Russelet
Catharine
Early sugar
Vergalieu
Baurre vert
July
Winter baurre
Monsier Jean
Baurre de roy
Trom valette
Green chissel
French primative
Swan’s egg
Winter bon cretan
Colmar
Easter bergamot
Cressan
Amber
Spanish bon cretan
Chaumontelle
Large bell
Citron de camis
La Chassaire
Summer bergamot
Hampden’s bergamot
Autumn bergamot
Doctor Uvedale’s St. Germain
Amozelle
Large winter, weighs near two pounds
Lent St. Germain
Pear wardens
Brocaus bergamot
Empress
Winter bergamot
Large summer baking
Jargonelle
The black pear of Worcester or Parkinson’s warden
Roussilon
The skinless
Cuissemadam
Green catharine
Coincident with the establishment of nurseries selling named varieties of pears another event of prime importance to pear-growers occurred. Pear-blight became epidemic in the orchards along the Hudson, and while it must have been noticed before, its ravages at this time brought it prominently to the attention of pear-growers. The disease seems to have been first mentioned by William Denning who described it in the Transactions of the Society for the Promotion of Agriculture for 1794 (pt. 2, p. 219) in an article on the decay of apple-trees. Denning says that he first saw the malady in orchards on the highlands of the Hudson in 1780 attacking apples, pears, and quinces. He gives a good description of the disease, but says it is caused by a borer in the trunk which he found after much labor. From Denning’s discovery until Burrill a hundred years later, in 1882, discovered a cause of the disease and suggested a preventive, every treatise on the pear speculates on the cause and cure of pear-blight, a disease which has been and is the terror and despair of growers of this fruit.
Philadelphia was another center of pear-growing in the early settlements of the country. The Quakers, settling in Pennsylvania in 1682, planted all of the hardy fruits; which were soon, as we are several times told, a great asset to the colony. No results worthy of note seem to have come from these early plantings until nearly a half century later when John Bartram[12] founded, in 1728, what became a famous botanic garden. The Bartram Botanic Garden became almost at once the clearing house for native and foreign fruits and plants, and to it came several varieties of pears for distribution throughout the colonies. Here, the first variety of the pear to originate in America of which we have definite record, came into existence. This was the Petre pear raised by Bartram, from seeds sent him from England by Lady Petre. The seed was planted in 1735 near the stone house which Bartram built with his own hands. The tree still stands, somewhat stricken with its two centuries, but withal a noble specimen seemingly capable of breasting the blows of age for many years to come.
The pear industry of the eastern United States is confined to the regions in which the history of this fruit has been traced, and most if not all of the varieties that originated in this country until the middle of the nineteenth century came from the importations to these French, Dutch, and English settlements. There is little profit, therefore, in attempting to trace further the history of pear-culture on the Atlantic seaboard in colonial times. Pears were grown in the states south of Pennsylvania, for many references are found in the colonial records of the southern states, but they bring out no new facts to illuminate the history of this fruit in America. The Quakers and Swedes grew pears in the regions watered by the Delaware, and the English in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina all planted pears with the other hardy fruits only to find that they so quickly succumbed to unfavorable climate and the blight as to be unprofitable. The Bergamy and Warden, in particular, are mentioned as varieties of this fruit grown in the colonial period of the southern colonies.
Perhaps one, at least, of these lesser centers of pear-growing somewhat to the south of the pear regions in which there are now commercial plantations should receive notice. In 1794, William Coxe,[13] Burlington, New Jersey, began planting experimental orchards. Coxe was acquainted with the leading pomologists of Europe and his own country, and collected the best varieties of tree-fruits to be found in the United States, England, and France. In 1817, he published his View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees, and the Management of Orchards and Cider, etc., the first American book on pomology. This pioneer pomologist described 65 varieties of pears, most of which he had grown at one time or another on his own place, and names 21 other sorts that were grown in his and neighboring states. Coxe seems to have been the first nurseryman to import new varieties from the Old World. To Coxe, more than to any other one man, the regions adjacent to the Delaware are indebted for the early development of fruit-growing both for pleasure and profit, and the whole country is indebted to him for the introduction of many fine fruits.
A new phase in the history of the pear began soon after the Revolutionary war. Until this time, and until well into the next century, tree-fruits were nearly all seedlings. The pears of the country until as late as 1830 were for most part seedlings, the fruits varying greatly in size, shape, color, and flavor. According to the accounts of the times, the product was so hard of flesh and so astringent in flavor as to be fit only for cooking and perry. Indeed, the great object in growing apples, pears, and peaches was the making of cider, perry, and peach-brandy. Good eating pears were few indeed. But beginning in a small way with Coxe in New Jersey, as noted, a little later with William Kenrick, Newton, Massachusetts, and still later with Robert Manning, Salem, Massachusetts, the importation of European varieties of fruits became an important part of the nursery business. The importation of pears became an obsession with Manning, his nursery alone importing several hundred varieties. Manning’s work must have a more extended notice.
In 1823, Robert Manning established a pomological garden at Salem, Massachusetts, to collect and test as many varieties of fruits as he could obtain, native and foreign, with the intention of propagating and distributing those which proved most worthy. In furthering this great project he entered into correspondence with the leading pomologists of Europe, and from them secured trees and cions, which, with native sorts, brought his collection up to 2000 varieties of fruits at the time of his death in 1842. More than half of the varieties planted by Manning were pears. This, it will be remembered, was the period in which Belgian, French, and English pomologists were making pears a specialty, and led by Van Mons, the Belgian scientist, had succeeded in putting almost a new pear flora in the hands of fruit-growers. Manning grew in America nearly all of Van Mons’ introductions, received direct from the originator, and many acquisitions from other European pomologists as well, notably many varieties from Robert Thompson of the London Horticultural Society. Manning was one of the most careful observers amongst American pomologists, and to him pear-growers are indebted for the first full and accurate descriptions of the fruits grown in his time in this country. These were published in 1838 in his Book of Fruits. American pomologies before and many since were compilations. Manning made his descriptions first-hand and described no fruit “not actually identified beyond a reasonable doubt of its genuineness.”
After Manning, one might well scan the work of several eminent American pomologists who made pears a specialty. Robert Manning, Jr., continued the work of his father with this fruit and the two Downings, Wilder, Barry, and Thomson found the pear the most interesting of the fruits which they grew. To all of these men, pomologists are indebted for the introduction of many new and choice pears; for the identification of varieties; for the correction of the nomenclature of this fruit; for testing hundreds of seedlings and native and foreign varieties; and for the distribution of pears throughout the whole country.
A history of the pear in America requires some mention of its introduction in the Pacific states since that region is now the greatest center of the pear industry in the country, and the home of several notable varieties. Franciscan monks established missions in California at about the time the colonies on the eastern coast were fighting for their independence. To these they brought the cultivated plants of Europe and among them the pear. Vancouver, in 1792, found all of the hardy fruits growing at Santa Clara and the mission of San Buena Ventura, California. Robinson, a little later, describes extensive orchards connected with the mission of San Gabriel in which there were pears in abundance. In 1846, Edwin Bryant found at the mission of San Jose six hundred pear-trees bearing fruit in great abundance and full perfection. The missions were secularized in 1834, and the orchards fell into decay. But the pear and the vine withstood neglect, drouth, and the browsing of cattle to furnish food to the Argonauts of ’49. But little came of these early plantings that affects the present industry of growing pears in California either as to methods of culture or the introduction of new varieties.
As an example of the remarkable recuperative power of the pear, however, the orchard which Bryant described in 1846 at the San Gabriel Mission is noteworthy. An enterprising pioneer, W. M. Stockton, grafted over the old orchard in 1854 to improved varieties, and by pruning, cultivation, and irrigation succeeded in rejuvenating it so that the orchard became a profitable commercial plantation—the first commercial pear orchard in California. There are other instances given in the early accounts of fruit-growing in California in which the youth of old pear-trees was renewed by generous treatment, showing that the pear in a congenial soil and climate is most self-assertive in maintaining life. It could hardly be otherwise than that the health and vigor of these old trees stimulated the planting of fruits by the gold-seekers who rushed to this region in 1849.
Meanwhile, orcharding had been established as an avocation. In the rich Willamette Valley in Oregon, where the growing of wheat and cattle was the vocation, the plantations of hardy fruits made by Henderson Lewelling, near Portland, Oregon, in 1847, included pears and marked the beginning of pear-culture in Oregon. Lewelling’s venture, so pregnant with results in pomology for the Pacific Northwest, has been described in The Cherries of New York, and needs no detailed description here. It is mentioned only to call attention to it as another landmark in the history of the pear.
The padres began the cultivation of the pear at the missions. The pioneers of ’47 in Oregon and ’49 in California started a new era in the cultivation of this and other tree-fruits by introducing named and improved varieties and extending their cultivation along the coast from British Columbia to Lower California. So far, the plantings were fruit gardens, not orchards. The era of commercial fruit-growing began in the year 1869 in which the first fresh fruits were sent east by rail, the shipment amounting to thirty-three tons, mostly pears and apples. This event marks the beginning of a great industry in growing pears on the Pacific slope for the fresh fruit market, and was followed shortly by the introduction of canning and evaporation to use up the surplus product. The special demands of these three more or less distinct industries called for new varieties, and American pomology has been enriched by a score or more varieties of pears from this great pear region.
An event which has had a profound influence on pear-growing in the whole country was the introduction of Oriental pears and their hybrids. The mongrel offspring of the Oriental with the European pear were unfortunate in regions where pure-bred European sorts can be grown, but in vast tracts of the United States, as almost the whole of the South and the Middle West, only hybrids of the two species find a congenial environment, and here varieties with Oriental blood became a great asset. The introduction of these pears, also, has greatly stimulated the canning of this fruit in regions where fruit-preserving is an industry. It was hoped that these hybrids could be used successfully as stocks upon which European varieties could be worked, but the stocks have not proved satisfactory, and their use is decreasing.
The Oriental, Chinese, or Sand pear came into America from Asia by the way of Europe. The importation into Europe was made by the Royal Horticultural Society of London in 1820. There seems to be no record of when these pears reached America, but they were growing in the Prince Nursery as early as 1840 under the names Chinese pear and Sha Lea. Here, or in one of several nurseries to which it was sent by Prince, the Oriental seems to have hybridized with the European pear, the product being the Le Conte, which came to notice in 1846 and is the first of these hybrids on record. The Kieffer fruited first in 1873 and proved to be much better than Le Conte except in certain parts of the South. The Garber, another valuable hybrid, came to notice about 1880. There are now, perhaps, two score of these hybrids, with new ones coming from time to time. These hybrid pears, while not blight-proof, are more immune to blight than the European varieties, and pear-breeders are hybridizing the two species with the hope of obtaining a variety with the fruit of the European type on a tree of the Oriental type. Several promising seedlings bred with this combination in view have been announced, and the number of these hybrids is certain to be increased as time goes on.
The advent of Russian pears in the United States must also be mentioned as a notable event in the history of this fruit. Russian pears are hardy strains of Pyrus communis grown from time immemorial in Russia. The fruits of these Russian varieties are low in quality, but the trees are much hardier than those of strains coming from more southern parts of Europe. Some seventy or eighty of these hardy pears have been imported from Russia, the first shipment coming in 1879 from St. Petersburg. For a few years importations followed rapidly, and fruit-growers in cold regions had high hopes of being able to grow pears in competition with growers in more favored regions. The fruits turned out to be so poor in quality and the trees so subject to blight, however, that the cultivation of all but a few varieties has ceased. Of the whole number, Bessemianka, possibly, is the only one worthy of comparison with the pears of southern Europe, and this sort is rated as poor where the southern pears are grown. Professor J. L. Budd,[14] Ames, Iowa, and Charles Gibb, Montreal, Canada, were the two men most instrumental in bringing these pears to America.
The chief import of these brief records of the origin and history of cultivated pears in several countries is to show the evolution of this fruit. It is hoped that the chapter will furnish inspiration for further amelioration of the pear, and that it contains facts that will be helpful in the future development of this fruit. The men, times, and places have historical and narrative interest to pomologists; but these are quite secondary to the knowledge of what the raw material was from which our pear flora has been fashioned, and the methods of domestication that were employed. This chapter is only a sketch—the briefest possible outline of how the leading types of pears came to be, and how and when they came to America.
CHAPTER II
SPECIES OF PEARS AND THEIR CHARACTERS
The pear belongs to the great order Rosaceae, the Rose Family. There are about ninety genera in this family, the most important of all botanical groups to growers of hardy fruits, of which ten or twelve bear pome-fruits. Of the genera whose fruits are pomes, only two contain important hardy fruits, namely, Pyrus, to which belong apples, crab-apples, and pears; and Cydonia, the quince. Three other genera are of lesser importance, but must be named to show their relationship to the pear. These are Mespilus, the medlar, grown in Europe but little known in America; Chænomeles, the Japanese quince, well known as an ornamental, the fruits of which are used for conserves; and Amelanchier, the Juneberry, a common fruit in American forests. One other genus in this family has possibilities for domestication but is not yet cultivated for its fruits in America. This is Cratægus, comprising the hawthorns and thorn-apples, the fruits of which are edible and several species of which are cultivated in various parts of the world as food plants.
Nearly every botanist who has attempted to classify plants has grouped the pome-fruits according to a plan of his own. There are, therefore, several classifications of genera and species of the pomes, in consequence of which the nomenclature is badly confused. A century ago the tendency was for botanists to put in the genus Pyrus the apple, pear, crab-apple, quince, medlar, sorbus, and chokeberry. The modern tendency is to segregate these fruits in distinct genera in accordance with common names. As a rule the differences which suggest a distinct common name suffice for a botanical division.
The pear and apple, however, are usually kept together in Pyrus, and botanists generally agree that separation in species is sufficient, or, at most, that the separation should not be greater than in two sections of the genus. Happily, the difficulties of classification in botany trouble little or not at all in pomology, as each of the pome-fruits constitutes a distinct pomological group. The distinguishing characters of Pyrus are:
[6] Mass. Hist. Soc. Collections 1st Ser. 1:118.
[7] Mass. Records 1:24.
[8] Mass. Hist. Collections 3d Ser. 23:337.
[9] Hist. Mass. Hort. Soc. p. 16. 1829-1878.
[10] Report of Me. Pom. Soc. 7:1873.
[11] Prince, William Cat. 1771.
[12] For a brief account of the life and work of John Bartram, see The Grapes of New York, page 97.
[13] For an account of the life and work of Coxe, see The Peaches of New York, page 254.
[14] For an account of the life and work of Budd, see The Plums of New York, page 145.
Woody plants, trees or shrubs, with smooth or scaly bark. Leaves simple, or sometimes lobed, alternate, usually serrate, deciduous, with deciduous stipules which are free from the petiole. Flowers perfect, regular, borne in compound terminal cymes; torus urn-shaped, adnate to the ovary and inclosing it with thick, succulent flesh at maturity; calyx-lobes 5, acuminate and reflexed, persistent in some and deciduous in other species; petals 5, white, pink or red, inserted on the thickened border of the disk; stamens 15 to 20, in three rows; styles 2 to 5, free or united below; carpels 2 to 5, inferior, crowned by the styles, usually 2-seeded. Fruit an ovoid or pyriform pome; seeds two in each cell, brown or brownish, lustrous, mucilaginous on the outer surface.
The genus comprises fifty to sixty species in the north temperate zone of the three continents. The largest number is found in south-central and eastern Asia. In North America, Pyrus is represented by five species, while eight or nine species inhabit Europe. In several of the species there are many natural varieties. The two sections of Pyrus, given the rank of genera by some authors, are distinguished as follows:
1. Apples (Malus). Flowers pink, rose-color, red or sometimes white, borne in fascicles or subumbellate clusters on short spurs or lateral branchlets; ovary 3- to 5-celled; styles more or less united at the base. Fruit more or less globular with a distinct depression at both ends, the flesh without grit cells, rounded at the base. The species in this section number 30 to 40, of which not more than a half dozen are domesticated.
2. Pears (Pyrus). Flowers white, few, borne in corymbs on short spurs or lateral branchlets; ovary 5-celled; styles usually free. Fruit usually pyriform, sometimes subglobose, usually conical at the base, the flesh usually bearing grit cells when ripened on the tree. The species number 15 to 20 of which but two are truly domesticated, but several others give promise of value for stocks and possibly for their fruits.
THE STRUCTURAL BOTANY OF THE PEAR
A major purpose in The Pears of New York is to describe varieties of pears so that their faults and merits can be seen, and that varieties may be identified. It is apparent at once that one cannot describe accurately nor understand the descriptions of others unless acquainted with the organs of tree and fruit—one must know the form and structure of the whole plant. A study of the organs of plants is structural botany. Plant descriptions are portraitures of the plant’s organs, and structural botany thus becomes the foundation of systematic pomology, with a study of which, as concerns the pear, we are to be chiefly concerned in the following pages. We must, therefore, pay some attention to the structural botany of the pear. A pear is one of the pome-fruits. What is a pome?
A pome is variously defined by students of structural botany. The most conspicuous part of the apple, pear, or quince, the best-known pome-fruits, is the outer, fleshy, edible part. This succulent part is said by some botanists to be the thickened calyx; others say that it is the enlarged receptacle. Some botanists believe that a pome consists of two to five drupe-like fruits, each drupe called a carpel, each of which contains one or more seeds. These drupes, if they are rightly so-named, are held together by a fleshy receptacle. The best definition seems to be that a pome is a fleshy fruit of which the compound ovary is borne within and connected to the receptacle.
CHARACTERS OF PEAR-TREES
Pome-fruits are all woody plants, shrubby or tree-like, of which the pear is always a tree. The value of the variety and the recognition of it usually depend on characters of the fruits, but the trees are nearly as distinct as the fruits, are always helpful in identification, and in the absence of fruit must be relied upon to identify a variety. Also, and even more important, the pear-grower must know whether the plant is manageable in the orchard, for which purpose he must have a description of the chief characters of the tree.
Size and habit of tree.—Size of tree is a very reliable character to determine varieties of pears. The Winter Nelis pear is dwarf as compared with other pears. Size varies greatly with environment, it must be remembered in using this character. The terms large, small, and medium are commonly used to designate size. Vigor, which may be defined as internal energy, must not be confused with size. Small trees may be as vigorous as large ones.
The term habit of growth, as used by pomologists, has reference to the form of the top. In describing the tops of pear-trees a number of self-explanatory terms are used, such as pyramidal, upright-spreading, drooping, tall, low, dense, open-topped, and round-topped. Many if not most varieties of pears may be told by the form of the top. One can tell Bartlett or Clapp Favorite at a glance by their upright branches; as one can, also, Beurré d’Anjou and Beurré Superfin by their wide-spreading branches; or Winter Nelis pear by its drooping branches. Depending upon the form of the top, a variety is easy or difficult to manage in an orchard.
Constitutional characters.—Hardiness, productiveness, susceptibility to pests, adaptability to diverse soils and climates are vaguely supposed to be dependent on the constitution of the tree. Pomologists very generally refer to these characters as constitutional. They speak of the constitution as the aggregate of the vital powers of a variety.
Horticulturally, hardiness is ability to withstand cold. Obviously, hardiness is of utmost importance in characterizing the value of a variety to the pear-grower, and degree of hardiness is of some use in identifying pears. Bartlett and Beurré Bose are relatively tender to cold, Tyson is hardy, and Flemish Beauty is very hardy. Less important, but still of some importance, is the ability to withstand heat, a character possessed in varying degrees by varieties of pears.
Productiveness, age of bearing, regularity of bearing, certainty of bearing, and longevity are constitutional characters that must be noted in full descriptions. All help to determine the value of a variety, and all aid more or less in classification. For most part, these are inherent characters and are influenced but little by environment.
The degree of susceptibility of a variety to fungous diseases and insect pests is a valuable cultural character, but has little use in identifying or classifying pears. There are great variations in varieties of pears to the dreaded pear-blight: Bartlett, Beurré Bose, Beurré d’Anjou, and Clapp Favorite are among the varieties most susceptible; Kieffer, Seckel, and Winter Nelis are among those least susceptible to blight. Kieffer and related hybrids are somewhat immune to San Jose scale, but are very susceptible to psylla. Flemish Beauty and White Doyenné are so badly attacked by the scab-fungus that it is almost impossible to grow them in eastern America.
Some of these constitutional characters are much modified by care and environment, as all are more or less. Care and local environment often make it possible to grow varieties in special localities, although some varieties are inherently adapted to a greater number of diverse conditions than others. Bartlett, Seckel, and Kieffer have in common as one of their most valuable characters adaptability to a great diversity of soils and climates.
Trunk and branch.—The trunk does not count for much in descriptions of varieties. The height of the trunk usually depends on the whims of the pruner. Whether stout or slender is sometimes noteworthy. The bark may be smooth or shaggy. Color of bark is often a valuable diagnostic character, especially in young trees. Many if not most varieties of pears can be identified in nursery rows by an expert nurseryman from the color of the bark. Seckel, Sheldon, and Beurré d’Anjou have remarkably distinctive color as young trees.
The branches of pear-trees are often reliable guides in identifying varieties in orchard or nursery, especially when trees are leafless and fruitless. The twisting, drooping branches of Winter Nelis serve to identify that variety at any time. The zigzag branches of Beurré d’Anjou and Bloodgood are typical. The branches of Beurré Superfin are rough and shaggy. Those of Dorset and Fox are slender. The branches of several well-known pears are spiny. A glance through the technical descriptions in Chapter IV shows that branches and branchlets are variously colored. The branchlets may be stout or slender, long-jointed or short-jointed, pubescent or glabrous, straight or zigzag. The angle at which branchlets are set is often characteristic. The epidermis may be smooth or covered with scarf-skin. Lastly, the size, shape, color, number, and position of the corky cells or lenticels on young wood is most important in identifying trees after leaves have fallen.
Leaf-buds and leaves.—Size, length, and shape of leaf-buds are helpful in identifying varieties when the trees are dormant. There is considerable difference in the length of buds of different varieties, and they may vary in thickness; some are plump, others are slender. The shape can usually be described as acute, pointed, obtuse, or conical. If the bud lies close to the twig, it is said to be appressed; if it stands from the twig at a considerable angle, it is free. In some varieties the leaf-scar is conspicuous; in others, it is inconspicuous.
While leaves vary much in accordance with the condition of the plant which bears them, yet they offer a number of valuable distinguishing characters. It is important in making use of leaves to take only those borne on free-growing twigs, as those growing on luxuriant water-sprouts on the one hand, or on slow-growing spurs on the other are seldom typical.
The size of the leaf is a most valuable determinant of varieties of pears. Length and breadth should be given in figures. The shape should be depicted in carefully chosen words. The body of the leaf is usually ovate or oval, but these shapes must nearly always be modified by broad or narrow, long or short. The apex requires a descriptive word or two; as, taper-pointed, acute, or obtuse. Thickness and texture are sometimes noteworthy. The texture is usually described as stiff, leathery, or pliant. Sometimes the leaves are flat; sometimes folded upward, and rarely they are folded downward. The color of both the upper and lower surfaces is often important; and the amount of pubescence, if present, must always be noted on the two surfaces. The autumnal tint is a marked characteristic in some varieties. The margins offer valuable evidence for identification in the character of the serrations which are usually distinct in a variety. Sometimes glands and hairs are found on the margins, in which case they are usually noteworthy. The time of appearance and the fall of leaves are life events that distinguish some varieties. Leaves are many in some sorts; few in others. The length, thickness, color of the petiole and whether it is smooth, pubescent or channeled are usually worth noting. The presence and the size and color of stipules are often important enough to record. The petioles of pear leaves are larger and slenderer than those of the apple, and the foliage of a pear-tree has something of the tremulous habit of the aspen and other poplars. The leaves have a gloss that distinguishes them at once from those of the apple-tree. As a rule, the foliage of the pear drops earlier in the autumn than that of the apple.
When the leaves of pears open in the spring they are folded along the midrib, and are covered with snow-white wool, but at full maturity no trace of this woolly covering remains. The amount and texture of this covering on the leaves of different varieties vary greatly, although it is doubtful if this character is of much use for taxonomic purposes.
Flower-buds and flowers.—It is not possible to distinguish flower-buds from leaf-buds by their external appearance as certainly as might be wished for the purposes of ascertaining what the crop will be and that pruning and budding may be done more intelligently. As a rule, however, the flower-buds are larger, plumper, and have a blunter point. The flower-buds are much like leaf-buds in color—usually a dark brown. They may be readily told by their contents when examined under a microscope. Time of opening is a mark of distinction with varieties that bloom very early or very late, but the flowers of most varieties of pears open at approximately the same time.
The flowers of pears give small opportunity to identify varieties but are useful. The petals in most of the flowers of varieties of P. communis meet or lap at the widest point, which is a short distance from the point of attachment. Occasionally a variety has the petals widely separated. Easter Beurré, Vermont Beauty, and Dana Hovey are examples of varieties with widely-separated petals. Round and broadly-oval petals meet or lap, long narrow petals are usually separated. The size, shape, and color of the petals offer the best means of identification from flowers. The length, thickness, and amount and kind of pubescence on the styles may distinguish varieties. The styles of the Howell pear are abnormally short. The number of flowers in a cluster, and whether the cluster is dense or loose are important. The character of the fruit-spurs is nearly always noteworthy. The calyx-tubes, calyx-lobes, and pedicels differ materially. These structures in the flower, while offering decisive evidence in identification, are seldom used by pomologists because character of plant and fruit may be studied during a much longer time and are of greater cultural importance. In the blooming season, length, diameter, and the pubescence of stamens may be noted, but much more important taxonomically is the position of the stamens on the calyx-tube in the mature fruit. These organs, or remnants of them, persist in the ripened fruits, as will be noted in the discussion of characters of the fruit. Lastly, some varieties may be told during the blooming season by the distribution of the blossoms on the tree. The flowers of many varieties are borne on the periphery of the tree, and give the plant an aspect by which one may recognize the variety at once.
If a variety is not noteworthy in the characters for which the fruit is grown—those which appeal to the senses of taste and sight—it has small chance of being cultivated long or widely. Hence, especial attention is paid to descriptions of the fruit. Some pomologists describe varieties only from the fruit, saying little or nothing about the plant.
FRUIT-CHARACTERS OF POMES
Season and use.—Perhaps season is the first, and certainly it is one of the most important characters to be noted in the ripened fruit. By season is meant the period in which a variety is in proper condition for use. Unless otherwise stated, season has reference to the period during which fruit is in condition in ordinary storage, as it is understood that cold-storage greatly prolongs the natural season. The terms summer, fall, and winter, sometimes modified by early or late, give the season with sufficient accuracy. Keeping quality and shipping quality, both dependent on several factors, are usually mentioned in connection with season.
Rather closely connected with season is use. The uses for which a variety is particularly suited should always be indicated. Thus, a market variety is one suitable for the general market; a local market sort is one which does not stand handling well enough for the general market but is acceptable in local trade. A variety for dessert or table is suitable for eating in the uncooked state; cooking or kitchen varieties are desirable for culinary purposes.
Size and shape of fruit.—Of external characters of pears, size is important if several typical specimens can be examined, but is often misleading because under the stress of environment abnormal specimens may be produced. Gradations in size are expressed by the terms large, medium, and small, modified by very, above, and below. Used in connection with size, uniform signifies that the fruit of a variety runs fairly even in the same size.
Shape is the most important character in describing the fruit. It may be used with immature as well as mature specimens. In determining the shape of the fruit, the pear should be held opposite to the eye perpendicular to the diameter from stem to calyx; or the fruit may be cut longitudinally at its widest diameter. The shape of the body of the pear is usually described first, followed by a description of the narrow part bearing the stem, if this neck is prominent enough to be noteworthy. A pear is pyriform when the curve formed by the body and neck is concave; turbinate, or top-shaped, when the body is nearly round with a short neck. The neck may be long or short, distinct or obscure, obtuse or acute. Sheldon is typically turbinate; Beurré d’Anjou, Beurré Bose, and Bartlett are all pyriform.
A graphic record should accompany a description of the fruit to show size and shape. A simple outline drawing serves the purpose.
The stem.—Varying as little as any other character of the pear, the stem is much used in identification. It may be long and slender, as in the Beurré Bose; short and thick, as in Doyenné du Comice; fleshy, as in Louise Bonne de Jersey; clubbed, when enlarged at the end; and lipped when the flesh forms a protuberance under which the stem is inserted. The stems of pears are often set obliquely as in Beurré Clairgeau; or are crooked or curved as in Howell. In a few varieties the stems are channeled. The stems of some pears have distinguishing colors, those of others are pubescent. In some pears, as Souvenir d’Espéren, there are bud-like projections on the stem.
The length of the stem in pears is a reliable diagnostic character only when it is known from what part of the flower-cluster the fruit was developed. For, as a rule, the nearer the flower to the tip of the raceme in the pear, the shorter the stem on the fruit.
Cavity and basin.—The cavity, the depression in which the stem is set, offers several marks which greatly enhance the value of a description of any of the pears. The cavity may be acute or obtuse; shallow, medium, or deep; narrow, medium, or broad; smooth or russeted; furrowed, ribbed, angular, or uniform; or it may be lipped as described under stem. The color of the skin within the cavity is sometimes different from that without, and there may be radiating lines, rays, or streaks.
The basin, the depression in which the calyx is set, is as important as the cavity in classifying pears and is described by the same terms. The furrows in the basin are sometimes indistinct and are then called wavy. The skin around the calyx-lobes may be wrinkled, plaited, folded, or corrugated. Rarely, there are fleshy protuberances about the calyx-lobes called mammiform appendages.
Calyx-lobes.—The withered calyx-lobes persist in some pears and not in others. They persist in European pears, but are deciduous in the edible-fruited Asiatic species. The calyx-lobes may be open, partly open, or closed in varieties of the fruits in which they are persistent. In some varieties the segments are separated at the base; in others, united. The lobes may lie flat on the fruit or may stand erect. When upright, if the tips incline inward the lobes are said to be connivent; if inclined outward, they are reflexed, or divergent. The lobes may be broad or narrow, with tips acute or accuminate.
Characters of the skin.—The skin of all pears offers several most valuable features for classification. Of these characters, color is the most important. Perhaps no character of fruits varies more in accordance with environment than the color, yet the color itself and the way in which it is distributed on the fruit, serve to make this character a fairly safe distinguishing mark for most varieties of pears. The ground-color of pears is the green or yellow-green of chlorophyll, usually with an over-color of tints and shades of yellow or red. The over-color may be laid on in stripes, splashes, or streaks; as a blush; may mottle the surface; or may be a single color, in which case the fruit is said to be self-colored. In nearly all varieties of colored pears, it is not an uncommon anomaly to find trees under some conditions bearing green fruits. Usually, in pears, the color is laid on solidly; very few varieties have striped or splashed fruits.
The skin may be thick or thin, tough or tender. In a few varieties it is relatively free from the flesh, but with most clings tightly. The surface of the skin is often waxy or oily. This character must not be confused with waxen which refers to the glossy appearance of the skin.
Some pears have an unbroken russet surface as Beurré Bose and Sheldon. Or, the surface may be rough because of minute russet dots or netted veins. With many sorts, the cavity alone is russeted. Sometimes the russet of the cavity is spread out in radiating lines.
Nearly all pears have few or many dots on the skin, notes on which may enhance the value of a description. These may be obscure or conspicuous, large or small, raised or sunken. If visible under the epidermis, they are said to be submerged. When star-like, they are called stellate. If surrounded by a halo of lighter color, they are said to be areolar. In some varieties, the dots are elongated. Very often the dots are russeted. The roughened outer skin, called scarf-skin, gives a distinguishing appearance to a few pears.
Cutting pears to show the internal structure.—When varieties cannot be distinguished from external marks, there are several very reliable characters that can be made use of in the internal anatomy of the fruits. To study these it is necessary to make a longitudinal and a transverse section of the pear. To make an accurate examination of the internal structure, the sectioning must be done with a keen, thin knife, with a steady hand, and a good eye.
In making the longitudinal section the knife should pass through the center of the calyx, showing the remnants of styles and stamens; through the middle of the core cell, showing the outline of the core cavity; and through the middle of the stem. A true record cannot be obtained, unless the organs named are divided fairly accurately in halves. In making the transverse section, the knife should pass through the widest diameter of the fruit, cutting the core in half. If the core is not in the center of the fruit, trial cuts to locate it must be made that it may be halved exactly.
The stamens, calyx-tube, and styles.—After halving the fruit longitudinally, the first organs to be studied are the stamens, the position of which furnishes reliable taxonomic data in apples and is occasionally worth noting in pears. Passing from the stamens to the calyx-tube, it will be found that the shape of this structure is of some use in separating varieties, although it is exceedingly variable in accordance with the size of the pear, and is materially altered by abnormalities in the fruit. The base of the styles in some varieties develop into fleshy tissue which alters the shape of the calyx-tube. The calyx-tube may be cone-shaped, funnel-shaped, or urn-shaped. When funnel-shaped, the broad upper part is called the limb; the narrow lower part, the cylinder. In some varieties the remnants of the styles are often more or less fleshy and form a point, called the pistil point, which projects into the calyx-tube.
The core.—The position of the core in the fruit is often a valuable means of distinguishing varieties. If close to the stem, the core is said to be sessile; if at the center of the pome, it is median; when distant from the stem, distant.
The cell containing seed, called a carpel, is morphologically a modified leaf, which, by folding together and by union of its edges forms a closed receptacle. In some varieties, the carpels are open; in others closed. If the tip of the carpel is indented, it is said to be emarginate; if long and pointed, mucronate. In shape, carpels may be round, cordate, obcordate, elliptical, oblong, elongated, ovate, or obovate. In the cores of most pomes there is a central cavity called the core cavity, sometimes spoken of as the axial sac which may be either narrow, wide, or lacking. This is a character of much importance and reliability in pears. When the carpels extend quite to the axis of the fruit, they are said to be axile and there is no core cavity; when distant from the axis, they are abaxile and a core cavity is formed. Sometimes the carpel is lined on the inner surface with a white substance, when it is said to be tufted. In some pears, there are many fine hairs in the core-cavity in which case the cavity is said to be tufted.
The limits of the core are marked by a line in most pome-fruits—usually very distinct in apples and quinces—which in most varieties of pears is indistinct. The area enclosed by this line may be large or small and may be variously shaped. When the core-line joins the calyx-tube along the sides, it is said to be clasping; when the two ends of the line meet at the base of the calyx-tube, the expression core-lines meeting is used. The core-line in pears is nearly always, if not always, clasping and very often it is a more or less thickened area of grit-cells.
Seeds.—Seeds are characteristic in all varieties of pears and might well be used more generally than is the case in classification. The number is exceedingly variable in different varieties. The usual number is two in each cell, but often there are three or more and occasionally they are missing. Seeds vary greatly in different varieties in size, shape, and color, and differences in these characters are as constant as are those of any other organ of the fruit. Number, size, shape, and color of seeds should be noted with care in every technical description of a pear. The point of the seed, also, is worth noting; it may be acute, acuminate, or obtuse. Like the carpels, the seeds are often tufted. There are several so-called seedless pears, but all of these occasionally contain some seeds. Very often seedlessness is brought about by lack of proper pollination. An occasional fruit without seeds is found in nearly all varieties, but these fruits are usually more or less abnormal in size or shape.
Flesh.—Most pears may be identified from the flesh-characters without a glance at any other part of fruit or plant. Flavor, odor, and texture of flesh are distinct in almost every variety, and appeal more strongly to the senses of taste and smell than characters measured by the eye do to the sight. Unfortunately, flavors, odors, and textures are difficult to describe.
All characters of the flesh vary greatly in accordance with conditions of growth, soil and climate having a profound influence on texture, flavor, and quality. It is important, also, in describing the flesh to have the fruit at the proper stage of maturity, and as immaturity verges into maturity and maturity into decay almost imperceptibly, each condition affecting the flesh, it is not surprising that differences of opinion may be many in judging the flesh-characters of a fruit.
In cutting a pear the color of the flesh is first noted. It may be nearly white, as in Flemish Beauty; tinged with yellow, as in Tyson; greenish-white as in Bartlett; or tinged with red, as in Joséphine de Malines. Pears with red flesh are occasionally found, but no standard varieties have flesh of this color. Sanguinole, grown more or less in Europe, has flesh of a wine-red color. Very often the texture of pear-flesh is marred by grittiness to which some varieties are much more subject than others. In most cases, however, the grit-cells are abnormal, and a discussion of their presence and cause belongs under the head of diseases in another chapter.
One determines the nature of the texture by cutting the fruit, through pressure by the fingers, and by eating. The texture may be coarse or fine; tender or tough; crisp, breaking, melting, or almost buttery; dry or juicy.
Flavor and quality.—Pears are readily divided into two classes as to flavor; they are either sweet or sour. The qualifying terms mildly and very are often used with sweet and sour. Subacid, tart, and sprightly are sometimes most expressive. Austere refers to a flavor more or less sour with some astringency. The flavor may often be put down as astringent. All varieties have a more or less distinct aroma. Rich and refreshing are words often found in the rather extensive vocabulary necessary to describe the flavor of this fruit.
Quality is that combination of texture, flavor, and aroma which makes a fruit pleasant to the palate. Quality is rated by common consent of pomologists by five grades: Poor, fair, good, very good, and best. It should be noted that good in this rating signifies a fruit of but medium quality.
The characters of pears are graphically shown on the opposite page in a descriptive form filled out for Bartlett in a description of this variety for The Pears of New York. This is, however, but a skeleton, and most of the characters must be more fully described than a form like this permits. Few pomologists in these days have the temerity to offer a description compiled in whole or in part. Descriptions are worth while only when made from living specimens before the eyes of the describer.
SPECIES OF PEARS
The foregoing pages discussing the characters of pears were preparation for a proper understanding of descriptions of pears. A discussion of the species which constitute or may constitute forms for cultivation either for their fruit or as stocks upon which to grow edible pears logically follows.
Edible pears fall into two well-marked groups: Those coming from Europe and northwestern Asia, occidental pears; and those coming from eastern and northeastern Asia, oriental pears.
OCCIDENTAL PEARS
In this group belong the thousands of varieties under common cultivation in Europe, the United States, and in temperate regions settled by Europeans. These pears are distinct from oriental pears in place of origin, and by fairly well-marked botanical characters. Thus, the leaves of these occidental pears are crenate-serrate and entire and never setose-serrate; and the calyx is persistent on the fruits. For most part, the fruits of the two divisions are quite distinct, especially in shape, but no constant line of cleavage can be found in the pears. There are several species of these occidental pears grown for their fruits or as ornamentals. Only one, however, is of great importance. This is P. communis, to a discussion of which we now come.
1. PYRUS COMMUNIS Linnaeus.
1. Linnaeus Sp. Pl. 479. 1753.
2. Loudon Arb. et Frut. Brit. 2:880. 1838.
3. Schneider Laubholzk. 1:661. 1906.
Tree vigorous, attaining a height of 50 ft. and a diameter of 2 ft., usually with an upright, oblong, or pyramidal, compact top; bark on trunk of mature trees rough, with large persistent scales; branches usually stout, thorny, variously colored, overlaid with scarf-skin; branchlets glossy, smooth, glabrous, with more or less conspicuous lenticels. Leaf-buds prominent, plump, obtuse or pointed, mostly free; leaf-scars conspicuous. Leaves 2 to 4 in. long, 1 to 2½ in. wide, oval or oblong-ovate, thin, hard or leathery, veiny; upper surface dark green, glabrous; lower surface light green, glabrous; both surfaces downy as the leaves open; apex acuminate; margins crenate-serrate or entire, never setose-serrate; teeth often tipped with small glands; petiole 1 to 2 in. long, slender. Flower-buds larger and plumper than leaf-buds; borne on fruiting spurs in dense or loose clusters of 4 to 10; flowers showy, 1 in. across, white or sometimes with tinge of pink; calyx persistent or rarely deciduous; styles distinct to the base, sometimes downy; stamens 15 to 20; pedicels 1 in. long, slender, sometimes pubescent.
Fruits exceedingly variable under cultivation; varying from 1 in. in length and diameter to 3 in. in diameter and 5 to 6 in. in length; variously shaped, as pyriform, turbinate, round-conic, or round-oblate; green, yellow, red, or russet, or combinations of these colors; flesh white, yellowish, sometimes pink or wine-red, rarely salmon-colored; flesh firm, melting, or buttery and when ripening on the tree with few or many grit-cells. Seeds 1 to 3 in a cell, sometimes abortive or wanting, large, brown, or brownish, often tufted at the tips.
Pyrus communis, the common pear, as stated in the preceding chapter, is a native of southern Europe and southwestern Asia as far east as Kashmir. The species is a frequent escape from cultivation, multiplying from seed distributed by animals and by human agencies, and is now to be found naturalized in forests and byways of the temperate zones wherever pears are cultivated in orchards. The pear is not as hardy as the apple, and is, therefore, less generally grown. It refuses to grow in the warmest and coldest parts of the temperate zones, but is a favorite orchard, dooryard, and roadside plant in all mid-temperate regions.
The species comes from regions or localities where the climate is mild and equable, neither very hot nor very cold, and grows in moist, cool, and rather heavy soils. These predilections cling to cultivated pears wherever grown, and pure-bred varieties do not thrive under other conditions. Wild or cultivated, the pear is a deep-rooted plant, a fact that must be taken into consideration in selecting orchard sites. On shallow soils pears thrive better on the shallow-rooted quince.
Few cultivated fruits have changed more under domestication than the common pear. The trees under cultivation are larger and much more vigorous, and the fruits in the best orchard varieties—the consummation of the breeder’s art—would by no one be considered the same species if the two were found in the wild. The pears from truly wild trees in the Old World are small, nearly round, hard, gritty, sour, and astringent. Fruits from the run-wild trees from the chance transport of seeds in this country are scarcely more attractive to either eye or palate. The product of these wild trees can hardly be called edible fruits. Cultivated varieties seem to have been evolved, until the advent of Le Conte and Kieffer, only by cultivation and selection. All plants are improved more rapidly under hybridization than selection, and now that the hybridization of this pear with other species is in full swing, we may expect, for the New World at least, a new pear flora in the immediate future.
The pear supplies man not only an important article of food but also a refreshing drink. Perry, the expressed juice of pears, is a common drink in all European countries. It is used somewhat as a fruit-juice, but chiefly as a fermented beverage. Pear-juice is fermented in open casks and at the end of fermentation contains from six to twelve per cent of alcohol. In parts of England and France, special varieties are grown in considerable numbers for perry-making. The wood of the pear is hard, heavy, and close grained, for which qualities it is esteemed by turners and engravers and for fuel. A mature pear-tree is a beautiful ornamental, and few forest trees are nobler or more picturesque than an old specimen of this species with its great size and irregular, pyramidal top. A pear-tree has much merit for shade as well as an ornamental.
Pears are easy of culture and propagation, subjects to be discussed in full in the next chapter. A few words as to propagation are in place here to show the affinities of this species with other species and genera. The common pear readily inter-grafts with other pears, and its cions may be made to grow, though with difficulty, on the apple. A most noteworthy fact with this fruit is that though not easily grafted on the apple and some other pears, it unites readily with the quince and the hawthorn, both of which belongs to distinct genera. The common pear hybridizes freely with the oriental pear, but whether with other species does not appear. There are no records of the pear hybridizing with the apple, but there are trustworthy accounts of hybrids with the quince and with sorbus.
The classical name of the pear was Pirus, changed to Pyrus by Tournefort, after which it was adopted by Linnaeus, who established the genus and united with it the Malus and Cydonia of Tournefort. Fortunately there is no confusion in the botanical nomenclature of this fruit. Botanists agree, without notable divergence of opinion, on the generic and specific names of this fruit. There are several well-marked botanical varieties of Pyrus communis as well as a number of horticultural forms. The most prominent of these must be noted.
PYRUS COMMUNUS PYRASTER Linnaeus
1. Linnaeus Sp. Pl. 479. 1753.
This variety, rather common in parts of Europe, is similar to the type in foliage but has globose fruits. The leaves differ somewhat in being more rounded and in having margins more serrate. The plant is often very thorny. Some botanists believe this form to be only an escape from cultivation.
PYRUS COMMUNIS SATIVA De Candolle
1. De Candolle Prod. 2:634. 1825.
This name is applied to the cultivated pear in its many pomological forms. The trees are usually larger than those of the wild pears and are without thorns. They differ also in having larger leaves, and larger and better-flavored fruits.
PYRUS COMMUNIS CORDATA Hooker
1. Hooker, J. D. Stud. Flora 131. 1878.
2. P. cordata Desvaux Obs. Pl. Anjou 152. 1818.
This botanical variety is a spiny shrub or shrub-like tree. The leaves are smaller than those of the species, 1 in. in width, suborbicular to ovate, subcordate at the base. Flowers smaller. Fruit globose or slightly turbinate, very small, ½ in. in diameter; calyx persistent. The species is a native of western France and is found in Devon and Cornwall, England. This species is said to propagate itself freely from root-suckers which suggests that it might be tried as a dwarfing stock for the common pears.
PYRUS COMMUNIS LONGIPES Henry
1. Henry Trees Gt. Brit. & Ire. 6:1561. 1912.
2. P. longipes Cosson and Durien Bull. Soc. Bot. France. 2:310. 1855.
The tree is small with a few spines. The leaves are about 2 in. long and 1 in. wide, ovate, acuminate, subcordate, glabrous, finely and crenately serrate, on long slender petioles. This variety differs little from var. cordata in its fruit except in the deciduous calyx. It is found along the mountain streams of Algeria.
PYRUS COMMUNIS MARIANA Willkomm
1. Linnaea 25:25. 1852.
2. P. bourgaeana Decaisne Jar. Fruit. i. t. 2. 1871.
This is a small tree found in the Sierra Morena in Spain. The leaves are ovate, 1 in. in length, rounded at the base, on very long, slender petioles. The pear is very small with a persistent calyx.
2. PYRUS NIVALIS Jacquin
1. Fl. Austr. 2: 4, t. 107. 1774.
Tree small, stout, without thorns; young shoots thickly covered with white wool. Leaves oval or obovate, 2 to 3 in. long, ¾ to 1¼ in. wide, crenate at the base, entire, upper and lower surfaces covered with white wool when young, nearly glaucous and the upper surface shining when mature. Flowers white, 1½ in. across, clustered. Fruit roundish, yellowish-green, borne on a stalk as long or longer than the fruit, acid or becoming sweetish at full maturity.
This pear is a native of eastern Europe and Asia Minor and is often found in France as an escape from the orchard. The tree, which sometimes attains a height of fifty feet, is said to be a handsome ornamental. The species is sometimes under cultivation in France for the fruits which make very good perry, and when bletted, as is the medlar, are suitable for dessert. In Austria and adjoining parts of Germany, the species is somewhat cultivated for the same purposes as in France under the name Schnee birn or Snow pear, because not fit to eat until snow falls. This pear might have value to hybridize with common pears for the improvement of their fruit.
Botanists are not quite certain of the botanical standing of P. nivalis. By some botanists it is considered a cultivated form of P. elæagrifolia Pallas. By others it is thought to be a cross of which P. communis is one parent. P. salvifolia De Candolle is either closely allied to or identical with this species. P. kotschyana Boissier differs from P. nivalis chiefly in having smaller and harder fruits. P. elæagrifolia Pallas is distinguished by some botanists from P. kotschyana only by its spiny branches—not a constant character.
3. PYRUS AURICULARIS Knoop
1. Pomol. 2:38. 1763.
2. P. irregularis Muenchhausen Hausvater 5:246. 1770.
3. P. pollveria Linnaeus Mant. 2:244. 1771.
4. P. bollwyleriana De Candolle Fl. France Suppl. 5:530. 1815.
A tree 30 to 50 ft. high, forming a round head; branchlets and buds downy. Leaves ovate or oval, 3 to 4 in. long, 2 to 2½ in. wide; pointed, irregular, and coarsely and sometimes doubly toothed; upper surface glossy, dark green, with glands on the midrib, glabrous at maturity, downy when young; lower surface permanently covered with gray tomentum; stalk 1 to 1½ in. long, woolly. Flowers white, nearly 1 in. across, 5 to 20 in tomentose corymbs; sepals covered with pure white wool on both surfaces; styles 2 to 5, united and tomentose at the base; stamens rosy red. Fruit pyriform, 1 to 1½ in. in diameter; stalk 1 to 1½ in. long, reddish yellow; flesh yellow, sweet.
This tree is an interesting hybrid between P. communis and the whitebeam, P. aria. It was first noticed at Bollweiler, Alsace, and was first mentioned by J. Bauhin in 1619. It is propagated by grafts as few of the seeds are fertile and these do not come true to name. It bears fruit very sparingly, none being produced in some seasons.
Besides the species that have been named there are several other occidental pears named by European botanists which may be looked for in botanic gardens. Some of these might have value for work in hybridization but it is doubtful. Of these, P. heterophylla Regel and Schmalhausen (Act. Hort. Petropol 5:pt. ii, 581. 1878) is a small thorny tree from the mountain valleys of Turkestan. P. amygdaliformis Villars (Cat. Meth. Jardin Strasbourg 323. 1807) is a spiny shrub or small tree, bearing small worthless fruits; a native of arid soils in the regions of olives in southern Europe. P. salicifolia Pallas (Itin. 3:734. 1776) is a small spiny tree from the Crimea, Caucasas, and Armenia; the fruit has little or no value. P. syriaca Boissier (Diag. Nov. Pl. Orient 10:1. 1849) is a thorny, shrubby tree from Syria, Asia Minor, and Kurdistan.
A review of botanical literature shows several other names of doubtful species of Pyrus which seem more likely to be hybrids or abnormal escapes from orchards. There are, also, many names which seem to be synonyms. Material and literature at hand do not enable the author to make certain of these, even if any sufficiently worthy purpose could be served in a pomological text.
ORIENTAL PEARS
The oriental pears have been brought to America in comparatively recent years, chiefly as ornamentals and for blight-resistant stocks; but hybrids of at least one species of this group, P. serotina, with the common pear have given many valuable orchard varieties. The Chinese and Japanese cultivate several species for their fruits. These pears constitute a group quite distinct in aspect of tree and fruit, but no characters not in occidental species are found in all species of the oriental group. The most constant differences, besides region of origin, are found in the leaves and the calyx. The leaves in most species are markedly acuminate and their margins are sharp-serrate or setose-serrate. The calyx falls from the fruit in the species now cultivated for food, but does not in two species promising for stocks.
4. PYRUS SEROTINA Rehder
1. Rehder Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. 50:213. 1915.
Tree vigorous, upright, attaining a height of 20 to 50 ft., the branches becoming glabrous. Leaves ovate-oblong, sometimes ovate, 3 to 5 in. long, rounded at the base and rarely subcordate or cuneate, long-acuminate, sharply setose-serrate, with partially appressed seratures; when young, villous, or lower surface cobwebby, but becoming glabrous. Flowers white, borne in 6 to 9 flowered umbellate-racemose clusters; glabrous or somewhat tomentose and borne on slender pedicels; calyx-lobes triangular-ovate and long-acuminate, ¼ to ½ in. long, glandulose-denticulate; petals oval, short-clawed, ¾ in. long; stamens about 20; styles 4 or 5, glabrous. Fruit subglobose, russet-brown; stalk slender; calyx deciduous.
This oriental pear has been referred to P. sinensis Lindley (not Poiret) by botanists and horticulturists since its introduction in Europe nearly one hundred years ago until 1915 when Rehder, discovering that the true P. sinensis had been lost to cultivation, proposed the name P. lindleyi for one group and P. serotina for another group of Chinese pears passing under Lindley’s original species, P. sinensis.
This species comes from central and western China, where the fruits are used for food under the name, with that of other brown-fruited species, of tang-li. American pomologists are interested in the type species as a possible source of blight-resistant stocks for varieties of the common pear. Stocks of this species, however, grown on the Pacific slope have not proved satisfactory because difficult to bud, and very susceptible to leaf-blight, and because they are not as resistant to pear-blight as an ideal stock should be. Rehder, an authority on oriental pears, gives two botanical varieties. His var. stapfiana differs from the type in bearing pyriform fruits; leaves with less appressed serratures; and petals with attenuate claws. So far as now appears it is of no greater value to pomology than the type. The other botanical variety which Rehder describes, var. culta, is of great importance in pomology and must have detailed consideration.
PYRUS SEROTINA CULTA Rehder
1. Rehder Prod. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. 50:233. 1915.
2. P. sinensis Hort. Not Lindley nor Poiret.
3. P. japonica Hort. Not Thunberg.
3. P. sieboldi Carrière Rev. Hort.. 110. 1880.
5. P. sinensis culta Makino Tokyo Bot. Mag. 22:69. 1908.
Tree large, vigorous; top spreading, drooping, open; trunk thick, shaggy; branches stout, zigzag, greenish-brown, with a slight covering of scarf-skin marked with many conspicuous, elongated lenticels; branchlets slender, with long internodes, brownish-red, tinged with green and with thin, ash-gray scarf-skin, glabrous, with many unusually conspicuous, raised lenticels. Leaf-buds sharply pointed, plump, thick at the base, free; leaf-scars prominent. Leaves 4⅛ in. long, 2⅝ in. wide, thick, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin tipped with very fine reddish-brown glands, finely serrate; petiole thick, 2 in. long, lightly pubescent, greenish-red. Flower-buds thick, short, conical, plump, free, arranged singly on very short spurs; flowers with a disagreeable odor, bloom in mid-season, 1¼ in. across, averaging 7 buds in a cluster; calyx-lobes long, narrow, acuminate, glandular, reflexed, lightly pubescent within and without; petals broadly oval, entire, apex rounded; pistils 4 or 5, from a common base, longer than the stamens, pubescent at base; stamens ¼ in. long, with dull red anthers; pedicels 1½ in. long, slender, thinly pubescent, pale green.
Fruit ripe February-March; 2¼ in. long, 2⅛ in. wide, round, slightly pyriform, irregularly ribbed, with unequal sides; stem 1½ in. long, curved, slender; cavity acute, deep, narrow, furrowed, lipped; calyx deciduous; basin shallow, wide, obtuse, gently furrowed or wrinkled; skin tough, smooth, waxy; color lemon-yellow, with russet lines and nettings and many russet specks; dots numerous, small, conspicuous, brownish-russet; flesh yellowish-white, very granular, crisp, tough, juicy, with a peculiar aroma unlike that of the common pear; poor in quality. Core large, open, axile, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds roundish, of medium size, wide, plump, obtuse.
The Sand pear differs from the type in fruit and foliage. The pears are much larger and are commonly apple-form as shown in the accompanying plate, but trees bearing pyriform fruits are not unknown. The leaves are larger and broader. Rehder, who separated this form from its species, writes, “The Japanese pear cultivated under the name Madame Von Siebold may be considered as representing the type of this variety.” These pears are known to pomologists under several names; as Chinese Sand, Sand, Japanese, Hawaii, Sha Lea, Gold Dust, Mikado, and Diamyo, although it is possible that the last three are hybrids. The pear illustrated and described in this text as a representative of this botanical variety came from seed sent from Manchuria.
The pears are attractive in appearance, keep well, and are palatable in culinary preparations, but are possessed of a gritty flesh and potato-like flavor which debar them as dessert fruits in all regions where the common pear can be grown. The several varieties of var. culta now in America came from Japan where the species must have been early introduced from China as this is now the most common fruit of the Japanese with the exception of the persimmon. In China and Japan there are a number of pomological varieties, which, however, differ from each other less than varieties of the European pear. The fruits of the several varieties grown in America are often mistaken for apples, from which they are distinguished by their deciduous calyxes, rough, dry skins, long stems, juicy, gritty flesh, and insipid potato-like flavor. Seedlings of var. culta fail as stocks for European varieties in the same characters in which the species is unsatisfactory.
This oriental pear hybridizes freely with the common pear, and it is for this purpose that it is most valuable in America. Several of these hybrids are important commercial varieties in North America of which Kieffer, Le Conte, and Garber, in the order named, are the best known and the most useful. Sterility is a common attribute of hybrids, but the hybrids between these two species are not more sterile than varieties of the parents. These hybrids are stronger and more rapid in growth than the common pear and are more productive and more resistant to blight. The pears are more pyriform and of much better flavor than those of the oriental parent. The calyx of hybrid fruits is sometimes persistent and sometimes deciduous. The hybrids do not make good stocks and intergraft but poorly with the common pear. Of all pear-trees, these are handsomest in growth when in perfect health and make excellent ornamental trees. The strong, clean growth, luxuriant green foliage, beautifully tinted in the autumn, resembles the oriental rather than the occidental parent. It is doubtful whether hybrid trees will attain the great size of those of the common pear, and they seem to succumb to the ills of old age rather more quickly than those of the European parent. The hybrid pears seem less well liked by the pestiferous San Jose scale than the common pear. The first flush of popularity having passed, hybrid pears have found their proper place in American pomology. They belong to the South and Middle West where the common pear is illy adapted to the climate. In the North and on the Pacific slope, pear-growers are wisely planting varieties the fruits of which are better in quality.
5. PYRUS USSURIENSIS Maximowicz
1. P. ussuriensis Maximowicz Bull. Acad. Sci. St. Petersb. 15:132. 1857.
2. P. sinensis Decaisne Bull. Acad. Sci. St. Petersb. 19:172. 1883.
3. P. simonii Carrière Rev. Hort. 28. 1872. fig. 3.
4. P. sinensis ussuriensis Makino Tokyo Bot. Mag. 22:69. 1908.
Rehder says of P. ussuriensis,[15] “This species differs from the allied species chiefly in the short stalk of the globose fruit with persistent calyx, in the broad, often nearly orbicular, strongly setosely serrate leaves and in the lighter yellowish-brown branches; the flower clusters are, owing to the short stalks, rather dense and hemispherical, the petals are obovate and rather gradually narrowed toward the base; the styles are distinctly pilose near the base.”
Wilson,[16] describing the vegetation of Korea, says of this species: “Pyrus ussuriensis is abundant and this year is laden with fruit. On some trees the fruit is wholly green, on others reddish on one side; the length of the peduncle varies and the same is true of the leaf-structure; the calyx is persistent or deciduous often on fruits on the same branch.”
The habitat of this species is northern and northeastern China and eastern Siberia. Manchuria, Korea, Amurland, and Ussurri are named as regions in which it is most commonly found. A glance at the map shows that this habitat is in the far north for pears, and it might well be suspected that this would be one of the hardiest of all pears, and this proves to be the case. Horticultural varieties are reported by Chinese explorers, some of which have been introduced by the United States Department of Agriculture. These no doubt have some value in the most northern fruit regions of America and if not for their fruits, they may prove useful in hybridization. But it is as a possible stock resistant to blight that the species has received most attention in this country.
Reimer, of Oregon, found this species to be very resistant to fire-blight and at first thought it might prove to be a valuable stock. Following Reimer’s experiments much was said of it as a promising new stock, and the United States Department of Agriculture gave it a thorough trial from the results of which they discouraged its use. The tree proved to be a slow grower; very subject to leaf-blight, therefore unable to hold its leaves during the growing and budding season, difficult to use in budding as the tough bark did not “slip” easily, and but a small number of the buds took. According to Galloway,[17] however, the Kuan li or Chinese water pear, which he says belongs to the Ussuriensis group, is one of the most promising pear stocks. Both for its fruits and as a stock, this species is likely to receive much attention in the United States for some time to come. The difficulty at present, as we have found at this Station, is to get seeds or budding wood true to name of the forms of the species that seem to be most desirable.
6. PYRUS SERRULATA Rehder
1. P. serrulata Rehder Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. 50:234. 1915.
Chinese Saw-leafed Pear. This species, according to Rehder, is closely related to P. serotina but differs from it chiefly in its serrulate, not setosely serrate, generally broader, leaves, in the smaller flowers with usually three or four styles, and in the shorter sepals and smaller fruit.
This pear was first found by E. H. Wilson in 1907 in western Hupeh. The province of Hupeh is 800 or 900 miles west and south of Shanghai. The pears in this location grow in thickets at an altitude of 4000 to 5000 feet. Reimer found the species at Ichang, in Hupeh, at elevations of 3000 to 3700 feet. Its occurrence at these altitudes indicates that it is a hardy form. Whether the species is likely to be valuable for its fruits, or for hybridization, does not appear, but Galloway,[17] reporting on it as tested by the United States Department of Agriculture, says that it is affected but slightly by leaf-blight, holds its foliage well in hot summers, and has a long budding season. These statements indicate that it is worth trying as a stock.
7. PYRUS BETULÆFOLIA Bunge
1. P. betulæfolia Bunge Mem. Sav. Etr. Acad. Sci. St. Petersb. 2:101. 1833.
2. Decaisne Jard. Fruit. 1:20. 1872.
3. Carrière Rev. Hort. 318. 1879. figs. 68, 69.
4. Sargent Gard. & For. 7:224. 1894. fig. 39.
Tree vigorous, upright-spreading, tall, open-topped, hardy; trunk stocky, shaggy, and rough; branches thick, dull brownish-red, thickly coated with gray scarf-skin, sprinkled with numerous small, raised lenticels; branchlets slender, willowy, long, with long internodes, dull reddish-brown, with gray scarf-skin, heavily pubescent, with small, conspicuous, raised lenticels. Leaf-buds small, short, flattened, pointed, free. Leaves 4 in. long, 2⅛ in. wide, thick, stiff; apex taper-pointed; margin sharply and coarsely serrate; teeth tipped with small, reddish-brown glands; petiole 1¾ in. long, slender, pubescent, tinged red. Flower-buds small, short, conical, plump, free, arranged singly on long spurs; flowers open late, with a rather unpleasant odor, showy, 13⁄16 in. across, white, in dense clusters, 13 buds in a cluster; pedicels 15⁄16 in. long, slender, pubescent, pale green; calyx-tube pale green mingled with white pubescence, dark greenish-yellow within, campanulate, thickly pubescent; calyx-lobes greenish within and with white pubescence, short, narrow, acuminate, tipped with very small, sharp, reddish-brown glands, heavily pubescent within and without, reflexed; petals separated at the base but with meeting cheeks, round-oval, entire, with short, narrow claws, white at the base; anthers deep pinkish-red; filaments short, shorter than the petals; styles 2 to 3; pistils glabrous, usually as long as the stamens; stigma very small. Fruit russet, heavily dotted, the size of a small grape; calyx deciduous; pears hanging until the following spring.
The above description was made from a plant grown from seed obtained from the Arnold Arboretum in 1900, that institution having obtained the species from the mountains near Peking in 1882. This pear has been collected by various explorers in the regions about Peking, especially to the north and east, and is not uncommon in these parts of China. The small pears are without value for food, but the trees are promising stocks. While Reimer reports the species as susceptible to fire-blight in Oregon, it has not proved particularly so on the grounds of this Station nor elsewhere in the East. The seedlings are also free from leaf-blight. The young plants grow vigorously from seed or cuttings; are capable of being budded throughout a long season; they make a good union with other pears in China according to Reimer; and the variety is so common in China that there is little difficulty in getting seed true to name. The tree is a handsome ornamental.
8. PYRUS CALLERYANA Decaisne
1. P. calleryana Decaisne Jard. Fruit. 1:8. 1872.
Rehder[18] says of this species, “Pyrus calleryana is a widely distributed species and seems not uncommon on mountains at an altitude of from 1000 to 1500 m. It is easily recognizable by its comparatively small crenate leaves, like the inflorescence glabrous or nearly glabrous, and by its small flowers with two, rarely three styles. When unfolding most specimens show a loose and thin tomentum on the under side of the leaves which usually soon disappears, but in No. 1662 from Kuling even the fully grown leaves are loosely rusty tomentose on the midrib beneath. In No. 415a the leaves are longer, generally ovate-oblong, the pedicels very long and slender, about 3 to 4 cm. long and the sepals are mostly long-acuminate. The fruit of No. 556a is rather large, about 1 to 1.4 cm. in diameter, but a fruit examined proved to be two-celled.”
This species is reported from various places in China with western Hupeh as the chief habitat. Reimer,[19] of Oregon, reports this as a most promising stock for the common pear, and Galloway,[20] of the United States Department of Agriculture, says that “Of all the pears tested and studied this remarkable species holds out the greatest promise as a stock.” In America it stands the cold as far north as the Arnold Arboretum, near Boston, and endures summer heat as far south as Brooksville, Florida. The plant is reported as vigorous under nearly all conditions. Galloway reports that it can be budded from July 1 to September 1 at Washington. All kinds of pears take well upon it; the seeds are easily obtained, easily grown, and run remarkably uniform.
9. PYRUS OVOIDEA Rehder
1. Proc. Am. Acad. Arts & Sci. 50:228. 1915.
2. P. sinensis Hemsley Jour. Linn. Soc. 23:257. 1887, in part. Not Poiret nor Lindley.
3. Schneider Ill. Handb. Laubholzk. 1:663. 1906. fig. 364 c-d.
4. P. simonii Hort. Not Carrière.
Rehder, who established this species, says of it: “This species seems to be most closely related to P. ussuriensis Maximowicz which differs chiefly in the broader orbicular-ovate or ovate leaves, in the lighter colored branches, and in the short-stalked subglobose fruit with the persistent sepals spreading. The shape of the fruit of P. ovoidea is very unusual and quite distinct from any pear I know; the fruit is exactly ovate, broad and rounded at the base and tapering from the middle toward the truncate apex, as figured by Schneider (fig. 364 d). This may, however, not be a specific character and the shape of the fruit may vary in other specimens referable to this species. The Chinese material which I have seen and which might belong here is very meagre. The Fokien specimen is in young fruit which suggests a more pyriform shape, though tapering toward the apex and showing the same kind of persistent calyx; the serration of the leaves is more minute and more accumbent. The Yunnan specimen is in flower and differs somewhat in the more copious tomentum of the leaves and of the inflorescence and in the shorter, nearly entire calyx-lobes.
“It is not known when and whence this species was introduced. Possibly it was sent in the early sixties from northern China by G. E. Simon, or by A. David a little later from the same region or from Mongolia to the Museum in Paris and was afterwards distributed by Decaisne.”
This species is of importance to pear-growers as a stock. Discussing it as a stock, Reimer[21] says: “This species ranks second only to Pyrus ussuriensis in blight resistance. During 1915 we were unable to get the disease to develop more than four inches even in vigorous growing shoots of this species. During the very favorable season of 1916 vigorous shoots would blight down as much as fifteen inches. As soon as it reached the hard wood of the previous season it would stop. All the inoculations into one and two-year-old trunks have failed to develop the disease.
“The trees are vigorous growers, and produce medium sized fruit, which is egg-shaped, and has a persistent calyx. This species is a native of northern China, and was formerly known as Pyrus simonii.”
10. PYRUS VARIOLOSA Wallich
1. Cat. No. 680. 1828.
Reimer,[21] now a leading authority on blight-resistant stocks, writes of P. variolosa: “This species is one of the most promising types in our collection. The tree is a beautiful, vigorous, upright grower. It makes a good union with cultivated varieties, and should prove valuable as a stock for top-working.
“This species, while not immune to blight, is very resistant. During the summer of 1915 a large number of innoculations were made into the tips of young branches, and these usually would blight back for a distance of three to five inches. During 1916, a very favorable season for pear blight, the disease would extend down young branches as much as from twelve to eighteen inches, and in one case as much as two feet. Seventy-seven inoculations were made into the trunks of two-year-old trees. All but seven of them failed to develop the disease. In the successful infections, only small superficial cankers were produced. In these cankers a new cambium would readily form, and the entire wound would heal over perfectly in a short time.
“The origin of this species, or type, is still a matter of dispute. It has been confused with Pyrus pashia of northern India, from which species it is very distinct. Pyrus variolosa produces medium sized, pear-shaped fruits, which have a persistent calyx. It is possible that this is not a distinct species, but a hybrid. If this should prove to be the case, it probably will not come true to type from seeds. This matter will be determined by a study of the seedlings of this type. If this does not come true to type from seeds, the seedlings may be of little value for root stocks. If this should prove to be the case, it will, nevertheless, be of value as a stock for top-working, when propagated by budding or grafting on some other root system.”
CHAPTER III
PEAR CULTURE
The common pear or some of its hybrids with the oriental pear is grown for a home supply of fruit, if not for the markets, in every part of North America where hardy fruits thrive except in the extreme north and south. But commercial pear-growing on this continent is confined to a few regions, and in these is profitable only in carefully selected situations. Perhaps the culture of no other fruit, not even of the tender peach nor of the capricious grape, is more definitely determined by environment than is that of the pear. A study of the regions in America in which pears are successfully grown for the markets furnishes clews to the proper culture of this fruit in New York, and shows with what regions this State must compete in growing pears for the markets. The location of the pear regions in America is readily determined by figures showing the number of trees and their yield in the various fruit regions of the country.
PEAR STATISTICS FOR THE UNITED STATES AND NEW YORK
Six states produced over 65 per cent of the pears grown in the United States in 1919. The census of 1920 shows that in the preceding year the total crop of the country was 14,211,346 bushels, of which California produced 3,952,923 bushels; New York, 1,830,237 bushels; Washington, 1,728,759 bushels; Oregon, 761,063 bushels; Texas, 637,400 bushels; and Missouri, 430,828 bushels. Trees in all other states yielded 4,870,136 bushels. There were according to this census 14,646,995 bearing trees and 6,051,845 not of bearing age. The yield of fruit was 60 per cent greater than in 1909; the number of bearing trees 3 per cent less; and the number of non-bearing trees 28 per cent less. Compared with other tree-fruits, according to this census, the pear occupies fourth place in value of product, the apple, peach (including the nectarine), and plum (including the prune), in order named, outranking the pear. Probably the orange, grape, and strawberry yield greater value to the country than the pear, although the acreage of each of these three fruits is smaller. Commercial production cannot be segregated from the total, but without question the increase in plantings is due to commercial activities; for the development of the canning industry, refrigerator service, and better transportation have greatly stimulated trade in this fruit.
In the states in which pear-growing is a commercial industry, commercial orchards are confined to localities in which climate, soil, and transportation combine to favor the pear. In New York, for example, pears are grown for market on a large scale in only ten of the sixty-one counties. These, with the number of trees in each, according to the last census are as follows: Niagara, 620,743; Monroe, 384,374; Orleans, 377,371; Columbia, 308,298; Wayne, 305,239; Ulster, 304,158; Greene, 208,885; Oswego, 154,576; Ontario, 121,934; Orange, 96,456.
Over 77 per cent of all the pear-trees in the State are in these counties, and 79 per cent of the pears grown in the State are produced in these ten counties. The production of pears in New York for the eleven-year period from 1909 to 1919, inclusive, show the increase and fluctuation in the production of pears in the State for this period. The figures for 1909 and 1919 are from the thirteenth and fourteenth census reports, while those of the intervening years are estimates from the Bureau of Crop Estimates of the United States Department of Agriculture. The yields run in bushels for the eleven years as follows: 1,343,000, 1,530,000, 1,886,000, 1,128,000, 2,016,000, 1,298,000, 1,375,000, 1,675,000, 1,708,000, 1,352,000, and 1,830,237.
Bartlett and Kieffer are conspicuous leaders among varieties in number of trees and in production for the whole country. In the great commercial pear-growing regions of New York and California, Bartlett is the favorite variety, but Kieffer is grown largely also, especially for canners. In the South and in the Mississippi Valley, Kieffer is the leading variety because it is relatively resistant to blight and withstands extremes in climate better than other varieties. For many years after its introduction about 1870, Kieffer was over-praised by both fruit-growers and nurserymen. Fruit-growers liked it because of its resistance to blight and great productiveness, and nurserymen preferred it to other sorts because it is the easiest of all varieties to grow in the nursery. It is, however, so universally condemned for its tasteless fruits that it is losing its popularity, and is not now as largely planted in competition with Bartlett as it once was. Seckel, Clapp Favorite, Winter Nelis, Beurré d’Anjou, Beurré Bosc, Howell, Sheldon, Beurré Clairgeau, and Garber for the South, are the standard varieties following Bartlett and Kieffer in popularity.
Bartlett is far in the lead of commercial varieties in New York. At present, Kieffer probably holds second place in this State, but its popularity is fast waning and Seckel is nearly as commonly planted, if, indeed, it does not now surpass Kieffer in number of trees. Clapp Favorite, Beurré d’ Anjou, Beurré Bosc, Beurré Clairgeau, Duchesse d’Angoulême, Howell, Lawrence, Sheldon, Vermont Beauty, and Winter Nelis are all planted more or less in commercial orchards, and are the favorites for home use. All of these varieties are susceptible to blight, are a little too tender to cold, and have other faults of tree and fruit, so that pear-growers in New York anxiously look forward to better varieties. It is hardly too much to say that pear-growing can never become a great industry in New York until better varieties take the place of the unreliable sorts that must be planted now.
To some extent, man-governed agencies determine where pears may be grown profitably if the planter is growing for the markets. Pears do not keep long and are easily bruised, and transportation must not take too great toll; therefore, handling facilities must be suitable, markets must not be distant, and transportation must be cheap and efficient. But in the culture of this fruit, natural agencies outrank those depending on man, two of which determine very largely where pears are to be grown commercially in both the country and the state. These two, climate and soil, have been mentioned before, but must now be discussed somewhat in detail.
CLIMATE
The ideal climate for a cultivated plant is one in which the plant thrives as an escape from cultivation wholly independent of care from man. The apple, cherry, plum, and peach are often found wild in one or another part of America, but the pear almost never. The pear does not naturally become inured to the American climate, and in the orchard is not well acclimated even in the varieties which have originated in the country. In particular, as a young tree and until well advanced toward maturity, the pear shows the bad effects of maladjustment to climate, but as an old tree it seems to be far less susceptible to the extremes of climate to which fruit trees are subjected in most parts of America. Both of the two chief constituents of climate, temperature and rainfall, are determinants of regions and sites in pear-growing.
Extremes in temperature, more particularly of cold, are the only phases of temperature that pear-growers need consider in New York. The pear is not nearly as hardy as the apple, and Bartlett, the foremost variety in the State, is almost as tender to cold as the peach. The limits of commercial pear-culture are set in this State by the winter climate. The pear cannot be grown profitably where the temperature often falls below –15° F., for while winter-killing of the wood does not always occur at this temperature it sometimes does, and even occasional injury to the tree is almost fatal to the profitable growing of fruit. Fruit-buds of the pear are a little more tender to cold than the wood, and a season’s crop is often ruined when the temperature drops to –10° F. Pears in the nursery are more tender to cold than trees in the orchard, and unless the wood is thoroughly mature or protected by a heavy covering of snow, nursery stock is likely to be injured by any temperature below zero. The injury of nursery stock is manifested in the well-known “black heart” of young pear-trees subjected to severe cold.
Happily, there is some flexibility in the constitutions of varieties of pears, as with all fruits, and a degree of cold that will kill a variety under one set of conditions may not under another. While, therefore, it is not safe for commercial fruit-growers to gamble with the weather, those who grow pears for their own use may do so with the expectation of losing trees or crop now and then but of having them in most seasons. A little can be done to prevent winter injury by carefully selecting sites protected from prevailing winter winds, and by planting on warm soils on which the wood matures more thoroughly than on cold soils. Careful cultural methods, especially the use of cover-crops, may be helpful. Not much can be done in the way of coddling pear-trees from cold. They cannot be laid down as is sometimes done with peach-trees, nor can they be grown low enough, even as dwarfs, to count on much protection from deep snow.
Happily, also, there are varieties of pears endowed with constitutions fitted for very different climates. Varieties of pears from central and northern Russia show remarkable capacity in resisting cold, heat, dryness, strong winds, and other peculiarities of the climate of the Great Plains, and some of them can be grown in the coldest agricultural regions of New York. A few hybrids, as Kieffer, Le Conte, Garber, Douglas, and others of their kind can be grown in the Gulf States where the common pear cannot withstand the hot summers. Cincinis, Le Conte, and Garber thrive as far south as central Florida and southern Texas. There is considerable variation in the hardiness of the common pear. Tyson, Flemish Beauty, and Beurré Superfin are much hardier than Bartlett, Seckel, or Clapp Favorite, and may be chosen to extend the culture of this fruit to any part of New York in which the Baldwin apple can be grown. It is most surprising to find occasionally these hardiest of the common pears growing in some of the coldest parts of the State, usually as demonstrations not only of superior inherent hardiness but also of hardiness brought about by conditions which enable the trees to enter the winter with unimpaired constitutions.
The pear is seldom injured by heat in the summers of New York. Occasionally fruit and foliage suffer from long-continued heat in the dry weather of a hot summer. More often the trunks of pear-trees are injured by a blazing sun in late winter or early spring, especially when the sun’s rays are reflected by ice or snow and strike the tree intensified. Indeed, sunscald so produced is one of the common troubles of the pear in New York. With the pear, as with all other fruits, there is a sum total of heat units above a certain temperature, put by most experimenters at about 43° F., the awakening point of growth, necessary to carry the crop from blossoms to proper maturity. Of the number of units necessary to mature a crop little is known. Many varieties do not ripen in New York in a cold season, but come to perfect maturity in warm seasons. A study of phenology would throw much light on the failure of pears to ripen properly.
The average date at which the last killing frost occurs in the spring helps to determine the limits in latitude and altitude at which the pear can be grown in New York. The pear blossoms early, and while both in bud and blossom the reproductive organs seem able to stand more cold than those of the peach and sweet cherry, yet even in the most favored regions for growing this fruit in New York a crop is occasionally lost from killing frosts, and there are few years in which frost does not take toll in some part of the State. Damage from frost must be expected when the commonly recognized precautions in selecting frost-resistant sites are not recognized. Little or nothing can be done in New York to prevent injury from frost once trees have been set. Windbreaks, whitewashing, smudging, and orchard-heaters are all failures in frost-fighting in this State.
The pear-grower should know how the blooming time of the varieties of pears he plants agrees in time with spring frosts. To do this he must have weather data and must know the approximate date of blooming of varieties. He ought also to be able to synchronize three of these phases of climate—spring frosts, fall frosts, and the length of the summer—with the ripening dates of varieties. Data as to the average dates of spring and fall frosts can be obtained from the nearest local weather bureau. The accompanying table gives the blooming and ripening dates of pears grown at the New York Agricultural Experiment Station. Blooming and ripening dates vary in different parts of the State, and to make use of the data from this Station the grower must compare the latitude, altitude, and local environment of his orchard with those of the Station. Data for the Station is as follows:
Blooming Season and Season of Ripening of Pear-Varieties
Blooming season
Ripening season
Very early
Early
Mid-season
Late
Very late
Very early
Early
Mid-season
Late
Very late
Abraham
*
Alamo
*
*
André Desportes
*
*
Ansault
*
*
Appert
*
*
Bartlett
*
*
Belle Lucrative
*
*
Beurré d’Anjou
*
*
Beurré d’Arenberg
*
Beurré Bosc
*
*
Beurré Clairgeau
*
*
Beurré Diel
*
*
Beurré Giffard
*
*
Beurré Hardy
*
*
Beurré de Jonghe
*
Beurré Superfin
*
Bihorel
*
*
Bloodgood
*
*
Bordeaux
*
*
Buffum
*
*
Canner
*
*
Chamogea
*
Cincincis
*
*
Clapp Favorite
*
*
Cocklin
*
*
Colonel Wilder
*
*
Columbia
*
*
Craig
*
*
Dana Hovey
*
*
Dearborn
*
*
Diamyo
*
*
Dorset
*
*
Douglas
*
*
Doyenné d’Alençon
*
*
Doyenné Boussock
*
*
Doyenné du Comice
*
*
Duchesse d’Angoulême
*
*
Duchesse d’Orléans
*
*
Duhamel du Monceau
*
*
Early Harvest
*
*
Easter Beurré
*
*
Eastern Belle
*
*
Elizabeth
*
*
Fitzwater
*
*
Blooming Season and Season of Ripening of Pear-Varieties —
ContinuedBlooming season
Ripening season
Very early
Early
Mid-season
Late
Very late
Very early
Early
Mid-season
Late
Very late
Flemish Beauty
*
*
Fontenay
*
*
Fox
*
*
Frederick Clapp
*
*
French
*
*
Gansel-Seckel
*
*
Garber
*
Glou Morceau
*
*
Golden Russet
*
*
Grand Isle
*
*
Guyot
*
Hemminway
*
*
Howell
*
*
Japan
*
*
Jargonelle
*
*
Jones
*
*
Joséphine de Malines
*
*
Kieffer
*
*
Koonce
*
*
Krull
*
*
Lady Clapp
*
*
Lamartine
*
*
Lamy
*
*
Lawrence
*
*
Lawson
*
*
Le Conte
*
*
Léon Leclerc (Van Mons)
*
*
Lemon
*
*
Liegel
*
*
Lincoln
*
*
Lincoln Coreless
*
*
Longworth
*
*
Louise Bonne de Jersey
*
*
Louvenjal
*
*
Lucy Duke
*
*
Madeline
*
*
Magnate
*
*
Margaret
*
*
Marie Louise
*
*
Mongolian
*
*
Mount Vernon
*
*
Nickerson
*
*
Ogereau
*
Olivier de Serres
*
*
Onondaga
*
*
Osband
*
P. Barry
*
*
Peffer
*
*
Pitmaston
*
*
Blooming Season and Season of Ripening of Pear-Varieties —
ConcludedBlooming season
Ripening season
Very early
Early
Mid-season
Late
Very late
Very early
Early
Mid-season
Late
Very late
Pound
*
*
Président Drouard
*
*
Président Mas
*
Raymond
*
*
Reeder
*
*
Riehl Best
*
*
Ritson
*
*
Romain
*
*
Roosevelt
*
*
Rossney
*
Russet Bartlett
*
*
Rutter
*
*
Seckel
*
*
Seneca
*
*
Sha Lea
*
*
Sheldon
*
*
Siebold
*
*
Souvenir de Congrès
*
*
Souvenir d’Espéren
*
*
Sudduth
*
*
Summer Beauty
*
Summer Doyenne
*
*
Treyve
*
*
Triumph
*
*
Tyson
*
*
Ulm
*
*
Vermont Beauty
*
*
White Doyenné
*
*
Wilder Early
*
*
Winter Bartlett
*
*
Winter Nelis
*
*
Worden Seckel
*
*
[15] Rehder, Alfred Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. 50:228. 1915.
[16] Wilson, E. H. Jour. Inter. Gar. Club 598. 1918.
[17] Galloway, B. T. Jour. Her. 11:29. 1920.
[18] Rehder, Alfred Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. 50:237. 1915.
[19] Reimer, F. C. Bull. Com. Hort. Calif. 5:167-172. 1916.
[20] Galloway, B. T. Jour. Her. 11:32. 1920.
[21] Reimer, F. C. Reprint from 1916 annual report of Pacific Coast Association of Nurserymen, 7. 1916.
The latitude of the Smith Astronomical Observatory, a quarter of a mile from the Station orchards, is 42° 52′ 46.2″; the altitude of the orchards is from five hundred to five hundred and twenty-five feet above the sea level. The soil is a loamy but rather cold clay; the orchards lie about a mile west of Seneca Lake, a body of water forty miles in length and from one to three and one-half miles in width and more than six hundred feet deep. The lake has frozen over but a few times since the region was settled, over a hundred years ago, and has a very beneficial influence on the adjacent country in lessening the cold of winter and the heat of summer and in preventing early blooming.
The blooming period is that of full bloom. The data were taken from trees grown under normal conditions as to pruning, distance apart, and as to all other factors which might influence the blooming period. There is a variation of several days between the time of full bloom of the different varieties of pears. These differences can be utilized in selecting sorts to avoid injury from frost. In using blooming-time data it must be kept constantly in mind that varieties of fruits may not bloom in the same relative time. In very warm or very cold springs the usual relations of blooming-time may be upset.
Rainfall, moisture, and cloudiness are most important in growing pears. England, Belgium, and northern France, regions where the pear finds the climate most congenial, have much cool, moist, cloudy weather with much less variation in temperature than is the case in the United States. The climate of New York and the states bordered by the Great Lakes where most of the pears of eastern America are grown, is cooler, moister, and cloudiness is more prevalent than in other eastern states. The summer climate of the Pacific slope is not moist but is equable and, in the best pear orchards, moisture is supplied abundantly by irrigation. From these considerations we may assume that the pear requires more moisture than most other fruits. The pear in New York more often suffers from too little than from too much rain. The exception is when pears are in bloom, at which time the crop is sometimes lost or badly injured by cold, wet weather. Warm, moist weather is favorable to both fire-blight and the scab fungus, the two most dreaded diseases of the pear.
Several other weather problems should be studied before selecting a region as a site for a pear-orchard. The direction, force, and frequency of prevailing winds both in winter and summer are important considerations. Unfavorable winds in winter favor winter-killing; in blooming time prevent the proper setting of fruit; and at ripening time make many windfalls. Hail storms are more frequent in some parts of New York than in others and may be a deterrent in selecting a site. Lastly, drouths, so fatal to the pear, are more common in some parts of the State than in others.
LOCATIONS AND SOILS FOR PEARS
Pears thrive in a great diversity of soils, provided, almost always, that there is depth for proper root-run. A few varieties may be grown in comparatively shallow soils, but most pears are deep-rooted. The common pear is rather averse to sand, gravels, and light soils in general, and does best in rather heavy loams, clays, and even in silts. Many varieties show preferences for the several types of loam and clay, and the commercial grower must see to it that the varieties he plants are suited in their particular soil preference. Hybrids between the common pear and the oriental pear—the Kieffer and its kin—grow well in much lighter soils than pure-bred sorts of the common pear, and, as a rule, find sands and gravels more to their liking than clays and heavy loams. Pears will stand rather more water in the soil than any other of their orchard associates, but a soil water-soaked for any great length of time in the growing season is a poor medium in which to grow pears. If, therefore, a soil is not sufficiently dry naturally it must be tile-drained.
Pear soils must be fertile. All varieties of this fruit refuse to produce good crops in soils lacking an abundance of the several chemical elements of plant nutrition. Even the light soils on which Kieffer, Garber, and Le Conte seem to do best must be well stored with plant-food. This means that good pear land is costly. Soils that grow good pears usually grow good farm crops. Pears planted in a poor soil do not live but linger. Who has not seen short-wooded, rough, malformed, dwarfed, starved trees which have come to their wretched condition because planted on land not fertile enough for this fruit? The land-skinner who grows grass in his orchard usually comes to grief quickly. Pears start best in a virgin soil from which the forest has not been long removed; on the other hand, they are often hard to start on senile soils even though they have been heavily fertilized. Plenty of humus seems to stimulate pears. There is a prejudice against soils too rich, some holding that on overly rich land the growth is soft and sappy and therefore a good medium for the multiplication of the blight bacteria. This is mostly prejudice, but certain it is that culture and fertility should not be so managed that the growth continues late, and the trees go into the winter soft and tender to cold.
Soils seem to have a profound influence on the flavor and texture of pears. In uncongenial soils the fruits are often so sour or astringent, dry or gritty, that the product is poor in quality; whereas the pears of the same variety in a soil to which it is suited are choicely good. A few varieties, as Bartlett, Clapp Favorite, and Seckel, grow well and produce fine fruit in a great diversity of soils, but most sorts do so much better in one soil than in another that it becomes a matter of prime importance in pear-growing to discover the particular adaptations of the varieties to be planted. To discover an ideal soil for a variety is about the highest desideratum in pear-growing.
Some varieties are made to grow in uncongenial soils by grafting them on stocks better adapted to the soil. Thus, on certain soils some pears grafted on quince stocks do better than on pear roots. This is a great field of future discovery and one in which discoveries are being made as experimenters try new stocks to secure greater resistance to blight. In all of this work, pear-growers must know not only how well the stock resists blight, but also how well the cion takes to the stock and the stock thrives on various soils.
The pear is easy to suit in matter of site for the orchard so far as lay of land is concerned. Altitude, exposure, slope, and local climate, all so important in choosing sites for the more tender peach, plum, and sweet cherry, need receive little consideration in planting the pear. A site somewhat higher than the surrounding country gives the two great advantages of soil drainage and air drainage. Good air drainage is a prime requisite with pears, as it helps to reduce the danger from frost, and neither pear-scab nor fire-blight are as virulent as on trees planted on sites where there is little movement of air. Rolling land, so often recommended for all fruits, seems not to be essential for pears, as many splendid orchards of this fruit are on flat lands, which, however, usually have an elevation above the surrounding country on one or more boundaries. The influence of large bodies of water, so favorable to the peach, is not as necessary with the pear, although the best pear regions in the State are near the Great Lakes, the Finger Lakes, or along the Hudson. There are no successful pear-orchards in the State surrounded by higher land. Frosts, freezes, pear-blight, and fungi would soon play havoc with pear-trees in such a situation.
The shelter of hills, forests, or of apple-orchards, provided they do not shade the pear-orchard too much, may be a valuable adjunct to a site. Such shelter, however, is desirable only when so situated as to protect against unseasonable winds and storms. Tree and fruit suffer greatly when loaded branches are whipped about by strong winds. The advantages of artificial windbreaks, whether of evergreen or deciduous trees, are usually more than offset by disadvantages. The direction in which land slopes is greatly over-emphasized by horticultural writers if orchards in New York are considered. The only important aspect of exposure for pears in this State is that the land slope toward the water when near a large body of water that the orchard may secure in full the effects that come from planting trees near the water.
Economic considerations are becoming more and more important in choosing sites for all fruits in New York. Transportation facilities, including good roads, markets, labor, and packing and selling organizations are now more important in the pear regions of the State than the natural determinants of soil and climate, since these are so favorable in any of the fruit regions in which pears are largely grown. Natural advantages are more common than man-made ones, and the pear may be grown on vast areas of New York lands so far as climate and soil are concerned, but which are wholly unsuited because the economic factors are unfavorable. Sites for pear-orchards should be sought for in localities where there are pears enough grown for a central packing association; near a shipping center where the haul is short and over good roads; the freight service should be prompt, regular, and efficient, with low freight and good refrigerator service; labor should be abundant and not too expensive; and the markets should be several and so located that they are not controlled by growers in regions more advantageously situated.
The pear-grower is becoming more and more concerned with the kind of stock upon which his trees are grafted. One or more of several objects is sought in working a pear on roots other than its own. The stock may be chosen, and most often is, with the single purpose in view of perpetuating a variety; it may be selected to dwarf or magnify the size of the cion; very often the stock is better adapted to the soil than the cion would be on its own roots; the quality of the fruit is sometimes improved by the stock; lastly, some stocks are much more resistant to fire-blight than others. It is this last character of the stock that is now receiving most attention. Stock and cion are united either by budding or grafting, with budding coming more and more in use. More than with any other fruit, double-working is used in propagating pears. For example, the quince stock is often preferred to a pear stock. But some varieties of pears do not unite well with the quince, in which case a sort which makes a good union with the quince is first budded or grafted on the stock, and when this cion has grown to sufficient size, it is top-worked to the desired variety. According to the size of the mature plant, pear-trees are designated as dwarfs and standards, the difference in size being brought about by the stock. Dwarf trees are usually grown on quince stocks; standards, on pear stocks.
Dwarfing pear-trees is an old practice, having been in use in Europe at least 300 years. During this time the use of quince stocks to dwarf the pear has been a common practice in France and England. For a century, dwarfing the pear by growing it on the quince has been common in America. Dwarfing is recommended to secure several effects. Dwarf trees are more manageable than standard trees when the orchard area is small; dwarfing stocks are shallow rooted, and dwarfs, as a rule, do not need a soil so deep as do standard trees; pears grown on quince stocks are often larger, handsomer, and better in flavor and texture than those grown as standards; the trees come in bearing earlier. Dwarf pears, never very common on this continent, are not planted as much now as they were some years ago. At one time, orchards of these dwarfs were a familiar sight in New York. A dwarf orchard and even a dwarf tree is now seldom seen. The faults that have driven them out of New York are: The stocks used in dwarfing are not uniform, consequently the trees vary in vigor, health, habit of growth, and in time of maturity; nurserymen find that the stocks vary greatly in ease of propagation either from cuttings or layers; the quince stocks are of several varieties, difficult and expensive to obtain and, therefore, the orchard trees are expensive; dwarf trees require much more care in pruning, training, and cultivation than do standard trees; the cost of producing pears in a dwarf orchard is greater than in a plantation of standard trees, and the fruit does not command a much higher price; dwarf trees are commonly rated as less hardy than standard trees and are much shorter-lived; left to themselves, or if planted too deep, the cions take root and the trees are but half dwarf. Some of the objections to dwarf trees could be done away with by obtaining a variety of the quince which would dwarf the pear satisfactorily, which could be grown easily from cuttings or layers, and upon which most pears could be easily worked. A quince of this description is not in sight.
There is great difference of opinion among growers as to what varieties may be successfully grown on quince stocks. Probably all will agree that the following, few indeed, are the best dwarfs in America: Beurré d’Anjou, Duchesse d’Angoulême, Howell, Lawrence, Louise Bonne de Jersey, Elizabeth, and White Doyenné. All other sorts, if to be grown on dwarfs, grow better when double worked.
Almost all of the pears grown in America, as has been said, are standard trees. The stocks for these standard pears are nearly all imported from Europe under the name French stocks, although on the Pacific slope seedlings of oriental species are being used more and more. The French stocks are seedlings of vigorous forms of the common pear, P. communis. Efforts to grow stocks of this species in America usually fail because leaf-blight is so destructive as to make their culture unprofitable. Leaf-blight can be controlled by spraying, but other deterrents, as high price of labor and losses from dry summers, added to the cost of spraying, make American-grown stocks expensive. Stocks raised in this country are usually seedlings from imported seed. Seedlings of the Sand pear, P. serotina, and its hybrids have been tried extensively in the South and West to obtain cheap stocks more resistant to pear-blight than the French stock, but they do not seem to be much more resistant to blight, and many of the best varieties do not take on these stocks, so that they are generally considered a failure.
New types of stocks are needed badly. The ideal stock must be vigorous and hardy; fairly immune to leaf-blight and fire-blight; it must come from a species which seeds freely, and the seedlings from which are uniform; this ideal stock must be adapted to all pear-growing regions in the country; a large percentage of the seedlings must make first-class stocks; the budding season must be long; congeniality with all cultivated varieties must be great or very nearly perfect; the consort of stock and cion must make a long-lived tree.
Quince stocks are obtained from cuttings or mound-layers. Layering is considered the better method of the two. Stocks from the oriental hybrids, of the Kieffer and Le Conte type, are often grown from cuttings in the South. These are made in the spring from mature wood of the preceding year’s growth, and are treated much as are grape and currant cuttings. Long cuttings, a foot in length if possible, should be used. These stocks are of little value for varieties of the common pear, but are better than French stocks for the oriental hybrids, since these, in the South at least, usually overgrow French stocks. Own-rooted trees of these oriental hybrids are often grown from cuttings.
While of doubtful utility, stocks from other genera may be used for the pear. Some of the thorns are occasionally used as dwarfing stocks. The mountain ash is sometimes used to adapt pears to light sandy soils. Occasionally one hears of pears grafted on sorbus. The pear on the apple is short-lived, but old apple-trees top-worked to pears sometimes give abundant crops for a few years. Apple roots may be used as a nurse for pear cions. To be successful, the pear cion should be long, when, if grafted on short apple-roots and set deeply, the pear sends out roots and eventually becomes own-rooted.
PEAR ORCHARDS AND THEIR CARE
Perhaps no tree-fruit is more exacting in care than the pear. Young trees, in particular, must be well cared for and more or less coddled if any factor in environment is adverse. Almost any young orchard of this fruit becomes moribund if the owner settles down to self-satisfied complacency. As the trees come into full bearing, the several items of culture need not be so intensive. A perfect pear-orchard is about the consummation of good fruit-growing. But a perfect orchard of this fruit is seldom to be found, for, sooner or later, blight is certain to take its toll. Because of blight, the culture of no other fruit is attended with more frequent or keener disappointments. Today a man may walk in his orchard with adoration, as an artist walks in a beautiful landscape. Tomorrow, blight may blast the fairest trees. Pear-growing, thus, becomes a good deal of a gamble, and the boundaries within which a fruit-grower’s ambitions must be confined as to acreage must be more closely drawn than with other fruits. In most pear regions, the risks are too great to venture all in the culture of this fruit.
It is an uphill task to grow pears on land not well fitted before planting. A young pear-tree is about the least self-assertive of any of the tree-fruits. For the first year or two young pears seem to have almost no internal push, and are unable to get much of a start out of any but land in the best of tilth. A bare, stony, starved soil is no place for a young pear. The ground should be well tilled almost or quite to the depth the trees are to be planted, otherwise the roots seek the upper layers of earth where there is least resistance and food is most available. If the drainage is faulty, subsequent treatment is well-nigh useless. Sometimes retentive soils in which drainage is good most of the year but slow at planting time may be brought into condition by plowing a back-furrow along the line of each row in the direction of surface drainage to carry away the surface water. Under no circumstances should a tree be planted in a hole in which water is liable to stand about the roots. If possible, the land should be prepared a year in advance by putting in a hoed crop, after which it should be plowed deeply in the fall and pulverized well in the spring, and the trees planted as promptly as possible.
Land suitable for growing pears does not need to be fertilized for young trees. It is not too much to say that land which will not grow good wheat or corn is hardly fit for pears, although lighter soils fertilized as the trees come in bearing grow some varieties very well; but even on these the young trees will start as well without as with fertilizers. Commercial fertilizers, at least, are not wanted by young trees. Stable manure, usually priceless in orchard regions, often puts an atmosphere in an orchard not to be had by any other means, chiefly, probably, because it helps to put the land in good tilth rather than because of the plant food supplied.
Present practices in the use of fertilizers for mature pear-trees are very diverse. Until experiments in fertilizing pears are carefully carried out, the pear-grower may well follow the practices of apple-growers, since a considerable number of long-time experiments have thrown light on the fertilizer requirements of apples in the several great fruit regions of the country. The pear, however, requires a richer soil than the apple; but, on the other hand, it is pretty well agreed that the blight bacterium finds readier entrance and a better medium in which to grow in the soft wood of a luxuriant growth than in the more compact wood of slow growths. Whatever fertilizer is used should be applied early to promote early growth and so permit thorough ripening of wood well in advance of severe cold. Many growers maintain that blight is less virulent in orchards laid down to grass. It is doubtful if this is true and if true the produce is so scant and the pears so small that an orchard grown in grass is about as often a liability as an asset. When the pear is set in grass, however, nitrate of soda applied very early in the season in liberal amounts is a necessary adjunct to the grass-mulch. In any pear orchard, when the foliage is off color, small, sparse, or hangs limp, nitrate of soda is a sovereign rejuvenator.
This discussion may be closed with advice as to how one may know when his trees need fertilizers. If the trees are vigorous, bearing well, the fruits of proper size, the foliage a luxuriant green, the growth plump, the buds turgid, he may well assume that his trees need no additional plant-food. If the trees are not in the condition of well-being indicated, one ought to be well assured that drainage, tillage, and health are as they should be before applying expensive and uncertain fertilizers. Nothing is more satisfactory than making sure that one is not putting chemicals in the ground for nothing in the use of fertilizers. A simple experiment to obtain positive evidence as to whether a pear-orchard needs fertilizers is easily carried on and gives assurance where before there was doubt.
The following is an example of such an experiment: (1) Acid phosphate to give about 50 pounds of phosphoric acid to the acre applied to one plat; (2) phosphate as above and muriate of potash to give 100 pounds of potash to the acre on another plat; (3) phosphate and muriate as above and nitrate of soda and dried blood to give 50 pounds of nitrogen per acre on a third plat; (4) six tons of stable manure on a fourth plat; and (5) one plat left unfertilized as a check.
Planting practices vary so greatly from place to place and from time to time, and each method at the place and time seems so justifiable, that one can hardly advocate particular methods and can only state what they are. Thus, pears have been set in accordance with all of several planting plans, and at distances ranging from sixteen to twenty-five feet apart. At present, pear-orchards are usually laid out in meridians and parallels at intervals of eighteen and twenty feet; when the first distance is used, one hundred and thirty-four trees are planted to the acre; if the second, one hundred and eight trees. It is patent to the eye of every passer-by that these distances are more often too small than too great. Certainly on rich soils and with varieties the trees of which are spreading, the distance might often better be put at twenty-two or twenty-four feet. A poorly-colored pear is usually a poorly-flavored pear; and color and flavor are largely dependent on sunshine and air which are hardly to be had in closely-planted trees. Perfect alignment is imperative for convenience in working and pride of appearance. Dwarf trees in New York should be set at least fifteen feet apart each way, one hundred and ninety-three trees to the acre, although it is a common practice to set them closer.
Until recently one of the discouragements in pear-growing was the failure of fruit to set, even though the trees bore an abundance of blossoms. The discovery that failure was often due to self-sterility in a variety, and that it was necessary to set another variety near-by to furnish pollen to fertilize the self-sterile blossoms has removed much of the uncertainty in growing pears. We now know that self-sterility has a most important economic aspect in the planting of pears. Some of the varieties most profitable when planted to secure cross-pollination, are so unfruitful as to be quite unprofitable when a tree stands alone or when the variety is set in a solid block with no other sort near. Under most conditions Bartlett and Kieffer, the mainstays of American pear-culture, both need pollen from another variety to insure a full set of fruit. Under some conditions both may be sufficiently self-fertile. From these two statements it is seen that self-sterility is not a constant factor in a variety.
Self-sterility and self-fertility are greatly influenced by the condition under which a variety is grown. Thus, a variety is often self-sterile in one locality and not in another. Occasionally Bartlett, usually nearly or quite self-sterile, and other varieties as well, set fruit one season and not the next. All pears, the Bartlett in particular, seem to have a greater degree of self-sterility in eastern pear regions than on the Pacific slope. In general, the better the adaptation of a variety to its environment the better it sets fruit with its own pollen. It is obvious, therefore, that it is not possible to give lists of self-sterile and self-fertile varieties. Such lists can be made out only for regions and localities. Some varieties, however, more often fail to set fruit because of self-sterility than others. Among standard pears, Bartlett, Beurré d’Anjou, Beurré Clairgeau, Clapp Favorite, Howell, Kieffer, Lawrence, Sheldon, and Winter Nelis appear to be most often self-sterile. Beurré Bosc, Flemish Beauty, and Seckel are usually self-fertile.
A self-sterile variety usually sets fruit when another variety is at hand to supply pollen. Several considerations determine the selection of varieties to interplant. Thus, the two varieties must blossom at the same time if cross-pollination is to be effective. The table on pages 88 to 90 shows the sorts that bloom at the same time, or nearly enough so to make cross-pollination possible. Under normal conditions, the blooming time of varieties overlaps sufficiently for cross-pollination excepting those that bloom very early and very late. If the table is used for regions much to the north or to the south of this Station, allowance must be made for a shorter blooming period the farther north; a longer one the farther south. That varieties of pears have sexual affinities is another consideration that merits some attention. That is, one variety will fertilize another sort very well, while pollen from a third may not be at all acceptable. “Affinities” can be determined only by hand crossing. Probably the importance of affinities is over-rated. The distance between varieties set for cross-pollination must not be too great—not more than two or three rows apart. For convenience in harvesting, varieties should be selected in relation to ripening. Only commercial varieties should be interplanted, as the wastage is too great if comparatively worthless sorts are set to fertilize a standard commercial variety.
Some disadvantages attend the setting of mixed orchards of pears, and these must be weighed and overcome as far as possible. There are many current statements to the effect that all varieties, whether self-sterile or self-fertile, are more fruitful and produce better fruit with foreign pollen than with their own. To old pear-growers, this seems to be putting it rather strong, but the statements come from accurate experimenters and observers and should have consideration. Cross-pollination, be it remembered, is not a cure-all for failures to set fruit. Unseasonable weather, lack of vitality in trees, various fungi, and no doubt other agencies, may be the cause of unfruitfulness.
As to commercial varieties, the tale is soon told. Only a half-dozen sorts are generally planted in New York orchards. These, about in order of importance, are: Bartlett, Kieffer, Seckel, Beurré Bosc, Beurré d’Anjou, and Winter Nelis. To this short list may be added the following grown more or less for local markets: Clapp Favorite, Sheldon, Beurré Clairgeau, Lawrence, Howell, Tyson, and Mount Vernon. A list for the home orchard should include all of these and many more to be chosen from the major varieties described in Chapter IV. The pear flora of the country changes very slowly, and there are now almost no new sorts on general probation in the country.
Perhaps with no other tree-fruits is it more important to begin with good trees, as even with the best it is often difficult to get a good start toward a pear-orchard. Black-heart, caused by winter-killing, is a sign that must be heeded, and a tree badly blackened in its pith, especially if the surrounding wood is discolored, should be discarded. Crown-gall on tap roots affects the tree deleteriously. Trees marked by hail or insects are often worthless. Other marks that commend or condemn trees are: A short stocky plant is better than a tall spindling one. A tree with many branches is better than one with few branches. The roots should be much branched rather than sparsely branched. A tree with smooth, bright bark is better than one with rough, dull bark. Both trunk and branches should be plump and show no signs of shrivelling. A poor pear-tree in the nursery seldom makes a good tree in the orchard. There is great variation in varieties as the trees come from the nursery, a fact to be considered. In New York, two-year-old trees are best.
A good deal of the success that attends the culture of the pear depends on properly setting the young trees and the right care of the young plants. It is superfluous to discuss these operations in detail, but a statement as to proper setting and care will serve as reminders. In this State, pear-trees should always be set in the spring. A young pear-tree should be set in the soil about as deep as it stood in the nursery; in light soils the roots might well be planted a little deeper, and in heavy soils not quite so deep. The soil must be packed firmly about the roots—best done by tramping. Watering is necessary only when the land is parched with drought. When necessary, water should be used liberally. Puddling the roots by dipping them in thin mud before planting serves very well for watering. The surface soil should always be left loose. Rank manure about the roots of young trees is plant infanticide. During the tender nonage of the young pear, cultivation should be intensive; insects and fungi should be kept off; and plants that refuse to grow well must be marked for discarding.
A catch-crop grown between the rows of pears is a profitable adjunct to the pear-orchard for the first four or five years. Few indeed are the pear-orchards in New York that cannot be made to sustain themselves for the first few years by inter-cropping. The crops should be hoed crops, such as potatoes, cabbage, beans, tomatoes, and nearly all crops in demand at the canneries. Along the Hudson, small-fruits are often planted in young pear-orchards, but in Western New York these are not looked upon with favor. Grass and grain are deadly in a young pear-orchard, and no right-minded man would plant them there. This brings us to cultivation.
Cultivation should be the rule; sod mulch, the exception, in growing pears in New York. After pear-trees come into bearing they may be made to produce crops if kept in sod. The grass in sodded orchards should be kept closely mown to form a mulch about the trees. Commercial fertilizers as well as mulch are needed in sodded orchards, and of the several chemical fertilizers nitrogen is most requisite. The man who grows pears in sod must not expect as much fruit, as the crop is lessened in both number and size of the pears. On the other hand, the pears may be better colored, and the trees may be freer from blight.
Tillage is begun in the spring by plowing the land. This operation is followed by cultivation with smoothing-harrow, weeder, or cultivator. There are several reliable guides to tell when and how often a pear-orchard should be cultivated. When the soil becomes dry it should be tilled. A heavy rain should always be followed by the cultivator to prevent the formation of a crust on the surface. At this time, he tills twice who tills quickly. Cultivate when there are clods to be pulverized. Usually a pear-orchard should be cultivated once in two or three weeks until time to sow the cover-crop in midsummer. The depth to till is governed by the season and the nature of the soil. Heavy soils need deep stirring; light soils, shallow stirring. Till moist soils deeply; dry soils, lightly. The time to stop tillage depends on the soil, the climate, and the season. The fruit should be nearly full sized when tillage is stopped and the cover-crop sown.
The cover-crop seed is covered the last time the cultivator goes over the orchard. Clover, vetch, cow-horn turnip, rape, oats, rye, and buckwheat are all used as cover-crops in this State. Combination crops are not popular because of too great cost of seed. The quantity of seed sown is the same as when the crops are grown as farm crops. The crops must be changed from time to time in whatever rotation seems most suitable for the soil. The weather-map must be watched at sowing time to make sure of a moist seed-bed. Whatever the crop, it should be plowed under in the fall or early spring, and under no circumstances should it stand late in the spring to rob the trees of food and moisture. In moist, hot seasons, the cover-crop should be sown earlier than in seasons of slow growth, when, possibly, it acts as a deterrent to blight, and certainly makes more certain thorough ripening of the new wood.
The double nature of pruning must be kept in mind whenever a pruning tool is taken in the pear-orchard. Fruit-trees are pruned to increase the quantity and quality of the crop—this is pruning proper; and to give the trees such form that they are easily managed in the orchard—this is training. Pruning tools are used first when the trees are set, and they should be used every year thereafter as long as the tree lives. The pruning at setting time is particularly important with the pear, since newly set pears are slow and uncertain in starting, and linger in growth for a year or two after going into the orchard. The pruning is much the same as with other trees, but must be done with a little greater care.
The top of the young plant must be pruned to enable the injured root-system to supply the remaining branches with water. The less the roots are injured, the less the top need be cut. Some cut back all of the branches; some remove whole branches and do not head back those that remain. The latter is the better plan for this reason: The top buds on branches are largest and develop first, and the newly set tree will grow best if it develops a large leaf-surface before hot dry weather sets in. Young trees usually have surplus branches; remove those not needed, leaving three, four, or rarely five to form the framework of the tree. A pear so pruned will start growth and acquire vigor more quickly than if all branches are cut back.
A choice must be made when planting as to whether the tree is to be low- or high-headed. The habit of growth of varieties differs so greatly that there can be no rule to determine how high the head of a tree should be started. One can generalize to this extent: The heads of varieties with spreading tops should be started higher than those having an upright or pyramidal top. Without question, the choice should be for a low-headed pear-tree. The trunks of pear-trees suffer terribly from blight and sun-scald. The less trunk and the more it is shaded by branches, the less the tree suffers from these two troubles. Also, low trees are more easily sprayed and pruned; the crop is more easily thinned and harvested; crop and tree are less subject to injury by frost; the top is more quickly formed; and a low-headed tree bears fruit soonest. By low-headed is meant a distance from the ground to the first limb of two feet.
Two shapes of tops are open to choice—the open-centered and the close-centered. In the open-centered, or vase-form top, the tree consists of a short trunk, surmounted by four or five main branches ascending obliquely. In the close-centered top, the trunk is continued above the lower branches and forms the center of the tree. The close-centered pear-tree produces more fruit and is most easily kept to its shape. No doubt it is best for most varieties. The open-centered tree, with its framework of several main branches, has the advantage when trees are attacked by blight, since if one or two branches are destroyed by the disease a part of the tree may still be saved. The head should never be formed by two central leaders forming a crotch, as the trunk is liable to split and ruin the tree.
For several years after planting, the pear needs to be pruned only to train the tree to the height of head determined upon and to form the top. Exceptions are the sorts which produce few branches and thus form straggling heads. This defect is overcome by cutting back some of the branches in the spring, an operation which increases the number of branches. A few other sorts, as Winter Nelis and White Doyenné, have drooping, twisting, wayward branches which can be trained into manageable shape only by cutting back or tying the branches in place. Pear-growers as a rule prune young trees too much. Over-pruning increases the growth of wood and leaf too greatly, and thus delays the fruiting of the plant. A good deal might be said about the use and abuse of heading-in pears—that is, cutting back the terminal growths from year to year. Dwarf pears must be headed-in severely to keep the trees down, but standard trees should be headed-in only to make the tops thicker and broader—a desirable procedure with some varieties.
Old trees often need to be pruned to increase their vigor. Such pruning is often spoken of as pruning for wood. When the tops of pear-trees have dead and dying wood, when the seasonal growth is short and slender, when the crops are small and the pears lack size, or when trees are weakened by disease, a healthy condition may oftentimes be restored by severely cutting back some branches and wholly removing others. In such pruning the following rules ought to be observed:
Weak-growing varieties are pruned heavily; strong-growing kinds, lightly.
Varieties which branch freely need little pruning; those having few and unbranching limbs should be pruned closely.
In cool, damp climates, trees produce much wood and need little pruning; in hot dry climates, growth is scant and trees need much pruning.
Rich, deep soils favor growth; trees in such soils should be pruned lightly. In light or shallow soils, trees produce few and short shoots; the pruning of trees on such soils should be severe.
A good deal is said about pruning for fruit. It is doubtful, however, whether unfruitful pear-trees can be made more fruitful by the pruning recommended for this purpose. When barrenness is caused by the production of wood and foliage at the expense of fruit-buds, as possibly sometimes happens, summer-pruning may check the over-production of growth and cause flower-buds to form. There seems to be no definite experiments to prove this theory in America, nor do pear-growers generally practice this kind of pruning which has been preached so long and so often. To follow the rules in this operation, summer-pruning should be done when the growth for the season has nearly ceased. If done earlier, the shoots cut back start again and the pruning has been useless. If done too late, there is too little time for the production of fruit-buds. In the unequable climate of this country it is most difficult to know when to prune in the summer to meet the requirements of the theory urged so strongly by European pomologists. A weighty objection to summer-pruning in America is that the wounds might and probably would become centers of infection for blight.
There is no attempt to give a full discussion of pruning in this text. Such details as making the cut, covering the wounds, pruning paraphernalia, filling cavities and the amount to prune, belong to texts on pruning. Perhaps two minor details important in growing pears should be mentioned. Suckers or water-sprouts form so freely on branches of pears that they often seriously devitalize the tree, and usually are centers of blight. They should therefore be removed promptly whenever and wherever found. The time to prune the pear is important. If the work is done too early in the winter, injury may result to the tissues near the wound from cold or from checking. If done late in the spring when sap is flowing, the wound becomes wet and sticky and is a suitable place for the growth of fungi and the blight bacterium.
The pear is as easily grafted as any other pome, and the operation is more certain and more often desirable than with any of the stone-fruits. Almost any method of grafting used with orchard fruits is successful with the pear. But the pear is not often grafted in this State after the tree has been set in the orchard. The great objection is that the vigorous growth made by grafts is nearly always nipped by blight. Possibly the lack of affinity between different varieties is more pronounced than with other pomes. The common European varieties cannot be inter-worked without experimental knowledge of how one variety will grow on another, and it is almost impossible to intergraft common varieties with the oriental hybrids. The temptation is strong in this State to graft such sorts as Bartlett and Seckel on Kieffer. This combination is seldom successful; nor, as a rule, can other European pears be grafted on Kieffer, although some growers have succeeded fairly well in growing Seckel on Kieffer.
Thinning the fruit is not a common practice in pear-growing in this State. There is no doubt but that much might be done to improve pears in both size and quality by thinning, for be it remembered that large size of fruit and high quality are usually correlated in pears. Thinning often saves the vigor of the tree, and it is often good orchard management to destroy insect- or disease-infected fruit by thinning. The objection is high cost. Most growers, however, find that it pays to thin. Thinning is usually done as soon as possible after the June drop. It is most difficult to tell, when thinning, what will prove superfluity at harvest. A skilled grower adjusts the size of the crop to the variety, the vigor of the tree, fertility and moisture in the ground, the season, and insects and fungi. Thinning should begin in the winter with the removal of what seem to be superfluous branches, for even at this time fruit-prospects for the ensuing season are fore-shadowed.
HARVESTING AND MARKETING
Fruit-growing is made up of several quite distinct phases of activity; as, propagation, culture, pruning, pests, harvesting, and marketing. Treated in detail, each of these several operations constitutes matters quite sufficient for separate treatises. In a manual such as this only outlines of present practices are in place. Perhaps of all deciduous fruits the pear needs as particular attention in the various operations which conduct it from the orchard to the table as any other, if, indeed, it is not the most difficult of hardy fruits to handle after it leaves the orchard. The several operations that should be treated in a discussion of handling the pear crop, no matter how brief, are picking, grading, packing, storing, shipping, and marketing.
The time of picking is most important in handling pears. Pears are picked, especially for the markets, long before they are ready to eat out of hand. So harvested, almost without exception, all pears acquire higher quality than when they ripen on the tree. Moreover, when the necessary percentage of sugars and solids has developed to give full flavor the pears are too easily bruised to be shipped. Just how green pears can be harvested and afterward have the rich shades of red and yellow and the delectable flavor of ripe pears develop seems not yet to have been determined.[22] No doubt the stages of development differ somewhat with the variety. In New York, the generally accepted rule is to pick when the stem parts readily from the branch if the fruit is lifted. Some wait until there is a perceptible yellowing of the maturer fruits; others until full-grown, wormy specimens are ripe; still others until the seeds begin to change color. But on the Pacific slope and for the cannery in this State, pears are picked when much greener than in any of the conditions named and yet seem to ripen well. As a matter of economy, the fruits should be left until they attain nearly or quite full size.
The directions just given apply more particularly to the main-crop pears and early and fall sorts. Winter pears in this State should be left on the trees until in danger from freezing. Even so, the season is too short for some choice winter sorts. No matter what the season, pears should be shipped before they reach edible condition. A few of the winter pears, suitable only for culinary purposes, never soften, and change color little or not at all.
Picking pears is not the delicate business that picking the stone-fruits is, but yet must be done with considerable care as a bruise provides a place for subsequent decay. Few picking appliances are needed, but these should be carefully chosen to insure speed and careful handling of the fruit. A full complement of ladders is necessary, and the picking receptacle, either bag, basket, or bucket, should be chosen to fulfill most conveniently its purpose and yet not be a source of danger to the fruit. From the picking receptacle, the pears go to the crate or barrel for carriage to the packing-house; for, unless the fruit is going to the cannery, pears should be graded and packed in the packing-house.
Grading pears is a more difficult operation than grading apples, as mechanical graders have proved of little use, and the work must be done by hand. Only good fruit is worth grading. It follows, that the higher the price and the more special the market, the more carefully should the pears be picked and graded. Pears are usually graded in New York into firsts, seconds, and culls. The State has no law governing the grading and packing of pears as it has of apples and peaches, so that pear-growers must establish their own grades. By common consent of growers and dealers, Grade I consists of pears of one variety, full sized, well formed, free from dirt, skin-breaks, worms, scale, scab or other damage caused by insect or disease, hail pecks, or mechanical injuries. Grade II differs from Grade I only in that the pears may not be of full size nor perfect in form. A leeway of five to ten per cent is allowed for variation incident to grading and handling. Culls are pears which do not meet the requirements of the foregoing grades.
In putting up grades every effort is made to keep the fruit in a package uniform in size. At the beginning of the season the sizes are gauged by putting the pears through rings of the diameter desired. But packers soon become expert in sizing, and with a little practice perform the work quickly and accurately without rings. Of the larger pears, such as Bartlett, Clapp Favorite, Beurré Bosc, and Beurré d’Anjou, fruits are hardly worth putting in a good package that do not measure two and one-fourth inches through the shorter axis.
Grading and sizing pears are greatly neglected, and most of the crop goes to the market in this State wretchedly packed, for which reason maximum prices are seldom received. The industry can never compete successfully with western pear-growing until higher standards are adopted in putting the New York crop on the market.
In common with grading and sizing, packages are neglected in marketing New York pears. Some growers pack in bushel baskets; a few send the crop to market in half-bushel baskets; a large size of the Climax basket is occasionally seen in the markets filled with summer pears or small Seckels; a keg holding about a bushel or more is less used; a pear barrel holding a peck less than an apple barrel was formerly more used than now; Kieffer is often sent to the market in apple barrels. A very few New York growers ship in boxes, but these are few indeed. In all excepting the boxes, the pears, having been graded, are carefully put in the packages, sometimes in layers and sometimes hit or miss, but the package is always faced. Good grades are usually labeled, though the same attention is not given to labeling pears that is given in putting up apples. Truth is, the packing of pears in New York is a decade or two behind the packing of apples.
The commercial pear-grower now stores his pears in cold storage if he keeps them any length of time after harvesting. A few varieties, of which Beurré Bosc is most notable, do not keep well in cold storage, but most of the mainstays in the pear industry keep fairly well in artificial cold. There is, however, much to be learned about the commercial storage of pears. There seems to be little information that can be relied upon as to how low the temperature should go; how humid the atmosphere should be; how long the pears can be kept in good condition; and how different varieties behave under these several conditions.
Perhaps a word should be said as to how the pear can be ripened best in the home. After harvesting, the pears should be placed in a cool sweet-smelling fruit-room in shallow boxes or spread upon shelves to acquire in time full flavor and color. Most pears part with their moisture readily, and the pear-room must not be open to draughts which usually cause the fruits to become hard and leathery or to shrivel. If the pears are to be kept long, wrapping in paper helps to prevent shriveling. Nearly all pears ripen perfectly in cool or cold storage, but a few late winter sorts ripen better if brought into a temperature of 60° or 70° for two or three weeks before their season.
A large part of New York’s pear crop is canned in commercial canneries. Canners usually pay high prices, and the crop, when sold to them, need not be so carefully picked, packed, and otherwise handled. It is a mistake to assume that pears for the cannery can be shaken from the tree or handled roughly otherwise. Neither do the canners want the poor grades, after the good pears have been sent to the market. Large sizes are usually preferred, and the fruits must be well formed, free from serious insect, fungous, or mechanical injuries, and at a particular stage of maturity which the canner specifies. The profits in selling to canners are usually more certain, and are often quite as great as in selling on the markets. The cannery is a splendid safety valve to the pear industry in this State. Pears are not dried commercially in New York as they are in California, although it would seem that here in the center of the apple-drying industry of the world pears might also be dried with profit.
Most of the pear crop of this region is now sold to local buyers or on consignment to city dealers. Co-operative methods are just beginning and promise much. There are several reasons why the pear, even more than the apple, which is more and more going to the markets through co-operative associations, should be handled by organizations of growers. Thus, an association could load a car quickly, which few individual growers can do; pears are not now, but would be, graded and packed under one standard; more favorable transportation rates would be secured; and, most important of all, the pear crop would be distributed to the great markets of the country without the disastrous competition that attends individual marketing. If the pear industry is to grow in the State, pears must be largely marketed through the central packing associations that are now being rapidly organized to sell fruits.
No reliable data can be obtained to show what the costs are in growing pears in this State. It would be hard to obtain such data, for pear-growing is now a game of chance from start to finish. Good pear-lands are not hard to obtain, and the risks to tree and crop attendant on weather are not great, but the trees are everywhere subject to blight; which, despite the recommendations of plant pathologists, cannot be controlled, and which annually destroys thousands of trees, ruins others, and sooner or later upsets calculations of costs and profits in almost every pear-orchard in the State. Other pests, as psylla, the scab-fungus, and codling-moth beset the pear and make profits uncertain. When all goes well, the costs are about the same as in growing apples, while the profits are somewhat greater.[23] But with blight to contend with, most of the economic factors are inconstant, and calculating costs and profits is guessing pure and simple.
DISEASES OF THE PEAR
The pear is attacked by a half dozen or more diseases in New York, of which two, at least, need treatment every year, in every orchard, and on nearly every variety. One, pear-blight, is about the most malignant of the diseases of the orchard, for which there is no antidote and no alleviation or preventive except by the most drastic sanitary measures. The other, pear-scab, is always present but not always destructive, although some varieties are always injured by it. The scab, however, is amenable to treatment and at its worst only destroys fruit and foliage, seldom endangering the life of the tree. The four or five other diseases of the pear in New York are of minor importance and are readily controlled by the treatment necessary to keep in check the scab-fungus. Pear-blight merits attention first.
Pear-blight is a malignant bacterial disease, very contagious, usually virulent and so terrible in its consequences as to warrant the common name fire-blight. No part of the tree is exempt from destruction by the malign bacterium that causes blight of the pear. Root, trunk, branch, leaf, flower, and fruit are all attacked, turn black and wither under the disease. Few plant diseases produce more disastrous results. The pear competes with the apple in importance in Europe where blight is unknown. In America it is a poor fourth to the apple, peach, and plum, and takes fourth place instead of second because of the ravages of blight. About the most important discovery to be made in pomology is a race of blight-resistant pears. Failing in this, if the pear-industry is to grow, or even continue in its present magnitude, blight-resistant stocks must be found.
The symptoms of pear-blight are so characteristic that the disease cannot be confounded with any other malady or condition of the tree. It appears earliest in the season on the blossoms causing blossom-blight. Attacked by blight, the blossoms wilt, and after the petals fall, fruit and spur show the characteristic blackening of the disease. Blossom-blight may escape the attention of the pear-grower, but twig-blight, a succeeding form of the disease, can escape no one who has the sense of sight. No other disease of the pear brings on such palpable destruction to the tree as twig-blight. No other disease causes such comfortless despair to the grower. Twig, branch, or tree, as the case may be, in all affected parts, turns black, the leaves droop, seeming to show the effects of fire. A marked symptom is, if there can be doubt of those given, that the blackened foliage clings most tenaciously to the dead branches. Twig-blight is the most common manifestation of the disease. Another form of the blight appears as a canker on the trunk and large branches—canker-blight or body-blight. These cankers are dark, smooth, and sunken, with definite margins marked by a crevasse in the winter; but as spring comes on the advancing margins become raised and more or less indefinite. Occasionally an opaque liquid oozes from lenticels newly attacked. On branches, the cankers usually surround a smaller offshoot, sucker, or spur. The disease spreads with great rapidity, by reason of which it is easily told from winter-killing. Injury from cold is also more general, and the foliage browns rather than blackens.
Pear-blight is an American disease, the history of which was briefly given on page 51. Until recently it was confined to regions east of the Rocky Mountains, but since about 1900 it has been a virulent epidemic on the Pacific slope as well, and is now found from coast to coast wherever pears are grown in North America. It seems not to be found in the pear regions of other continents. It attacks the apple, quince, and other pomes as well as the pear, and plant pathologists declare it to be the most destructive disease attacking the pome-fruits. Trees in the nursery suffer as well as those in the orchard. Every variety of the pear bearing edible fruit is attacked. Fortunately, some sorts are more immune than others. Kieffer, Seckel, Winter Nelis, and Duchesse d’Angoulême are most resistant of standard varieties, while Bartlett, Clapp Favorite, and Flemish Beauty are little resistant.
Pear-blight is caused by a bacterium, Bacillus amylovorous, the discovery of which by Burrill in 1877 as a cause of this disease is one of the landmarks in plant pathology. The organisms are dormant during the winter, which they pass in the margins of blight-cankers where moisture is sufficient to keep them alive. With the return of vegetative growth, some sort of fermentation seems to set in and drops of a thick, opaque liquid ooze out of the margins of blight-cankers. These contain countless numbers of the blight bacteria which may swarm into the healthy tissues adjoining, or be carried by any one of the great number of kinds of insects which visit trees at flowering time to the pear-blossoms, to growing tips, or to wounds in tender bark. The pruner with his tools may be an unwilling agent in carrying the bacteria from tree to tree. The organisms now multiply apace, killing tissues wherever they find entrance and causing the several manifestations of the disease described under symptoms. Were it not that the bacteria are killed by sunlight and even brief periods of drying, the life of the plants attacked would be the only limits of the disease unless checked by man.
Theoretically, pear-blight can be controlled. Practically, pear-growers fail to control it. Control consists in orchard sanitation whereby the bacterium causing the disease is kept out of the orchard. This proves all but impossible in the average orchard. Sometimes, without doubt, the virulency of the disease is lessened. Possibly, if all the recommendations of plant pathologists could be put in practice, pear-growers would more often succeed in keeping blight down, but the necessary sanitary measures require such watchful care and so great an expense that few pear-growers can carry out the program for controlling this disease. Of those who have studied methods of control and have given advice on the subject, Hesler and Whetzel[24] are as reliable as any and we quote herewith their recommendations:
[22] Some very good preliminary work on harvesting and storing pears has been done by the Oregon Experiment Station, and is reported in Bulletin 154, June, 1918, from that Station.
[23] For costs and profits in growing apples see Bulletin 376, New York Agricultural Experiment Station.
[24] Hesler and Whetzel. Manual of Fruit Diseases 330-331. 1917.
“In attempting to control fire-blight, the following important points should be borne in mind: (1) That the disease is caused by bacteria which gain entrance to the host tissues only through wounds, or punctures by insects, into succulent, rapidly growing tissues, or through the nectaries of the blossoms. (2) That insects of several kinds are the usual agents of inoculation. (3) That practically all pome fruit-growing sections in North America are infested, and therefore there is always a source from which the bacteria may be disseminated. (4) That all known varieties of the hosts, on which the blight organism occurs, are more or less susceptible; while some show resistance, none are wholly immune. Therefore control consists chiefly in the elimination of the pathogene from the infected trees. This is accomplished by a strict application of the following operations: (a) Inspect all pear trees in the autumn and again in the early spring before the blossoms open, and cut out and treat all cankers in the body and main limbs. With a sharp knife, or draw-shave, remove all the diseased tissue, wash the wound with corrosive sublimate (one tablet to one pint of water), and, when dry, paint the wound with coal-tar or lead paint, preferably the former. The wound-dressing will need renewal every year or so. (b) Throughout the summer, beginning with the fall of blossoms, make an inspection every few days of the young trees. Break out the blighted spurs and cut out diseased twigs, making the cut at least six inches below the diseased portion. Disinfect the cuts with corrosive sublimate. (c) Remove all watersprouts from the trees two or three times during the season. (d) In the nursery remove the blossom-buds, particularly of the quinces. Here inspection must be frequent, particularly in susceptible stock, in order to keep the disease under control. It is often necessary to inspect certain blocks daily, the diseased twigs being cut out as soon as observed. When budded stock of the first year becomes affected, the trees should be dug out, since cutting below the diseased area causes the trunk of the young tree to be crooked and therefore not marketable. (e) Control the insects. The real point of attack lies in this phase of the problem.”
Scab (Venturia pyrina Aderh.), after blight, is the best-known and most prevalent disease of the pear in New York. Like blight, it is found wherever pears are grown in North America, and also wherever pears are grown in foreign countries. It attacks the pear at all ages from the youngest to the oldest plant. Twigs, leaves, flowers, and fruit suffer. A closely related and very similar fungus attacks the apple and causes the apple-scab, but the two fungi are not the same and do not spread from the one fruit to the other.
The name describes the disease at maturity so that all may know it. Black, canker-like lesions spot the fruit, leaf, and twig. These are most characteristic on the pear. The scabs first appear on the fruit as olive-green velvety spots; the young fruits may drop; if they persist, growth may cease, the skin crack, or the fruit be distorted; the fruit-stalk is often shriveled. The scab shows on the leaves much as on the fruit and usually attacks the lower surface. On the twigs the scab is not so conspicuous, but appears as a small round spot which may or may not slough off and be replaced by healthy bark. Young twigs are most often attacked, in which case the scabby spots suggest scale insects.
Pear-scab is caused by a fungus. The chief life events of this fungus must be known to control the disease. The organism passes the winter in leaves on the ground. In the spring, the spores which have matured in the spore-cases are forcibly discharged, and, being very light, are carried hither and thither by the wind so that some of them reach the opening flower and leaf-buds. If moisture and heat are sufficient, the spores germinate, and an infection is started. A foothold secured, the germ-tubes branch and form a dense mycelium—the velvety layer visible to the unaided eye. From these masses of mycelium spore-stalks arise in great numbers bearing countless spores which by one agent and another are carried to other leaves, twigs, or blossoms for new infections. New infections continue throughout the growing season. The black scab spots on fruit and leaf are corky layers of tissue formed to heal the wounds made by the fungus which has ceased to grow vigorously in these scabs. The fungus may pass the winter on the twigs as well as in fallen leaves.
Different varieties resist the scab-fungus differently. Flemish Beauty and Summer Doyenné are most susceptible and in seasons favorable to the fungus seldom present fruits with a clean cheek no matter how careful the treatment. Pruning off badly infected twigs and plowing under scabby leaves are good sanitary measures. In New York, two applications of lime and sulphur at the summer strength, if applied annually, are usually sufficient to control the fungus. The first of these applications should be made when the blossoms show color, a few days before they open. The second should be put on when most of the petals have fallen. In seasons favorable to the scab, a third application two weeks after the second may be the means of saving the crop. The spread of the disease is greatly favored by damp warm weather.
Pear-growers are plagued by two leaf-spots, one of which is also known as leaf-blight. The leaf-spot here to be discussed (Mycosphærella sentina (Fr.) Schroet.) is sometimes called the ashy leaf-spot. The disease is not often seriously troublesome in New York, but is capable of doing great damage in both the nursery and orchard. The spots which give name to the disease are conspicuous enough, but even when present in great numbers are often not seen by the pear-grower until there is a premature dropping of the leaves in August or earlier. The trees often put out new growths, with the result that the wood does not ripen and the tree is left in no condition to stand the cold of winter in this northern climate.
As with nearly all diseases of plants, some varieties suffer more than others. Sheldon, Seckel, and Flemish Beauty are more injured than Kieffer, Lawrence, and Mount Vernon. Nursery stock is more often injured the second than the first year set. Only the leaves suffer. The fungus first shows its work in minute purplish spots on the upper surface of the leaf. The mature spots measure about one-sixth of an inch in diameter, are angular in shape, with well-defined margins, and have an outer zone of brownish-purple, with a grayish center. Late in the season, dots, the spore-cases of the fungus, appear in the gray central area. The fungus passes the winter in diseased leaves which fall to the ground in late summer. From these leaves spores are discharged into the air to be carried to the leaves after growth begins in the spring. The disease is usually controlled by the sprays necessary every year to keep pear-scab in submission. In the nursery, two-year-old trees are sprayed just after the new leaves open and twice thereafter at two-week intervals. One-year-olds seldom need to be sprayed.
Leaf-blight (Fabræa maculata (Lev.) Atk.) is a common and destructive fungus in pear-nurseries in New York and is sometimes troublesome in orchards. The quince suffers even more than the pear from this fungus. In the nursery, leaves and twigs are attacked, and in the orchard the pears themselves sometimes suffer. The disease appears in the spring as minute, reddish-brown circular spots on the upper surface of the leaves, but the fungus penetrates through to the lower surface as the disease progresses. Eventually the color changes to dark brown, and later a coal-black, raised spot appears in the center. The spots sometimes run together. Young leaves shrivel under the attacks of the fungus; while old ones, if badly diseased, turn yellow and drop prematurely. Twigs and leaf-stalks are frequently girdled, and the lesions are more elongated. The spots are similar on the fruits to those on the leaves. The fungus spends the winter in fallen leaves. In the spring the spores are discharged from the fruiting organs of the fungi and are carried to the tender leaf or twig of the pear or quince. The parasite begins growth at once and in about a month a new crop of spores develop. This fungus grows on various other pome-fruits which complicates remedial measures. The treatment recommended for leaf-spot should control leaf-blight.
As are all tree-fruits in New York, the pear is attacked by crown-gall (Bacterium tumefaciens Smith & Townsend). This disease, however, is seldom a serious menace to orchard trees this far north, but the vigor of nursery stock is sapped when the galls girdle the tap-root or the stem at the collar. Moreover, trees affected by crown-gall are barred in most states by inspection laws so that nurserymen can ill afford to produce gall-infected trees. It is a wise precaution not to plant badly diseased trees. The galls are tumor-like structures on the roots of the plant, or often at the juncture of root and stem. They vary from the size of a pea to that of a large egg, forming at maturity rough, knotty, dark-colored masses. Another form of the disease appears as a dense tangle of hair-like roots arising from callous-like galls. This form passes under the name “hairy root.” Neither preventive nor cure is known. Orchard or nursery should not be planted on ground known to have been infected as the disease is highly contagious. The brambles, especially raspberries, are common carriers of crown-gall, and none of the brambles should be planted as inter-crops in pear-orchards.
Brown-blotch (Leptothyrium pomi (Mont. & Fr.) Sacc. var.) is another fungus which is sometimes troublesome. The fungus causes reddish blotches on the fruit which coalesce into rusty-brown patches often covering the whole surface of the pear. Here, again, the Kieffer suffers most although fruits of other varieties are often disfigured by the blotch. The disease is most common on heavy soils and in densely shaded trees. Pruning to let in the sun is usually sufficient to keep the fungus in check, but a late application of lime and sulphur is often necessary.
Black mold (Fumago vagans Fr.), a fungus which grows in the honey-dew exuded by the nymphs of the pear-psylla, sometimes causes a sooty covering of the pears which spoils their sale. Twigs and leaves are also covered with thin superficial growth of the fungus somewhat to the detriment of growth. The remedy is obvious—control the psylla.
Pink-rot (Cephalothecium roseum Cda.) sometimes does much damage to pears in common or cold storage. The fungus seems able to enter the skin of pears only through injuries, and when reasonable care is used in handling the fruit the rot does little damage. Not infrequently it is found on fruits unpicked, having entered the skin through ruptures made by pear-scab, black-spot, or other fungi. This, of course, seldom happens in well-sprayed orchards.
INSECTS ATTACKING THE PEAR
Several insect pests are very destructive to pear-trees, as many more are often troublesome, while perhaps in addition to the dozen that must always or occasionally be combatted some thirty or forty more have been listed as pear-pests. Young pear-trees are very susceptible to injuries of any kind and if beset by any of the common insect pests do not prosper. As the trees come to maturity, life and vigor of the tree may not be endangered by any but two or three of the worst pests, but the crop is always cut short by infestations of insects on any part of the plant which interferes with the normal life of the tree. The pests most destructive to the pear in New York, about in order of importance, are San Jose scale, psylla, codling-moth, pear-slug, and pear-leaf blister-mite.
San Jose scale (Aspidiotus perniciosus Comstock) is particularly harmful to tree and fruit of the pear. The pears, possibly, are malformed more and show the scales with their discoloration more plainly than the product of any other fruit-tree. A scale-infested pear-tree is easily recognized. Dead and dying twigs or branches and moribund trees are evidences of the dreaded pest. Examination shows the moribund parts to be covered with myriads of minute scales which give the infected bark a scurfy, ashy look. A reddish discoloration is discovered if the bark be cut or scraped. A foothold gained on trunk or branch, fruit and foliage are soon infected. Reproduction is continuous throughout the summer, and the scales increase by leaps and bounds. Smooth-barked young trees succumb within three or four years if the insects are unchecked; the rougher-barked old trees survive the pest indefinitely, although the vigor is lessened to the point of unproductiveness in many old orchards. Pear-growers find the lime-sulphur solution applied in the dormant season the most effective spray in combating San Jose scale. Several insect enemies of the scale help to keep the pest down. A quarter-century ago, it was feared that the pear industry of the State might be ruined by San Jose scale, but no energetic fruit-grower now fears the pest.
Next to San Jose scale, psylla is the most feared pest of the pear in New York. Indeed, this insect is much more difficult to combat successfully than scale, and were it as wide-spread, the pear industry in New York would be hard hit. The psylla is a minute, sucking insect, wingless in its immature stages, but winged and very active as an adult. They are nearly related to plant-lice, and like them suck the juices of the buds and new leaves. Like plant-lice also they reproduce very rapidly. The immature insects secrete a sticky honey-dew which becomes blackened with a fungus, and the presence of this blackish, sticky substance on foliage and branches is usually the first indication of the pest. The adult is about one-tenth inch long, with four membranous wings, the body dark in color and showing brownish-black markings. Seen through a hand lens, the mature insects look like tiny cicadas. The adults hibernate in crevices of the bark, and at the time buds are swelling in the spring come out to lay their eggs. The eggs hatch in two or three weeks, and there may be four or five broods in a season. The pest is best controlled by spraying with such contact insecticides as tobacco extract both to kill the hibernating insects and later the immature psylla. The winter strength of lime-sulphur solution will kill the eggs.
The apple-worm, the larva of the codling moth (Carpocapsa pomonella Linnaeus), destroys great quantities of pears year in and year out in New York, causing greater monetary loss to pear-growers than any other insect pest. The worm and its work scarcely need description—all know “wormy” apples and pears and the agent of the mischief. A pinkish-white, fleshy worm eats a cavity within the pear, usually through and around the core, and then eats its way out to the surface, after which it finds suitable shelter in a crevice of the bark and spins its cocoon. About the time apples blossom the larvae transform into small brown pupae, from which small moths emerge in two or three weeks. The moths are coppery-brown, small, with a wing expanse of about three-quarters inch, and very inconspicuous as they rest during the day on the bark of the pear-tree which they closely resemble; they fly only at dusk. The moth lays its eggs on leaves or the fruit itself and the young larvae immediately begin work on the nearest pear. Control consists in spraying with arsenate of lead. Two and sometimes three sprayings are necessary. The most important spraying is made just after the blossoms fall, while the calyx-cup is still open, so that the poison will lodge in the blossom-end of the upturned pear. Codling moth was once a most serious pest of the pear, but is now easily kept under control by seasonal applications of arsenate of lead.
The pear-slug (Caliroa cerasi Linnaeus), a generation ago, before spraying was common, did much damage to the pear in New York, but is now a negligible pest except in the orchards of the indifferent or slothful since it is easily controlled by spraying. The slugs are small, dark green shiny creatures which eat the surface of the leaves of pear, cherry, and plum. They devour the upper surface of the leaf leaving the veins and the tissues of the lower surface, which turn brown so that the infested tree has the aspect of having been scorched by fire. The slugs molt and finally lose their shiny coat and dirty green color, the full-grown larvae becoming clear yellow. The adult is one of the numerous saw-flys. Eggs are laid within the tissues of the leaves. There are two or three generations in a season. The slugs are most common in the hottest part of the summer or late in the summer. This pest is easily kept in check by applications of arsenate of lead.
The foliage of the pear, in common with that of the apple, is often seriously injured by a mite (Eriophyes pyri Pgst.) which burrows into the tissues of the leaves. The mites attack the young leaves causing reddish blisters which turn black. The blisters are thickened spots which are found to have a corky texture. The young fruits are sometimes attacked, in which case they are badly malformed. The mites are of microscopic size and can be seen only by the aid of a magnifying glass. They hibernate under the scales of the leaf-buds, and are thus ready to attack the young leaves as soon as they unfold, which they do by eating their way in from the under side and then by their work cause the characteristic swellings. As they mature, the mites come out and move to new places and start more colonies. In the autumn, they find their way to the maturing buds and go into winter quarters. An application of lime-sulphur solution at winter strength usually disposes of the mites; that put on for San Jose scale suffices for this pest also. Summer sprays do not reach the mites as they are then hidden within the leaves. The pest was once a serious menace to the pear, but with the advent of winter spraying has become of small importance.
Of the numerous other insects which occasionally become serious pests of the pear, at least twenty have been troublesome at one time or another in New York. Space does not permit a description of these minor pests—they are named as a matter of record. It is not necessary to give remedies for them, as all are controlled by the treatment of major pests which in most orchards need annual applications of one spray or another.
Several scale insects, other than San Jose scale, are more or less pestiferous in the pear-orchards of this State; commonest of these is the oyster-shell, which not infrequently does serious damage to young and unhealthy trees. The scurfy scale found chiefly on the apple sometimes becomes a pest on the pear. A hemispherical scale, about one-twelfth of an inch in length, known as the terrapin scale, now and then infests the pear, but is seldom if ever harmful. As a rule, the treatment for San Jose scale keeps all other scales in check, but all are more difficult to kill than the San Jose and in cases of troublesome infestations may require drastic treatment with a contact insecticide.
A great number of chewing insects, as distinguished from sucking insects, defoliate the pear when given an opportunity, but are kept in check by the treatment for codling moth. The much-dreaded browntail moth and gypsy moth now have a foothold in the State, but as yet can hardly be called pests although their advent threatens the pear industry as it does all other orchard industries. The bud-moth, seldom seen in well-cared-for orchards, is sometimes a vexatious visitor in pear-orchards. Three species of caterpillars, all most striking in appearance, the larval stages of tussock moths, infest pear-trees. These are the white-marked tussock moth, the rusty tussock moth, and the definite-marked tussock moth.
The pear-tree has its share of borers. A small, dark brown beetle, about one-third of an inch in length, the apple twig-borer, sometimes does considerable damage to young shoots of the pear. The flat-headed apple-tree borer works in the sap wood of the pear as in the apple. The shot-hole borer, a tiny insect, eats a small round hole in the trunk of the pear, as it does also in several fruits, but does little damage except in devitalized trees. The shot-borer, a tiny black beetle, one-tenth of an inch long, bores into twigs or small branches and sooner or later causes their death. None of these borers are very harmful on the pear in New York, but all must be reckoned with occasionally. All are difficult to control.
The pear thrips attack the newly opening flower- and leaf-buds and when the insect, a small winged creature with sucking mouth-parts, is abundant much damage is done. This pest in New York is chiefly confined to the Hudson River Valley. The European grain aphis, closely related to the destructive apple aphis, is sometimes a serious pest on pears. Both of these pests are comparatively easily controlled by timely applications of contact insecticides.
Lastly, there are several chewing insects which feed on the leaves of the pear, which, unless checked, sometimes become major pests for a season or two in an orchard here and there. All of them, fortunately, are controlled by the arsenical poisons which are necessary to keep the codling moth down. The pests are: Cigar case-bearer, green fruit worm, pistol case-bearer, and oblique-banded leaf-roller. With these, as with most of the other pests of the pear, cultivation to keep down all foreign vegetation, and orchard sanitation, consisting chiefly of the destruction of infested fruit, foliage, or wood, are essential preventives.
CHAPTER IV
LEADING VARIETIES OF PEARS
ANDRÉ DESPORTES
1. Leroy Dict. Pom. 1:127, fig. 1867. 2. Mas Pom. Gen. 3:51, fig. 122. 1878. 3. Cat. Cong. Pom. France 138, fig. 1906.
This old French sort is sparingly grown in New York, and is still listed by a few American nurserymen. The pears are handsome and very good in quality, but they quickly soften at the center and neither keep nor ship well. While usually of medium size, or sometimes large, the pears often run small. The variety is well worth planting in a collection, but has no value in a commercial plantation, and there are many better sorts for home orchards.
The parent tree of this variety grew in the seed beds of M. André Leroy, the well-known authority on pomology, at Angers, France. M. Leroy obtained it in 1854 from pips of Williams’ Bon Chrétien, or as it is better known here, the Bartlett pear. He named it after the son of M. Baptiste Desportes, manager of the business department of his establishment. The vigor and high quality of the fruit were quickly appreciated, and the variety was soon disseminated far and wide.
Tree characteristically upright and vigorous, rapid-growing, hardy, productive; branches slender, smooth, light brown overlaid with thin, grayish scarf-skin, marked with small lenticels; branchlets thick, long, with short internodes, reddish-brown, slightly streaked toward the tips with ash-gray scarf-skin, dull, smooth, glabrous, with numerous small, but very conspicuous, raised lenticels.
Leaf-buds large, pointed, plump, appressed. Leaves 2¾ in. long, 1⅝ in. wide, ovate, stiff, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin glandular, slightly crenate; petiole 1½ in. long. Flower-buds large, long, conical, plump, free, arranged singly as lateral buds or on short spurs; flowers showy, 1¼ in. across, occasionally tinged pink, in dense clusters, averaging 9 flowers per cluster; pedicels ¾ in. long, thick, pubescent.
Fruit ripe in August; medium in size, 2⅞ in. long, 2¼ in. wide, obovate-obtuse-pyriform, symmetrical, uniform; stem 1 in. long, thick, curved; cavity obtuse, shallow, dotted with russet, often lipped; calyx small, open; lobes separated at the base, short, narrow, acute; basin shallow, narrow, obtuse, gently furrowed, symmetrical; skin thin, tender, smooth; color dull greenish-yellow, dotted and marbled with reddish-brown, blushed on the sunny side; dots numerous, small, light colored, obscure; flesh tinged with yellow, fine, tender and melting, buttery, juicy, sweet, aromatic; quality very good. Core large, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds small, wide, plump, acute.
ANSAULT
1. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 36. 1883. 2. Can. Hort. 24:454, fig. 2169. 1901.
Bonne du Puits-Ansault. 3. Leroy Dict. Pom. 1:486, fig. 1867. 4. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 1st App. 123, fig. 1872. 5. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 34. 1877.
Well grown, the fruits of Ansault rival those of Seckel in quality. In particular, the flesh is notable, and is described by the term buttery, so common in pear parlance, rather better than that of any other pear. The rich sweet flavor, and distinct but delicate perfume contribute to make the fruits of highest quality. Unfortunately, the pears are not very attractive in appearance. They are small, and the green coat, nearly covered with russet dots and markings, is dull, though enlivened somewhat at full maturity by a rich yellow. The tree in good pear soils is vigorous, productive, bears annually, and is not more subject to blight than that of the average variety. While not at all suitable for commercial orchards, Ansault should find a place in every collection of pears for home use.
The pear Bonne du Puits-Ansault was raised from seed in the nurseries of M. André Leroy, Angers, France. The parent tree bore fruit in 1863, and M. Leroy states that the name which it bears is that of the enclosure where it was first raised. It was propagated in 1865. The American Pomological Society first listed this variety in its catalog in 1877, and in 1883 shortened the name to its present form.
Tree large, upright-spreading, hardy, very productive; trunk stocky, shaggy; branches thick, dull brownish-red, tinged with green and heavily covered with greenish scarf-skin, with numerous raised lenticels; branchlets long, reddish-brown, with traces of gray scarf-skin, smooth, glabrous, with few inconspicuous, small, slightly raised lenticels.
Leaf-buds plump, pointed, nearly free. Leaf-scars prominent. Leaves numerous, 2¾ in. long, 1½ in. wide, ovate or broadly oval, leathery; apex abruptly pointed; margin finely serrate, with small, reddish, sharp-pointed glands; petiole 1½ in. long, slender, glabrous. Fruit-buds large, conical, plump, free; flowers 1⅛ in. across, in dense clusters, 7 to 9 flowers in a cluster; pedicels ⅝ in. long, thick, greenish, lightly pubescent.
Fruit ripe in late September and early October; medium in size, 2⅜ in. long, 2⅛ in. wide, uniform, obtuse-obovate-pyriform, irregular; stem ⅝ in. long, short, thick; cavity obtuse, russeted, furrowed, ribbed; calyx partly open, large; lobes acute; basin somewhat abrupt, furrowed and wrinkled; skin roughened with russet markings and dots; color pale yellow, considerably russeted about the basin and cavity with russet dots, with scattered flecks and patches of russet; dots numerous, small, russet; flesh tinged with yellow, granular at the center, melting and tender, buttery, very juicy, sweet, aromatic; quality good to very good. Core closed, axile, the core-lines clasping; calyx-tube long, narrow, funnel-shaped; seeds rather short, plump, obtuse.
BARTLETT
1. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 334, fig. 134. 1845. 2. Horticulturist 2:169. 1847-48. 3. Proc. Nat. Con. Fr. Gr. 29. 1848. 4. Hovey Fr. Am. 2:11, Pl. 1851. 5. Horticulturist N. S. 3:350, Pl. 1853. 6. Field Pear Cult. 190, 276, fig. 66. 1858. 7. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 666, fig. 1869. 8. Ont. Dept. Agr. Fr. Ont. 148, fig. 1914.
Williams’ Bon Chrétien. 9. Lindley Guide Orch. Gard. 350. 1831. 10. Prince Pom. Man. 1:137. 1831. 11. Hogg Fruit Man. 664. 1884.
Williams’ Apothekerbirne. 12. Dochnahl Führ. Obstkunde 2:181. 1856.
Bon Chrétien Williams’. 13. Pom. France 1: No. 16, Pl. 16. 1863. 14. Mas Le Verger 2:23, fig. 10. 1866-73.
Williams. 15. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:758, fig. 1869.
Williams Christbirne. 16. Lauche Deut. Pom. II: No. 18, Pl. 18. 1882. 17. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 298. 1889.
Bartlett leads all other pears in number of trees in New York, and vies with Kieffer for the greatest number in America. Its fruits are more common and more popular in American markets than those of any other pear. When the characters of the variety are passed in review, although several poor ones of fruit and tree appear, the popularity of Bartlett with growers and sellers, if not with consumers, seems justified. As with the leading variety of any fruit, the preëminently meritorious character of this one is its great adaptability to different climates, soils, and situations. Thus, Bartlett is grown with profit in every pear-growing region in America and in all is grown in greater quantities than any other sort excepting, perhaps, the notorious Kieffer. Another character which commends this variety to pear-growers is fruitfulness—barring frosts or freezes, the trees bear full crops year after year. Moreover, the trees are very vigorous, attain large size, bear young, live long, are easily managed in the orchard, and thrive on both standard and quince stocks. The pears are large, handsome, of good but not of the best quality, and keep and ship remarkably well.
Bartlett is not without serious faults, however. The trees blight badly, and are not much above the average in resistance to blight, the black plague of the pear. Neither are they as hardy to cold or to heat as those of some other varieties. They are scarcely hardier to cold than those of the peach, and cannot withstand the summer heat of the southern, or of the Mississippi Valley states. Another serious defect of the trees is that, more than those of any other standard variety, their blossoms require cross-fertilization. The fruits are satisfactory in all characters excepting quality. There are many better-flavored pears. The fruits lack the rich, perfumed flavor of Seckel on one hand, and the piquant, vinous taste of Winter Nelis on the other. But the pears are much above the average in quality, and since no other variety is so easily grown, nor so reliable in the markets, Bartlett promises long to continue its supremacy for home and commercial plantations. After Kieffer, it is the most desired of all pears by the canning trade. Bartlett is the parent of several other well-known varieties, and of many sorts of small importance.
This pear was found as a wilding by a Mr. Stair, a schoolmaster at Aldermaston, Berkshire, England. From him it was acquired by a Mr. Williams, a nurseryman at Turnham Green, Middlesex, and as it was propagated and distributed by him it became known by his name, although it is still known as Stair’s pear at Aldermaston. It was brought to this country in 1797 or 1799 by James Carter of Boston for Thomas Brewer who planted the variety in his grounds at Roxbury, Massachusetts, under the name of Williams’ Bon Chrétien, by which name it was then and still is known both in England and France. In 1817 Enoch Bartlett, Dorchester, Massachusetts, became possessed of the Brewer estate, and not knowing its true name allowed the pear to go out under his own. Henceforth it was known in America as Bartlett. The American Pomological Society added this variety to its catalog-list of fruits in 1848.
Tree medium in size, tall, pyriform, upright, hardy, very productive; branches stocky, smooth, reddish-brown overlaid with ash-gray scarf-skin, with few lenticels; branchlets short, with short internodes, reddish-brown, glossy, smooth, glabrous, with conspicuous lenticles.
Leaf-buds short, obtuse, pointed, mostly free; leaf-scars prominent. Leaves 2¾ in. long, 1⅖ in. wide, oval, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin tipped with small dark red glands, finely serrate; petiole 1¾ in. long. Flower-buds large, conical, pointed, free; flowers showy, 1¼ in. across, in dense clusters averaging 7 buds in a cluster; pedicels 1⅛ in. long, slender, slightly pubescent.
Fruit matures in September; large, 3⅜ in. long, 2⅜ in. wide, oblong-obtuse-pyriform, tapering toward the apex, symmetrical, uniform; stem 1⅛ in. long, often curved, thick; cavity small, usually lipped, with thin, overspreading streaks of light russet, acute, shallow; calyx partly open; lobes separated at the base, narrow, acute; basin very shallow, narrow, obtuse, furrowed and wrinkled; skin thin, tender, smooth, often dull, the surface somewhat uneven; color clear yellow, with a faint blush on the exposed cheek, more or less dotted with russet and often thinly russeted around the basin; dots many, small, conspicuous, greenish-russet; flesh fine-grained although slightly granular at the center, melting, buttery, very juicy, vinous, aromatic; quality very good. Core large, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube long, wide, funnel-shaped; seeds wide, plump, acute.
BELLE LUCRATIVE
1. Lindley Guide Orch. Gard. 364. 1831. 2. Kenrick Am. Orch. 135. 1841. 3. Hovey Fr. Am. 1:41, Pl. 1851. 4. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 53. 1852. 5. Field Pear Cult. 194, fig. 68. 1858.
Fondante d’Automne. 6. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 387, fig. 168. 1845. 7. Hogg Fruit Man. 578. 1884.
Seigneur. 8. Ann. Pom. Belge 7:5, Pl. 1859. 9. Pom. France 1: No. 28, Pl. 28. 1863. 10. Mas Le Verger 3: Pt. 1, 21, fig. 9. 1866-73.
Bergamote Lucrative. 11. Leroy Dict. Pom. 1:247, figs. 1867.
Seigneur d’Espéren. 12. Guide Prat. 59, 303. 1876.
Esperen’s Herrenbirne. 13. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 212. 1889. 14. Gaucher Pom. Prak. Obst. No. 37, Pl. 85. 1894.
Lucrative. 15. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 36. 1889.
This good old pear has been a standard autumn sort for nearly a century. The internal characters of both flesh and flavor are nearly perfect, but externally much more might be desired as to shape and size. In flesh and flavor, the fruits are of the Bergamot type—fine-grained, buttery, juicy, and sugary, with a musky taste and perfume. The fruits are not as large as is desirable, and are variable in shape and color, external defects which a rather handsome color offsets in part. The trees are more satisfactory than the fruits. They bear enormously and almost annually on either standard or dwarfing stocks; they are very vigorous, with a somewhat distinct upright-spreading habit of growth; are hardier than the average variety of this fruit; and are rather more resistant to blight than the average variety. The fruits are too small for a good commercial product, but their delectable flavor and luscious flesh make them as desirable as any other pear for home use; besides which the trees grow so well, and are so easily managed that the variety becomes one of the very best for the home planter.
Belle Lucrative is of Flemish origin. In 1831 it was growing in the London Horticultural Society’s gardens at Chiswick, and was then described by Lindley as “another of the new Flemish pears.” It had been taken to England by a Mr. Braddick who received the cions from M. Stoffels of Mechlin. By some writers it is considered probable that it originated with M. Stoffels, but the leading Belgian and French writers say that it was raised by Major Espéren, also of Mechlin, about 1827. In this country it first fruited in the Pomological Garden of Robert Manning, Salem, Massachusetts, in 1835 or 1836. The American Pomological Society added the variety to its fruit catalog-list in 1852 under the name Belle Lucrative.
Tree medium in size, vigorous, upright-spreading, dense-topped, rapid-growing, hardy, productive; branches smooth, grayish-brown mingled with red, covered with scarf-skin, with numerous elongated lenticels; branchlets slender, short, light brown, glossy, smooth, glabrous, with few small, inconspicuous lenticels.
Leaf-buds small, short, conical, pointed, plump, appressed. Leaves 3 in. long, 1½ in. wide, stiff; apex abruptly pointed; margin finely serrate, tipped with very small, sharp glands; petiole 2 in. long. Flower-buds conical, pointed, plump, free, singly on very short spurs; flowers with an unpleasant odor, showy, 1½ in. across, average 7 buds in a cluster; pedicels 11⁄16 in. long, thick, thinly pubescent.
Fruit ripe in late September and October; medium in size, 2⅜ in. long, 2¼ in. wide, obovate, conical, with sides unequal; stem 1⅛ in. long; cavity very shallow and narrow, or lacking, the flesh drawn up about the base of the stem; calyx open, large; lobes long, narrow, acuminate; basin shallow, obtuse, smooth; skin thin, tender, smooth; color dull greenish-yellow, thickly sprinkled with small, russet dots, often overspread with russet around the basin; dots numerous, small, russet, conspicuous; flesh tinged with yellow, firm, fine-grained, crisp, buttery, juicy, sweet; quality very good. Core closed, abaxile; calyx-tube long, narrow, funnel-shaped; seeds narrow, plump, acute.
BEURRÉ D’ANJOU
1. Kenrick Am. Orch. 136. 1841. 2. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 360. 1845. 3. Hovey Fr. Am. 1:61, Pl. 1851. 4. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 53. 1852. 5. Flor. & Pom. 5:1, Pl. 1866. 6. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 679, fig. 1869. 7. Hogg Fruit Man. 510. 1884.
Anjou. 8. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 36. 1883.
Winter Meuris. 9. Lucas Tafelbirnen 171, fig. 1894.
Nec plus Meuris. 10. Baltet Cult. Fr. 321, fig. 214. 1908. 11. Guide Prat. 49, 282. 1895.
Beurré d’Anjou is a standard market pear for late fall and early winter, its season lasting until well into January even in common storage. As an early winter pear, it has no superior and few equals in appearance and quality of fruit. In appearance, the pear is of distinct type—large, very uniform, the sides slightly unequal, smooth of skin, yellow, marked and dotted with russet, faintly blushed, and borne on a very short, thick stem. A fruit of this variety can never be mistaken for that of another. The internal characters are scarcely less notable than the external ones. The yellowish-white flesh is firm but tender, slightly granular, very juicy, sweet, spicy, with a rich, vinous flavor. Uniformity of shape and the smooth skin are marked and constant characters. In common with all varieties, the fruits of this pear are not always up to their best, but they are never poor in quality. The trees are vigorous, hardy, fairly free from blight, grow rapidly and come in bearing early, but have the serious fault of being uncertain croppers. In Europe and America, the trees thrive on the quince, and the variety is rated by all as a splendid one for dwarfing. Of all winter pears, none is more valuable for commercial or home orchards than Beurré d’Anjou. In particular, it is recommended for New York, where, possibly, it is more at home than in any other part of America.
Beurré d’Anjou is an old French pear the origin of which is obscure, although it is supposed to have originated in the vicinity of Angers. Early in the nineteenth century it was introduced into England by Thomas Rivers, noted author and pomologist. The variety was introduced into this country by Colonel Wilder[25] of Boston about 1842, and first fruited with him in 1845. The American Pomological Society added Beurré d’Anjou to its list of fruits recommended for general cultivation in 1852.
Tree large, vigorous, spreading, hardy, an uncertain bearer; trunk smooth; branches slightly zigzag, covered with gray scarf-skin over reddish-brown, with few small lenticels; branchlets long, with long internodes, reddish-brown tinged with green, smooth, glabrous, with many conspicuous, raised lenticels.
Leaf-buds small, short, obtuse, nearly free. Leaves 3½ in. long, 1½ in. wide, elongated-oval, thin, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin nearly entire or crenate; petiole 2 in. long. Flower-buds large, long, conical, plump, free; flowers 1⅜ in. across, showy, in dense clusters, from 8 to 12 buds in a cluster; pedicels ½ in. long, very thick, pubescent, green.
Fruit ripe November to early January; large, 3½ in. long, 3 in. wide, uniform in size, oblong-obovate-pyriform, with surface irregular in outline, sides slightly unequal, uniform in shape; stem ½ in. long, short, very thick and woody; cavity obtuse, shallow, russeted and furrowed, usually lipped; calyx open; lobes separated at the base, long, narrow, acuminate; basin shallow, narrow, obtuse, smooth, symmetrical and regular; skin thin, tender, smooth, dull; color yellow, clouded with russet around the basin and occasionally with very fine russet lines and markings; dots many, small, russet, conspicuous; flesh yellowish-white, firm, but slightly granular, tender, buttery, very juicy, sweet and spicy, with a rich, aromatic flavor; quality very good. Core large, closed; core-lines clasping; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds large, wide, long, plump, acuminate, tufted at the tips.
BEURRÉ D’ARENBERG[26]
1. Trans. Lond. Hort. Soc. 5:406. 1824. 2. Lindley Guide Orch. Gard. 392. 1831. 3. Prince Pom. Man. 1:51. 1831. 4. Kenrick Am. Orch. 188. 1832. 5. Ibid. 156. 1841. 6. Gard. Chron. 716, fig. 2. 1844. 7. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 423, fig. 195. 1845. 8. Proc. Nat. Con. Fr. Gr. 51. 1848. 9. Hovey Fr. Am. 1:1, Pl. 1851. 10. Mass. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 93, Pl. 1852. 11. Mas Le Verger 1:161, fig. 79. 1866-73. 12. Hogg Fruit Man. 510. 1884.
Orpheline d’Enghien. 13. Ann. Pom. Belge 3:35, Pl. 1855. 14. Guide Prat. 108, 292. 1876.
In favorable locations this pear seems to possess all of the characters which constitute a first-class fruit; but, notwithstanding, although it has been in the country nearly a century, it is now scarcely to be found in the nurseries, and orchard trees are becoming rare. The fruits are distinguished by their refreshing, vinous taste and long-keeping qualities. Very often, however, they do not ripen in eastern America, and when not properly ripened the pears are highly acidulous and so astringent as to be almost intolerable to the taste. The frequency with which these poor fruits are borne, always on heavy, cold clays and in cold climates, coupled with rather small, short-lived trees, condemn the variety for most pear regions in the East. In the far West, the crop ripens better, and the pears are splendid winter fruits. The merits of the variety are so varying in New York that it is not now worth while attempting to bring it into new life.
Beurré d’Arenberg, in the opinion of some European writers, holds first place among the pears produced by French and Belgian pomologists. Unfortunately, Beurré d’Arenberg and Glou Morceau are often mistaken the one for the other. Beurré d’Arenberg was raised by Monseigneur Deschamps, Abbé of the Orphan Hospital, Enghien, Belgium. At about the same time, M. Noisette, a nurseryman of Paris, sent out Glou Morceau, which he had procured from the gardens of the Duc d’Arenberg, under the name Beurré d’Arenberg, so that there were two distinct varieties in cultivation under the same name. The true Beurré d’Arenberg of the Abbé Deschamps came to this country about 1827, having been sent over by Thomas Andrew Knight, President of the London Horticultural Society, to the Hon. John Lowell of Boston. The American Pomological Society recommended this variety for cultivation in 1848, but in 1871 the name disappeared from the Society’s catalog.
[25] Marshall P. Wilder contributed to all fields of American horticulture as an ardent amateur grower and as a most generous patron. But it was as a pomologist and especially as a grower of grapes and pears that he established a permanent place for himself in the horticulture of the country. He was born in New Hampshire in 1798 and died in Boston in 1886, having lived in Dorchester, a suburb of Boston, for upwards of a half century. By vocation a merchant, he was a captain of industry in his day, yet most of his life, especially after the prime had been passed, was devoted to the avocation of horticulture. He was one of the founders of the American Pomological Society and had the great honor of being its president, excepting a single two-year term, from the first meeting in 1850 until his death. During the last years of his presidency, Wilder actively engaged in the reform of pomological nomenclature which the Society was then carrying on. He was an active member of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society for fifty-six years and its president from 1841 to 1848. He was also one of the founders of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, of the Massachusetts Agricultural Society, of the United States Agricultural Society, and was a trustee of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Besides membership and activity in these agricultural organizations, he served as colonel and commander in a military company and as president of the New England Historic and Genealogical Society from 1868 until his death. Wilder was a zealous collector and introducer of flowers. He specialized in camellias, azaleas, orchids, and roses. A rose bearing his name is still a garden favorite. Many floral novelties of his day owe their origin or introduction to Marshall P. Wilder. He was ever enthusiastic over American grapes and tested all of the many new varieties introduced about the middle of the last century. But the pear was even more to his fancy than the grape, and he endeavored to grow every native variety of any promise whatsoever. All told, he tested over 1200 varieties, and in 1873 exhibited more than 400 varieties. He originated several new pears and to him is due the honor of having introduced the Beurre d’Anjou in 1844. At his death he left the American Pomological Society $1000 for Wilder medals for new fruits and $4000 for general purposes. To the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, he left $1000 to encourage the introduction of new American pears and grapes. Among many distinguished American pomologists who sought to improve the pear, Marshall P. Wilder deserves most of any recognition for his services and a place is therefore accorded him for his likeness in the frontispiece of The Pears of New York and the book is thereby dedicated to him.
[26] The name is spelled by many writers Beurré d’Aremberg.
Tree medium in size and vigor, upright, very hardy and very productive; trunk and branches medium in thickness and smoothness; branchlets slender, short, light brown mingled with green, smooth, glabrous, with numerous, small, raised lenticels. Leaf-buds small, short, plump, free; leaf-scars with prominent shoulders. Leaves 3 in. long; 1⅜ in. wide; apex taper-pointed; margin glandless, finely serrate; petiole 1⅞ in. long. Flower-buds small, short, sharply pointed, free, singly on short spurs.
Fruit ripe December to January; large, obovate-pyriform, ribbed; stem 1 in. long, thick, fleshy at the base, obliquely inserted; cavity lacking, drawn up in an oblique lip about the stem; calyx small, closed; lobes short, sometimes lacking; basin deep, smooth; skin roughish, thick, uneven; color yellow, with patches and tracings of russet especially around the calyx end; dots numerous, cinnamon-russet; flesh white, very juicy, melting, vinous or acidulous; quality very good. Core large; seeds large, roundish, plump.
BEURRÉ BOSC
1. Kenrick Am. Orch. 161. 1832. 2. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 358, fig. 152. 1845. 3. Proc. Nat. Cong. Fr. Gr. 29, 51. 1848. 4. Hovey Fr. Am. 1:65, Pl. 1851. 5. Ann. Pom. Belge 5:79, Pl. 1857. 6. Leroy Dict. Pom. 1:320, fig. 1867. 7. Hogg Fruit Man. 514. 1884.
Bosc’s Butterbirne. 8. Dochnahl Führ. Obstkunde 2:100. 1856.
Beurré d’Apremont. 9. Pom. France 1: No. 26, Pl. 26. 1863. 10. Mas Le Verger 3: Pt. 2, 65, fig. 129. 1866-73. 11. Guide Prat. 48, 230. 1895.
Bosc. 12. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 36. 1883.
Bosc’s Flaschenbirne. 13. Lauche Deut. Pom. II: No. 75, Pl. 75. 1883. 14. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 188. 1889. 15. Deut. Obstsorten 2: Pt. 5, Pl. 1906.
The fruits of Beurré Bosc merit unqualified praise. They are nearly flawless in every character. The pears at once receive approbation from all who see them by virtue of their uniquely beautiful color and shape, in which characters they are wholly unlike any other pear. The shape is pyriform, with a very long, tapering neck, perfectly symmetrical and unequalled in trimness of contour. The color is a dark rich yellow overspread with cinnamon-russet, with here and there a spot of the yellow ground color visible. The quality is rated by all as “very good” or “best;” the Seckel alone surpasses it as a dessert fruit in the estimation of most pear fanciers. The flesh, while slightly granular, is tender and melting or almost buttery, very juicy, with a rich piquant flavor and a pleasing aroma. The fruits seldom crack, scab, or mildew. The characters of the tree fall far short of those of the fruits. Nurserymen complain that it is difficult to propagate the trees as they make a poor growth in the nursery and come to transplanting age with a root system of two or three prongs almost devoid of fibrous roots. The trees must be humored in soil and climate, and under favorable conditions make but moderate growth as young plants. Established trees in suitable soils, however, surpass most of their neighbors in size and luxuriance of foliage. Very old trees have a nobility of aspect possessed by few other pears. While slow in coming in bearing, after fruiting begins the trees bear regularly and abundantly. The variety does not succeed well on the quince unless double-worked. Unfortunately, the trees are tender to cold and somewhat too susceptible to blight. Beurré Bosc has long been a favorite in the pear regions of Europe and America, and its culture in this country may be recommended for the home, for local and general markets, and for exportation.
This pear is a native of Belgium, having been raised from seed in 1807 by Dr. Van Mons, the renowned pomologist of Louvain, and was in the first instance named by him Calebasse Bosc in honor of M. Bosc, a distinguished French naturalist. In 1820, it was received at the garden of the Horticultural Society of London under the name Beurré Bosc, and Robert Thompson, at that time Director of the gardens, thought it best to retain this name. The variety was early introduced into France. About 1832 or 1833, Robert Manning and William Kenrick received cions in the United States from Van Mons and from the London Horticultural Society. The variety was cataloged by the American Pomological Society at its first meeting in 1848.
Tree medium in size, vigorous, upright-spreading, hardy, productive, not an early bearer; trunk stocky; branches smooth, brownish, covered with ash-gray scarf-skin, with large lenticels; branchlets brownish, tinged with gray, glossy, smooth, nearly glabrous, with slightly raised, conspicuous lenticels.
Leaf-buds obtuse, pointed, appressed; leaf-scars prominent. Leaves 3 in. long, 1⅞ in. wide, ovate, thick, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin finely crenate; petiole 1¼ in. long. Flower-buds large, conical, pointed, free; flowers open early, 1½ in. across, showy, in dense clusters, from 10 to 20 buds in a cluster; pedicels 1 in. long, slightly pubescent, light green.
Fruit ripe in late October and November; large, 3⅜ in. long, 2¾ in. wide, uniform in size, acute-obovate-pyriform, with a very long, tapering neck, uniform in shape and very symmetrical; stem 1½ in. long, curved; cavity very obtuse or lacking, occasionally very shallow and narrow, wrinkled, russeted, with a fleshy ring folded up around the stem, slightly lipped; calyx open, small; lobes short, broad, obtuse; basin very shallow, narrow, obtuse, smooth, symmetrical; skin slightly granular, tender, roughened by russet, dull; color dark yellow, overspread with thick, dark russet, laid on in streaks and patches, with a cheek of solid russet; dots small, light russet, obscure; flesh yellowish-white, slightly granular, tender and melting, buttery, very juicy, with a rich, delicious, aromatic flavor; quality very good to best. Core large, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds wide, short, plump, obtuse.
BEURRÉ CLAIRGEAU
1. Hovey Fr. Am. 2:73, Pl. 1851. 2. Ann. Pom. Belge 2:103, Pl. 1854. 3. Gard. Chron. 805. 1854. 4. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 337. 1860. 5. Pom. France 1: No. 11, Pl. 11. 1863. 6. Mas Le Verger 1:39, fig. 26. 1866-73. 7. Jour. Hort. N. S. 12:211. 1867. 8. Leroy Dict. Pom. 1:335, fig. 1867. 9. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 678. 1869. 10. Gard. Chron. 1271. 1873. 11. Hogg Fruit Man. 517. 1884.
Clairgeau’s Butterbirne. 12. Dochnahl Führ. Obstkunde 2:127. 1856. 13. Lauche Deut. Pom. II: No. 7, Pl. 7. 1882. 14. Deut. Obstsorten 3: Pt. 9, Pl. 1907.
Clairgeau. 15. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 36. 1883.
Beurré Clairgeau is one of the mainstays in American pear-growing, and is an especially valuable variety in New York. It maintains its place among standard varieties chiefly because of splendid tree-characters, as the fruits, while handsome, are not of the best quality. The tree is second only to that of Buffum in vigor, health, and productiveness, and is nearly as handsome as an ornamental. It does equally well on quince or pear stock, although the Europeans maintain that the product is better on the dwarfing stock. On either stock, the trees bear young and annually. The fruits are large, smooth, symmetrical, and uniform in shape, with a handsome ground color of rich yellow at maturity and a bright crimson cheek. But here praises end, for the “deceptive cheek of the Clairgeau” is proverbial in pear-growing, the handsome coat covering rather coarse, granular flesh which is sometimes very good but more often commonplace. The core is very large, and the flesh surrounding it often rots or softens prematurely. The fruit is more suitable for cookery than dessert. The pears are heavy and often drop before maturity, and the trees should not be set in wind-swept situations. Despite these demerits of the fruits, the variety is well worth planting in commercial orchards for late markets.
The original tree of Beurré Clairgeau appears to have grown by chance about 1830 with Pierre Clairgeau, Nantes, France. M. Clairgeau’s first account of it was given in 1848 when he exhibited fruit. The reputation of the variety seems to have been at once established, for J. de Jonghe and others combined and purchased the stock of about 300 trees grafted on quince. Together with the parent tree, these were the same year removed to Brussels, and in 1852 the pear was placed on the market. Thus it happened that a French pear was first distributed by Belgian growers. The variety was introduced in America about 1854. The American Pomological Society placed it upon its list of recommended fruits in 1860.
Tree medium in size, vigorous, unusually upright, dense, slow-growing, hardy, productive, a regular bearer; trunk slender, shaggy; branches smooth, slightly zigzag, ashgray almost completely overspreading reddish-brown, with many lenticels; branchlets thick, short, with short internodes, greenish-brown, smooth, glabrous, with slightly raised lenticels.
Leaf-buds conical, pointed, appressed; leaves very numerous, 3 in. long, 2 in. wide, broadly oval, leathery; apex abruptly pointed; margin glandless, finely serrate; petiole 2 in. long, glabrous; stipules rudimentary or lacking. Flower-buds medium to long, conical, pointed; flowers 1½ in. across, showy, in dense clusters, averaging 7 buds to a cluster; pedicels ⅝ in. long, thick, pubescent, greenish.
Fruit in season, late October and November; large, 3⅝ in. long, 2⅝ in. wide, uniform in size, roundish-acute-pyriform, with a long, tapering neck, symmetrical, uniform in shape; stem ½ in. long, short, very thick and fleshy; cavity obtuse, very shallow and narrow, fleshy around the base of the stem, russeted, lipped; calyx open, large; lobes separated at the base, long, broad, acute or acuminate; basin shallow, narrow, obtuse, furrowed, often compressed; skin thick and granular, tough, smooth, glossy; color yellow, with bright red blush; dots many, small, russet, conspicuous; flesh white, quite granular, firm at first but becoming at maturity tender and melting, buttery, very juicy, sweet, aromatic, with a rich, vinous flavor; quality variable, good to best. Core large, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds large, wide, long, plump, acute.
BEURRÉ DIEL
1. Pom. Mag. 1:19, Pl. 1828. 2. Ibid. 3:131, Pl. 1830. 3. Lindley Guide Orch. Gard. 392. 1831. 4. Kenrick Am. Orch. 189. 1832. 5. Ibid. 156. 1841. 6. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 360, fig. 153. 1845. 7. Gard. Chron. 856. 1845. 8. Hovey Fr. Am. 1:77, Pl. 1851. 9. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 231. 1854. 10. Pom. France 1: No. 7, Pl. 7. 1863. 11. Mas Le Verger 1:137, fig. 67. 1866-73. 12. Leroy Dict. Pom. 1:349, fig. 1867. 13. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 686, fig. 1869. 14. Hogg Fruit Man. 518. 1884. 15. Guide Prat. 234. 1895.
Diel’s Butterbirne. 16. Liegel Syst. Anleit. 110. 1825. 17. Lauche Deut. Pom. 11: No. 8, Pl. 8. 1882. 18. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 203. 1889.
Diel. 19. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 36. 1883.
The catalogs and text-books supply Beurré Diel with several virtues which Nature denies it as the variety grows in New York. As grown in the eastern United States, the pears are dull and unattractive even at maturity when the pale lemon color is brightest. When the tree is happily situated as to soil and care, the quality of its product is excellent, its fruits being delicious and ranking among the very best, but when illy suited to soil, climate or care, the flesh is coarse, the flavor insipid and astringent, bringing the quality down to second or third rate. The pears keep and ship well. The tree is hardy, uncommonly vigorous and fruitful, but very subject to blight; it is characterized by its long twisting branches which need to be pruned back heavily. The variety is still being planted, but there are better autumn pears.
This variety came from a chance seedling found near Brussels in 1805 by M. Meuris, head gardener for Dr. Van Mons. Being unnamed and of fine quality, Van Mons dedicated it to his German friend, Diel, one of the most distinguished German pomologists. Van Mons sent cions of the variety to the London Horticultural Society in 1817. In 1823, Thomas Andrew Knight sent cions to the Massachusetts Agricultural Society whence it became disseminated generally throughout the United States. The American Pomological Society placed this variety upon its fruit catalog-list in 1854.
Tree medium in size and vigor, spreading, open-topped, slow-growing, hardy, productive; trunk slender, smooth; branches slender, twisting, reddish-brown mingled with grayish scarf-skin, with few lenticels; branchlets with short internodes, dark reddish-brown, smooth, glabrous, with few small, raised lenticels.
Leaf-buds obtuse, free; leaf-scars prominent. Leaves 2¾ in. long, 1¾ in. wide, oval, thick, leathery; apex abruptly pointed; margin finely serrate; petiole 1½ in. long. Flower-buds large, long, conical, rather plump, free; flowers open early, nearly 1⅜ in. across, showy, in dense clusters, 7 or 8 buds in a cluster; pedicels 1⅛ in. long, pubescent, greenish.
Fruit ripe in November; large, 3 in. long, 2⅜ in. wide, uniform in size, obovate-obtuse-pyriform, often irregular and usually with sides unequal; stem 1¼ in. long, thick, curved; cavity obtuse, shallow, very narrow, russeted, furrowed and uneven, often lipped; calyx partly open, large; lobes separated at the base, broad, acute; basin shallow, obtuse, furrowed and uneven; skin very thick and granular, somewhat roughened by russet markings and by dots; color lemon-yellow, with a faint pinkish-red blush and markings and flecks of russet; dots many, russet, very conspicuous; flesh yellowish-white, firm, becoming tender and melting, quite granular around the core, very juicy, sweet, aromatic and rich; quality very good. Core large, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds large, wide, long, plump, often abortive, acute.
BEURRÉ GIFFARD
1. Gard. Chron. 69. 1848. 2. Mag. Hort. 18:433, fig. 30. 1852. 3. Ann. Pom. Belge 5:69, Pl. 1857. 4. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 231. 1858. 5. Pom. France 1: No. 1, Pl. 1. 1863. 6. Mas Le Verger 2:39, fig. 18. 1866-73. 7. Leroy Dict. Pom. 1:369, fig. 1867. 8. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 689. 1869. 9. Hogg Fruit Man. 521. 1884. 10. Soc. Nat. Hort. France Pom. 374, fig. 1904.
Giffard’s Butterbirne. 11. Oberdieck Obst-Sort. 255. 1881. 12. Lauche Deut. Pom. II: No. 57, Pl. 57. 1883.
Giffard. 13. Gard. Chron. 415. 1863. 14. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 38. 1883.
This is one of the few summer pears with a distinctly vinous flavor, which, with the crisp and tender flesh, makes it one of the most refreshing of summer fruits. The pears are larger than those of most other sorts of its season, somewhat like those of Beurré Clairgeau in shape and color, and ripen at a time—just before Clapp Favorite—when good pears should be in demand for home and market. The fruits keep well for summer pears, and are remarkable for their small cores. The trees, while in no way remarkable, are quite up to the average in all characters, and surpass most of their orchard associates in hardiness and fruitfulness. The variety is desirable for both home and commercial orchards.
This early summer pear was found as a chance seedling in 1825 by Nicolas Giffard, Foussières, France. In 1840, M. Millet, president of the Society of Horticulture of Maine-et-Loire, wrote the first description of it in the Bulletins of the Society. It was introduced in America about 1850, and in 1858 was added to the fruit catalog-list of the American Pomological Society.
Tree of medium size, vigorous, spreading, open-topped, hardy, productive; branches reddish-brown, nearly covered with gray scarf-skin, with long and narrow, large lenticels; branchlets slender, new growth willowy, long, reddish-brown, smooth, glabrous except near the tips of the new growth, with conspicuous, raised, round lenticels.
Leaf-buds small, short, pointed, appressed. Leaves 2¾ in. long, 1½ in. wide, stiff; apex taper-pointed; margin entire, sometimes slightly pubescent; petiole 2½ in. long, slender, reddish-green; stipules very long and slender. Flower-buds small, plump, free, singly on very short spurs; flowers showy, 1¼ in. across, in dense clusters, average 8 buds in a cluster; pedicels ¾ in. long, pubescent.
Fruit ripe in late August; variable in size, averages 3 in. long, 2⅜ in. wide, obovate-acute-pyriform; stem ¾ in. long; cavity lacking, the flesh closing up symmetrically around the stem except when drawn up in a lip; calyx open, small; lobes separated at the base, narrow, accuminate; basin shallow, narrow, obtuse, almost smooth, symmetrical; skin thin, tender, smooth; color dull greenish-yellow, with a dotted, dull red blush, often without blush; dots numerous, small, greenish and russet, very conspicuous; flesh tinged with yellow, granular at the center, melting, very juicy, vinous, highly aromatic; quality very good. Core small, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube narrow, funnel-shaped; seeds plump, acute.
BEURRÉ HARDY
1. Barry Fr. Garden 314. 1851. 2. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 466. 1857. 3. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 66. 1862. 4. Pom. France 2: No. 46, Pl. 46. 1864. 5. Mas Le Verger 3: Pt. 1, 11, fig. 4. 1866-73. 6. Leroy Dict. Pom. 1:379, fig. 1867. 7. Hogg Fruit Man. 521. 1884. 8. Soc. Nat. Hort. France Pom. 378, fig. 1904.
Hardy. 9. Gard. Chron. 463. 1863. 10. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 38. 1883.
Gellert’s Butterbirne. 11. Gaucher Pom. Prak. Obst. No. 38, Pl. 78. 1894.
Beurré Hardy is one of the good autumn pears. Both fruit and tree commend it. The fruits are usually large; are handsome in appearance; and the flesh and flavor are exceptionally fine. Thus, the flesh, while a little granular at the core, is melting, juicy, and richly aromatic,—as truly luscious as in any other pear. Unfortunately the fruits do not keep well, having a tendency to soften at the core as maturity advances. When poorly grown or not properly ripened, the pears are sometimes a little astringent, and there is always a smack of astringency. The trees, while not large, are vigorous, hardy, productive, and healthy except in being a little susceptible to blight. This is a favorite pear with nurserymen to bud or graft on the quince, Japanese pear stocks, or other stocks, since it makes a perfect union with any of those in common use. The tree is one of the best dwarfs, also, for its own crop. Wherever pears are grown, this is a good dessert sort, and in many regions it is a valuable fruit for commerce. Beurré Hardy does especially well in New York and in eastern United States.
This is a French pear raised about 1820 by M. Bonnet, Boulogne-sur-Mer, France. In 1830, it was acquired by M. Jean-Laurent Jamin, a nurseryman near Paris, who named it in honor of M. Hardy, Director and Professor of Arboriculture at the Garden of the Luxembourg. It was propagated, made known, and distributed by M. Jamin between 1840 and 1845. The American Pomological Society added Beurré Hardy to its list of recommended fruits in 1862.
Tree medium in size, vigorous, upright, dense-topped, hardy, productive; trunk stocky; branches smooth, dull brown overspread with gray, marked more or less with scarf-skin, with very numerous large, elongated lenticels; branchlets thick, greenish-brown, glossy, smooth, glabrous, with numerous small, raised, conspicuous lenticels.
Leaf-buds conical, pointed, plump, usually free; leaf-scars prominent. Leaves 2½ in. long, 2 in. wide, stiff; apex abruptly pointed; margin tipped with small glands, finely serrate; petiole 1½ in. long. Flower-buds small, short, conical, pointed, plump, free, singly or in small clusters on short spurs; flowers 1¼ in. across, well distributed, average 9 buds in a cluster; pedicels 1 in. long, pubescent, reddish-green.
Fruit in season, late September and early October; large, 3 in. long, 2¼ in. wide, uniform, obtuse-pyriform, with a rather long neck, symmetrical; stem ⅞ in. long, thick, slightly curved; cavity obtuse, very shallow and narrow, russeted, often uneven and gently furrowed, lipped; calyx large, open; lobes broad, acute; basin shallow, narrow, obtuse, gently furrowed; skin granular, tender, russet; color dull greenish-yellow, overspread with thin, brownish-russet, without blush; dots numerous, russet, small, very conspicuous; flesh granular, melting, buttery, very juicy, sweet, richly aromatic and somewhat vinous; quality very good to best. Core large, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds large, wide, long, plump, acute.
BEURRÉ DE JONGHE
1. Mag. Hort. 28:258. 1857. 2. Gard. Chron. 147, fig. 1866. 3. Mas Le Verger 1:73, fig. 43. 1866-73. 4. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 683. 1869. 5. Jour. Hort. N. S. 32:408. 1877. 6. Hogg Fruit Man. 522. 1884. 7. Guide Prat. 64, 232. 1895. 8. Garden 49:225. 1896.
De Jonghe’s Butterbirne. 9. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 201. 1889.
A prime requisite in any pear of best quality is that there be no disagreeable after-taste in the flesh. The fruits of almost none of the winter pears meet this requirement. Almost all have more or less astringency in the after-taste. But the fruits of this variety are wholly free from this astringency and are, moreover, so sweet and rich that they are nearly as delectable as those of Seckel, the standard of excellence in quality. The pears ripen at Geneva in January and may be kept for a month or six weeks at a season when there are few other sweet, rich pears, the fruits of nearly all other pears of this season being vinous and piquant. The trees are hardy and productive, but are slow in coming in bearing, rather small, and not at all self-assertive and must be coddled somewhat. They are reported by many to do better on quince than on pear stocks. The variety is desirable only for the amateur.
According to Mas, the French pomologist, M. de Jonghe mentioned this pear in a pamphlet on new varieties published in 1865. It was described in the Magazine of Horticulture in 1857 as a new variety. In Gardener’s Chronicle, 1866, M. de Jonghe said that he saw this pear first in 1852 at Uccle, Belgium. The seedling had been planted there two years before.
Tree medium in size and vigor, spreading, slow-growing, hardy, very productive; trunk slender, shaggy; branches reddish-brown overspread with thick scarf-skin; branchlets thick, curved, short, with very short internodes, smooth except for the raised, conspicuous lenticels. Leaf-buds small, short; leaf-scars with prominent shoulders. Leaves 2¾ in. long, 1½ in. wide, thick; apex abruptly pointed; margin glandular, finely serrate; petiole 1½ in. long, reddish-green. Flower-buds large, long, very plump, free; flowers 1¼ in. across, 7 or 8 buds in a cluster; pedicels ½ in. long, thick.
Fruit ripe December to January; medium in size, 3 in. long, 2¼ in. wide, obovate-obtuse-pyriform, very regular; stem short, thick, inserted obliquely; cavity very shallow or none, the flesh often drawn up in a lip on one side of the stem; calyx small, open; basin shallow; skin thin; color dull yellow, thickly overspread with a pale, brownish-russet, often with traces of a russet-red blush; dots numerous, small, dull russet; flesh nearly white, fine-grained, melting, buttery, pleasant flavored, aromatic, sweet; quality very good.
BEURRÉ SUPERFIN
1. Mag. Hort. 20:8, 135. 1854. 2. Horticulturist N. S. 5: 88. 1855. 3. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 465. 1857. 4. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 231. 1858. 5. Leroy Dict. Pom. 1:432, fig. 1867. 6. Hogg Fruit Man. 529. 1884.
Hochfeine Butterbirne. 7. Lauche Deut. Pom. II: No. 59, Pl. 59. 1883. 8. Gaucher Pom. Prak. Obst. No. 47, Pl. 60. 1894.
Superfin. 9. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 40. 1883.
Tender in skin and delicate in flesh, the product of this variety is not for the markets, but that of few other sorts so admirably supplies those who want choicely good fruits. The pears are not as attractive in appearance as might be wished, but are hardly surpassed in flavor in their season. The flesh is notable for juiciness, rich vinous flavor, and pleasant perfume. The trees are large, healthy even as regards blight, very productive, and are easily suited as to soils. The trees do not bear early, but are regular in bearing after this life event begins. In Europe, the variety is commonly and successfully grown as a dwarf, and the pear-growers of a generation ago in America recommend this variety as one of the good sorts to work on the quince. The variety is a valuable one for home orchards, especially in New York where it grows exceptionally well.
Beurré Superfin was raised from a bed of pear seeds made at Angers, France, by M. Goubault, a well-known pomologist, in 1837. The parent tree so produced bore fruit in 1844 and the Committee of the Horticultural Society of Maine-et-Loire was requested to report on its merits, which it did in that year, and M. Millet, president of the society, named it Beurré Superfin. It was introduced in America about 1850. The variety was placed on the fruit catalog-list of the American Pomological Society in 1858.
Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, dense-topped, hardy, very productive; trunk stocky, rough; branches thick, rough and shaggy, zigzag, dull brownish-red, overspread with gray scarf-skin, sprinkled with numerous elongated lenticels; branchlets slender, light brown, glossy, smooth, glabrous, with small, raised, inconspicuous lenticels.
Leaf-buds small, short, conical, pointed, plump, appressed or free; leaf-scars prominent. Leaves 3¼ in. long, 1⅞ in. wide, stiff; apex abruptly pointed; margin tipped with small glands, coarsely serrate; petiole 1¾ in. long. Flower-buds conical, pointed, plump, free, singly on short branches and short spurs.
Fruit matures in October; large, 3¼ in. long, 2¾ in. wide, roundish-oblate, with a short, thick, rounded neck, symmetrical; stem 1⅛ in. long, very thick, curved; cavity very shallow and narrow or lacking, the flesh tapering into the stem or wrinkled in a fleshy fold about the base of the stem, often lipped; calyx open; lobes separated at the base, broad, narrow; basin narrow, obtuse, gently furrowed, symmetrical; skin very granular, tender, smooth; color yellow, netted and streaked with light russet, often with a slight brownish-russet cheek; dots numerous, small, russet, conspicuous; flesh tinged with yellow, granular, melting, buttery, very juicy, sweet yet with a rich, brisk, vinous flavor, aromatic; quality very good. Core large, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds large, wide, long, plump, acute.
BLOODGOOD
1. Mag. Hort. 3:14. 1837. 2. Manning Book of Fruits 65. 1838. 3. Mag. Hort. 9:366, fig. 31. 1843. 4. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 332, fig. 132. 1845. 5. Proc. Nat. Con. Fr. Gr. 51. 1848. 6. Mas Le Verger 2:181, fig. 89. 1866-73. 7. Leroy Dict. Pom. 1:449, fig. 1867. 8. Hogg Fruit Man. 532. 1884.
Bloodgood’s Sommerbirne. 9. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 186. 1889.
Bloodgood has long been a standard summer pear in America. It surpasses any European associate of its season in both fruit- and tree-characters. In particular, the fruits are meritorious for flesh of fine texture, which, though a little granular, is melting and juicy, and has a rich, sweet, perfumed flavor. Complaints appear in the horticultural press that the quality is exceedingly variable. The reports of poor flavor may arise from the fact that the quality is always poor if the fruit is not picked as soon as full grown and ripened indoors. The season in New York is August. The trees are resistant to blight, healthy, bear young and regularly, are long-lived, and attain large size, although in some situations they are but medium in size. The variety has little or no value in commercial plantations, but is prized in every collection for home use.
The origin of this pear is unknown, but it is supposed to be a native of New York. It seems to have been brought to notice about 1835 by James Bloodgood of the nursery firm of Bloodgood and Company, Flushing, Long Island. According to Robert Manning, the variety was listed in Prince’s Catalogue for 1837 as Early Beurré. After being introduced by Bloodgood and Company, it was speedily recognized as one of the most valuable native sorts. The variety was placed upon the fruit catalog-list of the American Pomological Society in 1848.
Tree medium in size and vigor, upright, dense, slow-growing, productive; trunk medium in thickness and smoothness; branches zigzag, reddish-brown partly overspread with grayish scarf-skin, marked with few small lenticels; branchlets thick, very long, with long internodes, reddish-brown, the new growth greenish, with a brown tinge, glossy, smooth, with small, raised, conspicuous lenticels.
Leaf-buds broad at the base, small, short, sharply pointed, free; leaf-scars with prominent shoulders. Leaves 2¼ in. long, 1⅜ in. wide, oval, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin finely serrate; petiole 1¼ in. long, slender, tinged red; stipules few, variable in size and shape, tinged red. Flower-buds medium in size and length, conical, plump, free, arranged singly on short spurs; flowers early, 1¼ in. across, in dense clusters, 7 or 8 buds in a cluster; pedicels often ⅞ in. long, pubescent.
Fruit matures in late August; medium in size, 2⅛ in. long, 2 in. wide, roundish-pyriform to acute-pyriform, symmetrical, uniform, with equal sides; stem ¾ in. long, thick; cavity russeted, lipped, drawn up in fleshy folds about the stem; calyx open, small; lobes separated at the base, short, broad, obtuse; basin narrow, obtuse, smooth, symmetrical; skin thick, tough, roughish; color bright yellow, with patches and nettings of russet, producing a mottled russet effect; dots many, small, russet, inconspicuous; flesh tinged yellow, granular, melting, buttery, rich, very juicy, sweet, highly flavored, aromatic; quality very good. Core small, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, narrow, conical; seeds small, short, plump, acute.
BRANDYWINE
1. Horticulturist 3:166, figs. 25 and 26. 1848-49. 2. Mag. Hort. 15:106. 1849. 3. Hovey Fr. Am. 2:51, Pl. 1851. 4. Mag. Hort. 19:450, fig. 30, 1853. 5. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 231. 1858. 6. Leroy Dict. Pom. 1:496, fig. 1867. 7. Pom. France 4: No. 160, Pl. 160. 1867.
Were it not that Tyson is better in both tree and fruit, Brandywine, which ripens its crop with that of Tyson, could be put down as about the best pear of its season. Tyson is the better variety, however, in almost every soil and situation, and Brandywine has a place in American pear flora only because the pears have a distinct flavor which gives them the charm of individuality. The flesh is neither sweet nor perfumed, as is that of most pears at this season, but has the piquant smack of some of the winter pears which makes the fruits particularly refreshing. The tree is vigorous, with a handsome pyramidal top, but is not remarkable otherwise. Sometimes it is unproductive. The variety is worth planting for the sake of diversity in home orchards.
The original tree, a chance seedling, was found on the farm of Eli Harvey, Chaddsford, on the banks of the Brandywine River, Pennsylvania. This parent tree began to bear about 1820, but in 1835 wind broke it down near the surface of the ground. The present tree is a sucker from the original, and first fruited in 1844. This fact accounts for its not sooner having become known to cultivation. Dr. Brincklé of Philadelphia showed the fruits first at a meeting of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 1848 when it received high commendations. In 1858 the American Pomological Society added Brandywine to its list of recommended fruits.
Tree large, vigorous, very upright, dense-topped, productive; branches long, olive-gray, sprinkled with roundish lenticels; branchlets slender, curved, with short internodes, brownish-red overspread with scarf-skin, glabrous, with few small, obscure lenticels.
Leaf-buds medium in size and length, pointed, free. Leaves small, long-ovate; apex taper-pointed; margin serrate; petiole 1½ in. long. Flower-buds large, plump, conical, free, singly on spurs and as terminal buds; flowers ⅞ in. across, in dense clusters, average 9 buds in a cluster; pedicels ½ in. long, slender, pubescent.
Fruit ripens in late August and early September; medium in size, 2¾ in. long, 2½ in. wide, variable in shape but generally obovate-pyriform; stem 1½ in. long, fleshy, curved, obliquely attached; cavity lacking, the flesh drawn up in a wrinkled fold about the base of the stem; calyx large, open; lobes short, entire; basin small, shallow, usually smooth; skin roughish; color greenish-yellow, blushed with red on the sunny side, marked with tracings of russet especially near the cavity; dots numerous, large, conspicuous, russet; flesh whitish, or faintly tinged with yellow, granular, melting, juicy, aromatic, vinous; quality good to very good. Core small; seeds few, small, dark brown.
BUFFUM
1. Kenrick Am. Orch. 166. 1832. 2. Mag. Hort. 10:300, fig. 15. 1844. 3. Ibid. 16:297. 1850. 4. Hovey Fr. Am. 2:19, Pl. 1851. 5. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 53. 1852. 6. Horticulturist N. S. 6:300, Pl. 1856. 7. Ibid. 25:104, fig. 1870. 8. Mas Le Verger 3: Pt. 1, 81, fig. 39. 1866-73.
Buffam. 9. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 356, fig. 150. 1845.
Without deserving a high place among pears, Buffum has several meritorious characters which should keep it in the list of standard varieties. The variety must depend chiefly on its tree-characters for approbation, and in these it excels nearly all of its orchard associates. The trees are remarkably vigorous, nearly free from blight, very productive, although they have a tendency to bear biennially; and by virtue of great size, symmetrical, pyramidal form, dark green, glossy foliage, and sturdy, ruddy wood in winter, they are among the most ornamental of all fruit trees. In full leaf, a Buffum tree might easily be taken for a Lombardy poplar. The quality of the fruits is very variable. At times the flesh is rich, aromatic, melting, and very good; again, the pears may be insipid or even illy flavored, devoid of perfume, coarse in texture, and poor. The fruits are never large and often run small. To attain good quality, the pears must be picked early and ripened in a moderately cool fruit-room. The culture of Buffum is on the wane, chiefly for the reason that its fruits ripen with those of Seckel and fail in competition, as the Seckels are nearly as large and much better in quality. But because of its admirable tree-characters the variety should not be lost.
Some confusion exists as to the origin of Buffum. Some writers state that the original tree stood on the grounds of Prescott Hall, Newport, Rhode Island. Hovey, however, in his Fruits of America, 1851, says that the variety originated in the garden of David Buffum, Warren, Rhode Island, shortly after the advent of the nineteenth century. In the opinion of Downing the variety came from seed of White Doyenné. Soon after the founding of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 1828, Robert Manning exhibited specimens of the Buffum pear, and through him the variety became known in the vicinity of Boston from which place it was disseminated throughout the country. Buffum was added to the fruit-list of the American Pomological Society in 1852.
Tree vigorous, very upright, dense, hardy, almost immune to blight, very productive; branches shaggy, zigzag, reddish-brown, overspread with grayish scarf-skin, with numerous small lenticels; branchlets short, reddish-brown, tinged with green and streaked with grayish scarf-skin, smooth, glabrous, with conspicuous, small, raised lenticels.
Leaf-buds small, short, conical, pointed, appressed; leaf-scars prominent. Leaves 3¼ in. long, 2 in. wide, oval, thin, leathery; apex abruptly pointed; margin glandular, finely serrate; petiole 2¼ in. long. Flower-buds large, conical, pointed, plump, free, arranged singly on short spurs and branchlets; flowers 1½ in. across, showy, in dense clusters, 6 to 8 buds in a cluster; pedicels ⅞ in. long, slender, pubescent, greenish.
Fruit ripe in late September and October; medium in size, 2¼ in. long, 2 in. wide, uniform in size and shape, oblong-obovate-pyriform, with unequal sides; stem ¾ in. long, very thick; cavity obtuse, very shallow, narrow, russeted, gently furrowed, often lipped; calyx open; lobes separated at the base, short, narrow, obtuse; basin shallow, obtuse, gently furrowed; skin thick, very tough and granular, smooth except for the russet markings, dull; color deep brownish-yellow, with a bright reddish blush on the exposed cheek toward the basin; dots many, small, brownish or russet, conspicuous; flesh white, tinged with yellow, firm, granular, stringy toward the center, juicy, sweet, aromatic; quality good. Core large, closed; core-lines clasping; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds large, wide, plump, acute.
CLAPP FAVORITE
1. Mass. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 50. 1860. 2. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 20. 1867. 3. Pom. France 4: No. 170, Pl. 170. 1867. 4. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 720, fig. 1869. 5. Thomas Am. Fruit Cult. 452. 1897.
Favorite de Clapp. 6. Mas Le Verger 2:207, fig. 102. 1866-73.
Clapp’s Favourite. 7. Hogg Fruit Man. 548. 1884. 8. Bunyard-Thomas Fr. Gard. 134, 462, fig. 1904.
Clapp’s Liebling. 9. Gaucher Pom. Prak. Obst. No. 31, Pl. 46. 1894.
Clapp Favorite is by universal consent the standard late summer pear to precede Bartlett, which it much resembles in size, shape, color, and flavor. In most regions in the United States and Canada where pears are largely grown for the market, Clapp Favorite is the first pear to be put on the market. The season is usually a week or sometimes ten days before that of Bartlett. The chief fault of the fruits is that they soon soften at the center after ripening, to obviate which they should be picked at least ten days before they would ripen on the tree. This softening at the core debars the fruit from distant markets, and makes it suitable only for local trade. The illustration of the whole fruit in the accompanying plate is so foreshortened by the camera that size and shape are not shown correctly, but the half-fruit illustrates the size and shape very well. The fruits are usually a little larger than those of Bartlett. Except in one particular, the trees of Clapp Favorite are as nearly perfect as those of any variety in American orchards. The weak character, unfortunately, is a most important one, and all but debars the variety from some regions in which pear-growing is a large industry. The weakness is susceptibility to blight. No standard pear goes down so quickly as this one when blight is epidemic. Two good characters of the trees redeem the variety from failure because of blight. After those of Flemish Beauty and Tyson, the trees of this variety show greater hardihood to cold than those of any other standard sort; and of all pears grown in America, Kieffer not excepted, the trees of Clapp Favorite are most fruitful. Other merits of the tree are large size, great vigor, longevity, and earliness and regularity in bearing. The variety shows a predilection for heavy soils, and the trees may be set on the heaviest clays. Clapp Favorite is grown satisfactorily on dwarf as well as standard stocks. The variety is a desirable one wherever pears are grown, and is one of the half-dozen leading sorts in New York.
Clapp Favorite was raised by Thaddeus Clapp, Dorchester, Massachusetts, but the date of its origin is uncertain. It was favorably mentioned as a promising new fruit at the meeting of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 1860. By some writers this pear is supposed to be a cross between Flemish Beauty and Bartlett, but this supposition cannot be proved. The variety was early introduced into England and France where it almost immediately received favorable commendation. The American Pomological Society first listed Clapp Favorite in its fruit-catalog in 1867.
Tree large, upright-spreading, round-topped, very productive; trunk stocky, rough; branches characteristically shaggy, zigzag, reddish-brown overspread with gray scarf-skin, marked by few small, roundish, raised lenticels; branchlets short, dull reddish-brown, tinged with green, smooth, glabrous, with few small, inconspicuous lenticels.
Leaf-buds medium in size, short, conical, pointed; leaf-scars prominent. Leaves 2½ in. long, 1½ in. wide, oval, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin glandular, finely serrate; petiole 2 in. long. Flower-buds large, conical, pointed, plump, free, arranged singly on short spurs and branches; flowers very showy, 1⅝ in. across, large, well distributed, averaging 7 buds in a cluster; pedicels 13⁄16 in. long, lightly pubescent.
Fruit ripe in late August and early September; large, 4 in. long, 3¼ in. wide, obovate-obtuse-pyriform, tapering slightly toward the apex, symmetrical; stem 1¼ in. long, very thick, curved, fleshy; cavity very shallow, narrow, lipped, with a fleshy ring around the stem; calyx large, open; lobes separated at the base, narrow, acuminate, usually erect and very stiff; basin shallow, wide, obtuse, corrugated and wrinkled; skin thick, tough, smooth, glossy; color pale lemon-yellow, mottled and dotted with bright red, deepening in highly colored specimens to a crimson blush, with occasional faint traces of russet; dots numerous, small, russet, conspicuous; flesh tinged with yellow, very granular and gritty at the center, tender and melting, buttery, juicy, sweet, rich, vinous, aromatic; quality very good. Core large, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube long, narrow, funnel-shaped; seeds medium in size and width, plump.
COLONEL WILDER
1. Mass. Hort. Soc. Rpt. Pt. 2. 119. 1875. 2. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 2nd App. 146, fig. 1876. 3. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 23. 1881. 4. Me. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 114. 1891.
Colonel Wilder originated in California and was once a favorite there, but is now reported as being little planted. At one time it was prominent in eastern orchards because of its late season and large, handsome, well-flavored fruits. The variety came in competition with Beurré d’Anjou, however, the season and fruits of the two being similar, but the trees of Colonel Wilder were so greatly outmatched by those of Beurré d’Anjou that this variety is less and less planted in the East. Perhaps it is worth preserving in pear collections for the sake of variety.
This pear originated from seed sown by Bernard S. Fox, San Jose, California, about 1870. It was named after Marshall P. Wilder, Boston, Massachusetts. Just prior to his death Mr. Fox, in a letter to the editor of the Rural Press, wrote of three pears, P. Barry, Fox, and Colonel Wilder, as follows: “The list of pears is already large, and, unless something extremely good is offered, there is no use adding to it. But, after many years of trial here and elsewhere, I claim now, that, at their respective times of ripening, there are no large pears superior to them in size, flavor, and good shipping qualities.”
Tree medium in size, spreading and drooping, open-topped, hardy, an uncertain bearer; trunk shaggy; branches stocky, roughish, reddish-brown nearly covered with gray scarf-skin, marked with many lenticels; branchlets slender, willowy, light brown, with a slight reddish tinge, smooth, glabrous, with few small, slightly raised, obscure lenticels.
Leaf-buds small, short, sharply pointed, free or slightly appressed. Leaves 2¼ in. long, 1¼ in. wide, narrow, short, oval, leathery; apex abruptly pointed; margin glandless, finely serrate; petiole 2¼ in. long, slender, pale green or yellowish, sometimes with a tinge of pink; stipules light greenish-yellow, with a pink tinge. Flower-buds small, short, conical, plump, free, arranged singly on very short spurs; blossoms open very late; flowers 1¼ in. across, in dense clusters, 7 or 8 buds in a cluster; pedicels ½ in. long, pubescent, greenish.
Fruit in season, late December to February; large, 3 in. long, 2¼ in. wide, uniform in size, ribbed, oblong-obovate-pyriform, with unequal sides; stem ¾ in. long, thick, curved; cavity small, obtuse, shallow, narrow, furrowed, occasionally lipped; calyx large, open; lobes separated at the base, narrow, acute; basin shallow, narrow, abrupt, usually smooth, symmetrical; skin thick, tough, rough, dull; color light yellow, often with a faint orange-red blush on the exposed cheek, with nettings and markings of russet; dots numerous, small, grayish and russet-colored, conspicuous; flesh yellowish-white, granular around the core, melting, buttery, very juicy, sweet, aromatic, with a musky flavor; quality good. Core large, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds wide, plump, acute.
COLUMBIA
1. Mag. Hort. 2:37. 1836. 2. Kenrick Am. Orch. 159. 1841. 3. Mag. Hort. 9: 252, fig. 15. 1843. 4. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 430, fig. 198. 1845. 5. Horticulturist 1:20, 480, fig. 9. 1846-47. 6. Hovey Fr. Am. 2:17, Pl. 1851. 7. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 66. 1862. 8. Leroy Dict. Pom. 1:589, fig. 1867. 9. Pom. France 4: No. 140, Pl. 140. 1867. 10. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 725. 1869.
Once a favorite in eastern United States, Columbia is planted now only in collections. The variety never was a leader as far north as the pear regions of New York and Massachusetts, but when pear-growing was being attempted in the southern states in the middle of the last century, before the advent of Kieffer, Garber, and Le Conte, Columbia was the most dependable sort for the South. The pears are not attractive in appearance, nor remarkably good in quality, but the trees are vigorous, healthy, and very fruitful, although they come in bearing late. The variety is above the average in both fruit and tree, and is too valuable to be discarded. This variety must not be confused with the Columbia now listed in many catalogs, the proper name of which is Barseck.
The original seedling grew on the farm of a Mr. Casser in Westchester County, thirteen miles from New York City. In 1835, Bloodgood and Company, nurserymen of Flushing, Long Island, secured fruit from the original tree, which was then fifteen inches in diameter, and sent it to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Later, the variety was propagated and distributed by the Bloodgood Nursery. Columbia was added to the fruit-catalog of the American Pomological Society in 1862.
Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, hardy, very productive; trunk stocky, roughish; branches thick, rough, shaggy, dull brownish-red overspread with much gray scarf-skin, marked with roundish lenticels; branchlets short, light brown intermingled with green, dull, smooth, glabrous, with few very small, slightly raised, lenticels.
Leaf-buds small, short, conical, pointed, plump, usually appressed. Leaves 3¼ in. long, 1½ in. wide, long-oval, thin; apex abruptly pointed; margin finely serrate, usually tipped with very small glands; petiole 2¼ in. long. Flower-buds small, short, conical, pointed, plump, free, arranged singly on short spurs; blossoms late; flowers 1¾ in. across, very showy, in dense clusters, 9 to 12 buds in a cluster; pedicels 1⅛ in. long, very thick, pubescent, light green.
Fruit ripe from late November to January; large, 3 in. long, 2⅜ in. wide, uniform in size, oblong-obovate-pyriform, broad at the middle, unequal sides, uniform in general shape; stem 1 in. long, curved, thick; cavity obtuse, very shallow and narrow, smooth; calyx partly open, large; lobes narrow, acuminate; basin shallow, obtuse, wrinkled; skin thick, granular, tough, roughish, dull; color yellowish-green, frequently with a dotted, dull red blush on the exposed cheek; dots many, of various colors, conspicuous; flesh yellowish-white, firm, granular, rather tough, very juicy, sweet, aromatic and rich; quality good. Core large, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube wide, conical; seeds narrow, very long, often flattened and abortive, acuminate.
DANA HOVEY
1. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 48. 1891.
Dana’s No. 16. 2. Mag. Hort. 19:541. 1853. 3. Ibid. 20:136. 1854.
Dana’s Hovey. 4. Mag. Hort. 25:202, fig. 10. 1859. 5. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 68. 1862. 6. Gard. Chron. 1191, fig. 1866. 7. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 730. 1869. 8. Hogg Fruit Man. 556. 1884. 9. Garden 49:226. 1896.
Danas Hovey. 10. Gard. Chron. 3rd Ser. 47:67, fig. 39. 1910.
Dana Hovey is a delicious little dessert pear, so juicy, sweet, and rich that it is a veritable sweetmeat. The fruits are so similar to those of Seckel that the variety is sometimes called “Winter Seckel.” Dana Hovey is one of the best pears to succeed Seckel. The fruits come in season about the middle of November and keep six weeks in ordinary storage. The flavor is that of Winter Nelis with a smack of Seckel. If the fruits are picked early and kept in a dry, cool place they ripen early in December with a rich, golden color strewn with russet. It is in the same class with Seckel as to size of fruit, although the pears average larger and are more uniform in size from different trees and in different seasons. The pears are also more brightly colored than those of Seckel. Superiority in size and color makes the fruits of this variety much more attractive than those of the better-known Seckel. The trees are hardy, vigorous, and thrive on various soils but are only moderately productive and are somewhat susceptible to blight, falling far short of those of Seckel in these characters, for which reason the last-named variety is the better for commercial plantations. Dana Hovey is one of few winter pears with fruits of high quality, and thus is very desirable for home plantations and ought to have value in commercial plantations.
Francis Dana, Roxbury, Massachusetts, was an indefatigable raiser of new fruits, there being no fewer than sixteen varieties of pears with the prefix “Dana’s,” of which the one under notice is the best of all. It was introduced to the public about 1854 under the name of Dana’s Hovey in honor of C. M. Hovey, the well-known nurseryman of Boston and author of The Fruits of America. Dana Hovey is so similar to Seckel that the latter is supposed to be one of its parents. The variety was added to the American Pomological Society’s fruit-list in 1862.
Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, rapid-growing, productive; trunk stocky; branches reddish-brown mingled with green which is almost completely overspread with gray scarf-skin, marked by few small lenticels; branchlets thick, short, light brown mingled with green, marked with ash-gray at the tips, smooth, glabrous, with small, scattering, slightly raised lenticels.
Leaf-buds small, short, pointed, plump, usually appressed. Leaves 3¼ in. long, 2⅛ in. wide, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin glandless or with few reddish glands, finely serrate; petiole short, stocky, 1½ in. long, glabrous. Flower-buds short, conical but obtuse at the apex, plump, free, arranged singly on short spurs; flowers 1½ in. across, in dense clusters, average 8 buds in a cluster; pedicels ¾ in. long, slender, thinly pubescent.
Fruit matures in late October and November; medium in size, 2½ in. long, 2⅛ in. wide, obovate-obtuse-pyriform, symmetrical, uniform; stem ½ in. long, slender; cavity abrupt, shallow, very small, narrow, slightly lipped; calyx partly open, small; lobes short, narrow, acute; basin shallow, narrow, obtuse, smooth, symmetrical; skin thin, tender, smooth; color golden-yellow at maturity, covered with thin russet; dots numerous, small, greenish-russet; flesh tinged with yellow, granular at the center, tender and melting, juicy, sweet, highly perfumed; quality of the best. Core large, closed, abaxile; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds wide, short, plump, obtuse.
DEARBORN
1. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 36. 1883. 2. Ont. Dept. Agr. Fr. Ont. 155. 1914.
Dearborn’s Seedling. 3. Kenrick Am. Orch. 154. 1832. 4. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 336, fig. 135. 1845. 5. Proc. Nat. Con. Fr. Gr. 51. 1848. 6. Hovey Fr. Am. 1:63, Pl. 1851. 7. Elliott Fr. Book 336. 1859. 8. Mas Le Verger 2:17, fig. 7. 1866-73. 9. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:7, fig. 1869.
Once a favorite, Dearborn is now nearly lost to cultivation, and few or no nurserymen grow the trees. It is too good a variety to be lost, however, because of splendid fruit- and tree-characters. The fruits ripen early and are of good quality, though hardly as richly flavored as those of Elizabeth which ripen at the same time. Unfortunately the pears run small, but they are attractive in shape and color. In season, the crop succeeds that of Bloodgood and precedes that of Bartlett. The trees are almost flawless, and therefore are well adapted to home orchards where fruits cannot receive the care of skilled hands. Besides being almost free from blight, the trees are hardy, vigorous, and very productive. The variety has many valuable qualities for a summer pear in home orchards.
This pear was found growing in a border of shrubs in 1818 at Brinley Place, Roxbury, Massachusetts, the home of General H. A. S. Dearborn,[27] first president of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. In 1831, General Dearborn first exhibited fruit of the variety at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society where it was named Dearborn’s Seedling in honor of the originator. This variety should not be confused with a pear raised by Van Mons of Belgium and named by him Dearborn. The Dearborn of Van Mons is larger and ripens later than the American Dearborn, and was long since taken from lists of pears recommended for cultivation in America. Dearborn was included in the American Pomological Society’s first fruit-catalog in 1848, where it was called Dearborn’s Seedling. In 1883, the Society shortened the name to Dearborn. Since 1891, the name has failed to appear in the catalogs of this Society.
Tree large, vigorous, spreading, tall, very productive; trunk stocky; branches thick, zigzag, reddish-brown partly covered with a heavy, gray scarf-skin, marked by many reddish-brown lenticels; branchlets slender, very long, with long internodes, older wood brown, new growth greenish, nearly covered with reddish-brown, mottled with ash-gray scarf-skin, smooth, glabrous becoming pubescent near the tips of the new growth, with numerous small, brownish, round, raised, conspicuous lenticels.
Leaf-buds very small, short, pointed, plump, free. Leaves 3 in. long, 1½ in. wide, thin; apex obtusely-pointed; margin with very fine dark tips, finely and shallowly serrate; petiole tinged red, 1¾ in. long, glabrous. Flower-buds small, short, conical, plump, free, arranged singly on short spurs; flowers showy, 1¼ in. across, in dense clusters, 9 or 10 buds in a cluster; pedicels ¾ in. long, pubescent.
Fruit ripe in late August; small, 2 in. long, 2¼ in. wide, uniform, roundish-pyriform, with a slight neck, symmetrical, uniform; stem 1 in. long, slender; cavity obtuse, shallow, narrow, thinly russeted, often slightly lipped; calyx open, large; lobes separated at the base, narrow, acuminate; basin very shallow, obtuse, gently furrowed and wrinkled, symmetrical; skin thick, very tough, smooth, dull; color pale yellow, with russet specks; dots numerous, small, russet, conspicuous; flesh white, slightly granular at the center, tender and melting, very juicy, sweet but spicy, aromatic; quality good. Core large for the size of the fruit, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds large, wide, long, plump, acute.
DORSET
1. Ellwanger & Barry Cat. 6, fig. 1895. 2. Ibid. 17, fig. 1900. 3. W. N. Y. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 118. 1900. 4. Ill. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 220. 1902.
Dorset has been on probation in New York for twenty-five years, and its status is not yet decided. The fruits resemble those of Seckel in shape and color, but are larger and come in season later. These external resemblances to Seckel have given it the name “Late Seckel,” which, however, is a misnomer, as a taste of the two fruits at once makes plain. Dorset is not nearly as richly flavored as Seckel. The tree-characters are all very good. Since there are few good late pears to follow Seckel, there may be a place for Dorset.
Dorset was raised from seed by Lemuel Clapp, Dorchester, Massachusetts, but the exact date of origin is unknown. The variety was introduced by Ellwanger and Barry, Rochester, New York, in 1895. During the next ten years it was placed on trial by several state experiment stations, and soon gained a reputation for the characters noted in the preceding paragraph.
Tree small, spreading, very productive, a regular bearer; trunk slender, shaggy; branches slender, smooth, reddish-brown mingled with dull ash-gray, marked with many large lenticels; branchlets slender, dark brown, smooth, glabrous, with large, raised, lenticels.
Leaf-buds medium to small, conical, pointed, free. Leaves 3 in. long, 1½ in. wide, oval, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin crenate; petiole 1¾ in. long, slender. Flower-buds large, long, conical, pointed, free; blossoms open very early; flowers often 1⅜ in. across, showy, in dense clusters, from 8 to 12 buds in a cluster; pedicels 1 in. or less in length, pubescent, greenish.
Fruit matures in December; medium in size, 2¾ in. long, 2½ in. wide, uniform in size and shape, obovate-obtuse-pyriform, with unequal sides; stem ¾ in. long, curved, cavity almost lacking, obtuse, shallow, narrow, furrowed, compressed, often lipped; calyx open; lobes separated at the base, long, acute; basin narrow, obtuse or often quite abrupt, gently furrowed; skin thick, smooth; color dull greenish-yellow, marked with a dull bronze-red blush on the exposed cheek; dots many, small, grayish and russet, conspicuous; flesh yellowish-white, firm, granular at the center, tender, very juicy, very sweet and aromatic; quality good. Core closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds large, wide, long, plump, acute, broad at the base.
DOUGLAS
1. Kan. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 63. 1908-09. 2. Rural N. Y. 70:59, fig. 24. 1911. 3. U. S. D. A. Yearbook 267, Pl. 4. 1912. 4. Rural N. Y. 72:458, fig. 146. 1913. 5. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 41, 42. 1915.
In regions where blight and heat make pear-growing precarious, and only pears with oriental blood, as Kieffer, Garber, and Le Conte, can be grown, Douglas, which belongs with the pears just named, might well be tried. Certainly it is better in flavor than any other variety of its class. The trees come in bearing remarkably early, and are as productive as those of Kieffer, though hardly as large or as vigorous. The trees are inclined to overbear, in which case the fruits run small. The variety has little to recommend it for New York, but those who grow Kieffer might put it on probation with the hope of growing a fruit passably fair for dessert.
Douglas is a seedling of Kieffer crossed, it is believed, with Duchesse d’Angoulême by O. H. Ayer, Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas, about the year 1897. It fruited first in 1902 and attracted the attention of A. H. Griesa, also of Lawrence, who propagated it in 1907, and sent out specimens of it for appraisement in October, 1910, when it was very favorably reported on by many prominent horticulturists. In accordance with Mr. Griesa’s suggestion, it was named Douglas after the county of its origin.
Tree medium in size and vigor, upright, very productive; trunk slender, smooth; branches slender, dull brownish-red, mottled with gray scarf-skin; branchlets medium in thickness and length, smooth, glabrous, sprinkled with numerous raised, conspicuous lenticels. Leaf-buds large, long, pointed, plump, free; leaf-scars prominent. Leaves 3¼ in. long, 1½ in. wide, thick; apex taper-pointed; margin glandless, finely and shallowly serrate; petiole 1⅝ in. long. Flower-buds large, long, conical, plump, free; flowers 1¼ in. across, white or occasionally with a faint tinge of pink, 11 or 12 buds in a cluster; pedicels 1⅝ in. long.
Fruit matures in October; large, 3¼ in. long, 2¾ in. wide, obovate-pyriform, tapering at both ends like the Kieffer; stem 1⅝ in. long, slender; cavity deep, narrow, compressed, often lipped; calyx small, partly open; basin furrowed; skin thick, tough; color pale yellow, heavily dotted and sometimes flecked with russet; dots numerous, small, light russet or greenish; flesh tinged with yellow, firm but tender, granular, very juicy, sweet yet with an invigorating flavor; quality good. Core closed, axile; calyx-tube short, wide; seeds long, plump, acute.
DOYENNÉ D’ALENÇON
1. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 213. 1856. 2. Ibid. 231. 1858. 3. Ann. Pom. Belge 8:15, Pl. 1860. 4. Pom. France 2: No. 47, Pl. 47. 1864. 5. Mas Le Verger 1:23, fig. 10. 1866-73. 6. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 742. 1869. 7. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:55, fig. 1869. 8. Jour. Hort. N. S. 20:135. 1871. 9. Guide Prat. 61, 264. 1876. 10. Hogg Fruit Man. 564. 1884.
Marmorirte Schmalzbirne. 11. Dochnahl Führ. Obstkunde 2:65. 1856.
Dechantsbirne von Alençon. 12. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 201. 1889.
This old French pear is worth planting, if the trees can be obtained, because of its very late fruits and long season. The pears come in season under ordinary conditions in December and keep until March. The fruits are not remarkable for either taste or appearance, but are good for a winter product when there is little competition with other varieties. The pears are admirably adapted for culinary purposes. In some seasons the pears fail to ripen, and the variety should be planted only on warm soils and in situations where the season is warm and long. Tree and fruit have a family resemblance to Easter Beurré; the latter, however, is generally a better pear than this one. This variety is much grown in Europe on the quince, and in the various fanciful forms Europeans make use of in training fruit trees.
Doyenné d’Alençon is reported to be a wilding discovered by the Abbé Malassis near Alençon, Orne, France, and propagated by M. Thuillier, a nurseryman at Alençon. There was, however, a pear of the same name and season found at Orléans in 1628, in the orchard of Le Lectier, the renowned pomologist. It is probable that the pear which M. Thuillier propagated was the one found many years previously by Le Lectier. The variety must have been introduced into America between 1840 and 1850, as it was mentioned by the American Pomological Society in 1856 as one of the promising new pears. In 1858, the Society added the variety to its fruit-catalog, but discontinued recommending it in 1897.
Tree medium in size and vigor, upright, dense-topped, productive; trunk thick, shaggy; branches stocky, reddish-brown lightly covered with gray scarf-skin; branchlets slender, curved, short, with short internodes, light brown, with a faint reddish tinge, smooth, pubescent near the tips of the new growth, with numerous small, raised, conspicuous lenticels.
Leaf-buds small, short, sharply pointed, plump, free; leaf-scars with prominent shoulders. Leaves 2¾ in. long, 1⅛ in. wide, thin; apex taper-pointed; margin with few glands, coarsely serrate; petiole 2⅝ in. long, glabrous, with tinge of red, slender. Flower-buds small, short, conical, plump, free, arranged singly on short spurs; flowers early, 1¼ in. across, in dense clusters, average 9 buds in a cluster; pedicels ⅝ in. long, lightly pubescent.
Fruit ripe December to February; 2⅞ in. long, 2⅜ in. wide, medium in size, obovate-obtuse-pyriform, symmetrical, uniform; stem ¾ in. long, thick, curved; cavity obtuse, shallow, symmetrical, often slightly lipped, small; calyx open, large; lobes not separated at the base, broad, narrow; basin narrow, abrupt, smooth, symmetrical; skin very thick, tough, roughish; color dull greenish-yellow, with a faint orange blush on the exposed cheek, marked with many brown and russet dots and netted with russet; dots numerous, small, brownish-russet, inconspicuous; flesh tinged with yellow, granular at the center, tender and melting, juicy, aromatic, with a lively vinous flavor; quality good. Core large, closed, axile, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds large, wide, long, plump, acute.
DOYENNÉ BOUSSOCK
1. Hovey Fr. Am. 1:31, Pl. 1851. 2. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 210. 1856. 3. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 742, fig. 1869.
Doyenne Boussock Nouvelle. 4. Kenrick Am. Orch. 143. 1841.
Beurré de Mérode. 5. Ann. Pom. Belge 5:81, Pl. 1857.
Doyenné de Mérode. 6. Pom. France 2: No. 86, Pl. 86. 1864. 8. Guide Prat. 64, 266. 1876. 7. Mas Le Verger 3: Pt. 1, 171, fig. 84. 1866-73.
Doyenné Boussock. 9. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:58, fig. 1869. 10. Hogg Fruit Man. 564. 1884.
Boussock. 11. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 36. 1883.
Doppelte Philippsbirne. 12. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 204. 1889. 13. Gaucher Pom. Prak. Obst. No. 33, Pl. 61. 1894.
This old Belgian pear is a leader in the second rank of commercial pears in this country. If the fruits were better in quality and kept a little longer, the variety would take rank among the best commercial pears, for the fruits are handsome and the trees are nearly flawless. As the color-plate shows, there are few pears more attractive than this one, but the briskly acid flavor is not pleasing to many, and the fruits become soft at the center soon after ripening. The pears are above medium in size and are sometimes large or very large. The seeds are often abortive. The trees are very large and vigorous, as hardy as those of any other pear to cold, less susceptible to blight than most of their orchard associates, and are remarkable for their prominent buds and large, thick, glossy-green leaves, which turn deep red in the autumn. On some soils the trees do not hold their crop well, and it is always best to plant them where there is some protection against heavy winds. The trees are prodigious bearers, and fruit regularly, characters which make the variety desirable for local markets.
This pear is supposed to have been raised by Van Mons at the beginning of the nineteenth century. It was placed on sale at Brussels about 1819. The variety was first given the name Doyenné de Mérode in honor of the Comté de Mérode of Waterloo, Belgium. In 1836, however, the name was changed to Doyenné Boussock. The catalog of the Horticultural Society of London shows that it was received in England in 1842. William Kenrick, on his return from Europe in the spring of 1841, brought the variety to America. In 1856 the American Pomological Society added this pear to its fruit-list.
Tree very large, vigorous, upright-spreading, tall, hardy, productive; trunk thick, shaggy; branches stocky, shaggy, grayish-brown; branchlets long, with long intemodes, light brown tinged with red, overspread with ash-gray, smooth, glabrous, with few elongated, raised, inconspicuous lenticels.
Leaf-buds small, short, sharply pointed, plump, free; leaf-scars with prominent shoulders. Leaves 3½ in. long, 1⅞ in. wide, leathery; apex abruptly pointed; margin very finely serrate; petiole 1½ in. long, slender. Flower-buds small, long and narrow, conical, free, singly on very short spurs; flowers early, showy, 1⅝ in. across, in dense clusters, average 8 buds in a cluster; pedicels 1⅛ in. long, thick, pubescent.
Fruit ripe in September; large, 3 in. long, 2¾ in. wide, uniform, obtuse-obovate-pyriform, symmetrical; stem 1 in. long, very thick; cavity obtuse, rather shallow, broad, often russeted, furrowed, lipped; calyx large, open; lobes separated at the base, broad, acute; basin shallow, wide, obtuse, gently furrowed and wrinkled; skin thin, tender, smooth except for the russet nettings; color pale yellow, occasionally with a mottled pinkish-red blush on the exposed cheek, more or less netted with russet; dots numerous, small, russet, conspicuous; flesh white, tender and melting, buttery, very juicy, briskly acid; quality good. Core large, closed, axile, with meeting core-lines; calyx-tube very short, wide, broadly conical; seeds black, narrow, long, flattened, often abortive.
DOYENNÉ DU COMICE
1. Mag. Hort. 18:168, fig. 16. 1852. 2. Ann. Pom. Belge 8:47, Pl. 1860. 3. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 68. 1862. 4. Pom. France 2: No. 58, Pl. 58. 1864. 5. Mas Le Verger 3: Pt. 1, 7, fig. 2. 1866-73. 6. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 744, fig. 1869. 7. Jour. Hort. N. S. 17:440, fig. 1869. 8. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:60, fig. 1869. 9. Hogg Fruit Man. 565. 1884. 10. Rev. Hort. 447, Pl. 1908.
Beurré Robert. 11. Leroy Dict. Pom. 1:418, fig. 1867. 12. Ibid. 2:775. 1869.
Comice. 13. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 36. 1883.
Vereins Dechantsbirne. 14. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 293. 1889. 15. Gaucher Pom. Prak. Obst. No. 68, Pl. 36. 1894. 16. Deut. Obstsorten 5: Pt. 14, Pl. 1909.
This pear has been esteemed long and justly for the beauty and high quality of its fruits. If its tree-characters were better the variety would take high place in commercial orcharding as well as for the home orchard, to which it is now almost wholly confined. The fruits are very large, smooth except for russet markings, clear handsome yellow at maturity, sometimes brightened by a delicate blush, with yellow, fine-grained flesh which is tender, melting, very juicy, sweet, piquant, perfumed. The quality is so good that the fruits of this variety are called by many the best of all pears. The list of faults for the trees is as long as the list of merits for the fruits. The young trees make a poor growth in the nursery; young or old, the trees must be humored in soil, climate, and care; they are subject to blight; while usually productive, they are not always so even where vigorous, healthy, and hardy; lastly, they are a little below the average in hardihood to cold. The variety is seldom at home in New York, but where it thrives, as on the Pacific slope, it is a valuable commercial pear, and is always worthy a place in the home orchard or in the collection of the pear-fancier. In Europe, it is reported as doing especially well on the quince.
The parent tree of Doyenné du Comice was taken from the first seed bed made in the fruit-garden of the Comice Horticole, Angers, Department of Maine-et-Loire, France. In November, 1849, it produced its first fruit, which was at once so highly esteemed that it was named Doyenné du Comice. It was placed on the market with unusual promptitude and rapidly distributed in foreign lands, reaching America about 1850. The variety was recommended for general cultivation by the American Pomological Society in 1862.
Tree vigorous, characteristically upright, dense, usually productive; branches smooth, dull gray mingled with greenish-brown, marked with large lenticels; branchlets long, brown tinged with red, glabrous, with many small, slightly raised, conspicuous lenticels.
Leaf-buds large, medium to long, conical, pointed, nearly free; leaf-scars prominent. Leaves 3¼ in. long, 1½ in. wide, oval, leathery; margin finely serrate; petiole 2 in. long. Flower-buds short, conical, free; blossoms open late; flowers 1¼ in. across, in dense clusters, about 8 buds in a cluster; pedicels ⅞ in. long, slender, pubescent, light green.
Fruit ripe in late October and November; large, 3 in. long, 2¾ in. wide, obovate-obtuse-pyriform or roundish, with unequal sides; stem 1¼ in. long, very thick, usually curved; cavity obtuse, shallow, narrow, russeted and wrinkled, often with a fleshy ring around the base of the stem; calyx open; lobes separated at the base, long, narrow, acuminate; basin medium to wide, obtuse, often furrowed; skin tough and granular, smooth except for the russet markings, dull; color clear yellow, often with a very faint russet-red blush on the exposed cheek, the surface heavily covered with large patches and nettings of attractive russet; dots many, very small, dark brown, obscure; flesh tinged strongly with yellow, fine-grained near the outside but granular toward the core, melting, tender, buttery, very juicy, sweet and vinous, aromatic; quality very good to best. Core closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds large, wide, long, rather plump, acute, often abortive.
DUCHESSE D’ANGOULÊME
1. Kenrick Am. Orch. 171. 1832. 2. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 381. 1845. 3. Ann. Pom. Belge 1:21, Pl. 1853. 4. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 68. 1862. 5. Pom. France 1: No. 17, Pl. 17. 1863. 6. Mas Le Verger 3: Pt. 2, 79, fig. 136. 1866-73. 7. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:98, figs. 1869. 8. Jour. Hort. N. S. 24:26. 1873. 9. Guide Prat. 59, 267. 1876. 10. Hist. Mass. Hort. Soc. 1829-78. 224. 1880. 11. Hogg Fruit Man. 569. 1884.
Duchess of Angoulême. 12. Lindley Guide Orch. Gard. 371. 1831.
Angouleme. 13. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 36. 1883.
Herzogin von Angoulême. 14. Gaucher Pom. Prak. Obst. No. 46, Pl. 43. 1894.
The fruits of Duchesse d’Angoulême excite admiration and wonder by their enormous size. They may always be known by their great size, squat pyriform shape, and uneven knobby surfaces. Well grown, the pears have other virtues than size, as the flesh is buttery and melting with a rich and delicious flavor; but poorly grown, and on unfavorable soils, the flesh is granular, coarse-grained, but half-melting and nearly devoid of the richness that characterizes the fruits in happier situations. Size shrinks also when poorly grown, so that one may say that a small pear of this variety is seldom fit for dessert and too insipid for a good product in cookery. The trees are vigorous, hardy, and healthy, bear abundantly under favorable conditions, and succeed either as a standard or a dwarf. Possibly it is best grown as a dwarf, and in America at least is more often worked on the dwarfing quince than on the pear. In fact, this variety is the favorite dwarf-pear for garden and home orchard, and commercial orchards of dwarfed trees of it are not uncommon. On either stock, the tree makes a beautiful, symmetrical pyramid, comes in bearing early, and bears regularly. This variety is more popular in New York than in any other part of America, and while less planted than formerly, is still regarded as a standard late autumn variety. It is a particularly desirable sort for the pear-fancier.
The original tree of Duchesse d’Angoulême was a wilding growing in a garden near Angers, Maine-et-Loire, France. About 1808, M. Audusson, a nurseryman at Angers, appreciating the beauty and excellent quality of the pear, obtained the right to propagate it. In 1812 he began selling trees of the variety under the name of “Poire des Eparonnais.” In 1820, M. Audusson sent a basket of the fruit to the Duchesse d’Angoulême with a request for permission to name the pear in her honor, a request which was granted. At the exhibition of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society held in 1830, Samuel G. Perkins showed a specimen which measured eleven and three-tenths inches. It was the only one that grew on the tree, and was considered to be the first fruit of this variety produced in America. The American Pomological Society added Duchesse d’Angoulême to its catalog-list of fruits in 1862.
Tree medium in size, vigorous, upright-spreading, dense-topped, slow-growing, usually hardy, productive; trunk thick; branches stocky, shaggy, zigzag, dull reddish-brown overspread with scarf-skin, marked with small lenticels; branchlets thick, short, dull light brown, streaked with gray scarf-skin, smooth, glabrous, with many small, raised lenticels.
Leaf-buds small, short, conical, pointed, nearly free; leaf-scars prominent. Leaves 2¾ in. long, 1⅝ in. wide, oval, thick, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin marked with minute dark brown glands, crenate or nearly entire; petiole 1¾ in. long. Flower-buds large, long, conical, plump, free, arranged singly or in small clusters on short branches and spurs; flowers 1⅜ in. across, 7 or 8 buds in each cluster; pedicels 1 in. long, slender, lightly pubescent, greenish.
Fruit ripe October to November; large, often very large, 4 in. long, 3 in. wide, uniform in size, oblong-obovate-pyriform, with irregular and uneven surface and with sides often unequal; stem frequently 1½ in. long, very thick, curved; cavity acute, deep, furrowed, irregular, often lipped; calyx partly open, small; lobes short, narrow, acute; basin medium to deep, abrupt, furrowed and uneven, often corrugated; skin thick, granular, roughened with russet; color dull yellow, streaked, spotted and netted with dull russet; dots numerous, russet, conspicuous; flesh white, firm becoming somewhat melting and quite tender when fully mature, granular, juicy, sweet, rich and delicious when fully mature; quality good to very good. Core closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds small, narrow, flat, acute, very often abortive.
DUCHESSE D’ORLÉANS
1. Kenrick Am. Orch. 143. 1841. 2. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 68. 1862. 3. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 749. 1869. 4. Hogg Fruit Man. 570. 1884.
Duchess of Orleans. 5. Hovey Fr. Am. 1:91, Pl. 1851.
Saint-Nicolas. 6. Pom. France 1: No. 33, Pl. 33. 1863. 7. Cat. Cong. Pom. France 343, fig. 1906.
Beurré de Saint-Nicolas. 8. Mas Le Verger 3: Pt. 1, 137, fig. 67. 1866-73. 9. Leroy Dict. Pom. 1:426, fig. 1867.
Butterbirne von Saint-Nicolas. 10. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 191. 1889.
In the middle of the last century this pear was heralded as one of the best of the French varieties which were then coming to this country in great numbers, but it is now almost lost to cultivation. While in no way remarkable, the variety is too valuable to be discarded. As the color-plate shows, the fruits are prepossessing in appearance. The pears are bright yellow, with a brilliant cheek, the whole fruit being more or less mottled with golden russet. Few pears are smoother of skin or more symmetrical in shape, and the fruits are more uniform in size than those of most varieties. The quality, as well as the appearance, is pleasing. While the flesh is a little dry and not as rich in flavor as that of most other varieties of its season, it is so crisp and refreshingly piquant in contrast to the sweeter, buttery pears with which it ripens, its season being just after that of Bartlett, that the variety finds favor with all who like pears. The variety fails in its tree-characters. Thus, the trees are late in coming in bearing; are not very vigorous; are somewhat tender to cold; and do not resist blight well. The variety has little value for commercial places, but if the trees can be obtained, is well worth planting in the home orchard.
This pear is a chance seedling found by M. Maurier near Angers, Maine-et-Loire, France, nearly a century ago. It was propagated by M. Flon, a nurseryman of Angers and fruited first in 1839. In England and America the variety has been chiefly known as Duchesse d’Orléans, but many French horticulturists have used the name Saint-Nicolas. The variety was added to the fruit-catalog list of the American Pomological Society in 1862, but was dropped from the list in 1871.
Tree medium in size and vigor, spreading, moderately productive; trunk slender, shaggy; branches medium in thickness and smoothness, reddish-brown partly overspread with thin gray scarf-skin, with few indistinct lenticels; branchlets short, with short internodes, light brownish-red mingled with green and partly covered with thin, gray scarf-skin, dull, smooth, glabrous, with conspicuous, raised lenticels.
Leaf-buds long, narrow, sharply pointed, plump, free. Leaves 3 in. long, 1½ in. wide; apex taper-pointed; margin tipped with small, brownish glands, coarsely serrate; petiole 2 in. long, glabrous, reddish-green. Flower-buds long, conical, sharply pointed, free, singly on numerous short spurs; flowers showy, 1⅜ in. across, in dense clusters, average 7 buds in a cluster, the petals widely separated at the base; pedicels 7⁄16 in. long, slender, lightly pubescent.
Fruit matures in late September and October; medium in size, 2⅞ in. long, 2¼ in. wide, obovate-acute-pyriform, symmetrical; stem 1 in. long, thick; cavity lacking, the flesh drawn up in a symmetrical fold about the stem; calyx small, open; lobes separated at the base, narrow, acute; basin very shallow, narrow, obtuse, smooth or slightly wrinkled; skin thin, tender, smooth; color yellow overlaid with a red blush, faintly mottled with golden russet; dots numerous, whitish or russet, conspicuous; flesh tinged with yellow, firm, granular, crisp, juicy, subacid; quality good. Core small, closed, axile, with meeting core-lines; calyx-tube short, conical; seeds long, plump, acute.
DUHAMEL DU MONCEAU
1. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:114, fig. 1869. 2. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 2nd App. 146, fig. 1876. 3. W. N. Y. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 118. 1881.
Duhamel’s Butterbirne. 4. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 207. 1889.
Duhamel. 5. Budd-Hansen Am. Hort. Man. 2:241. 1903.
The unattractive little fruits of this pear would have small value were it not for the fact that they are delicious in quality and come into edible condition late. The fruits are of the type of those of Winter Nelis, differing in shape somewhat, but are even better in quality and keep longer. The fruits are further distinguished by a musky taste and perfume, which make them especially agreeable to those who like rich, sweet, perfumed pears. The trees, while in no characters remarkable, are better than most of their orchard associates, and far superior to the unmanageable trees of Winter Nelis with which this variety must compete. After a probationary period of a half century in America, Duhamel du Monceau has not found favor with commercial orchardists, but pear fanciers value it for its delectable late-keeping fruits. Nurserymen find the trees rather difficult to grow.
Duhamel du Monceau was obtained from seed by André Leroy, the eminent author and pomologist at Angers, France. In naming the variety, M. Leroy said that his purpose was to do honor to the memory of the illustrious professor who filled an important place in pomology, and who, in giving us the Traité des arbres fruitiers published in 1768, rendered and still renders valuable services to horticulturists. The original tree began to fruit in 1862 and was cataloged by Leroy in 1865. The variety seems to have been described first in America by Downing in 1876.
[27] General Henry Alexander Scammell Dearborn, who followed the vocation of a soldier, statesman, and author, chose as his avocation horticulture and in several of its fields became eminent. A native of New England (1783-1851), son of General Henry Dearborn of Revolutionary fame, he was early educated to the profession of law and pursued that vocation until the war with Great Britain in 1812. Services in this war brought him the rank and title of general. After the war he served as Collector of the Port of Boston, in Congress, and as Mayor of Roxbury, Massachusetts, which office he held at the time of his death. But it is as a patron, friend, and lover of horticulture that the life and work of General Dearborn interest pomologists. He was one of the charter members in the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and a prime mover in its organization. He was elected its first president March 17, 1829. In the history of the Society published in 1880, of all the famous members of this truly remarkable organization, General Dearborn’s portrait was chosen for the frontispiece. He was early interested in experimental gardens and rural cemeteries. The plans for experimental gardens advocated by him were never fully carried out, but no doubt his enthusiasm for such gardens, with his own garden as a model, did much to stimulate the planting in America in the early half of the nineteenth century of the many famous gardens which adorned and enriched every center of culture along the Atlantic seaboard. He helped to establish the Mount Auburn and Forest Hills cemeteries, famous among Boston cemeteries, and the first of rural cemeteries in this country. His life-long devotion to rural art as exemplified in gardens and cemeteries knew no bounds. On these subjects and on pomology he contributed many articles to the agricultural and horticultural papers of his time. Few men, it can be said, could better concentrate their thoughts and feelings on paper than he seems to have done. Besides the many papers from his own pen he published several translated treatises from the French, chief of which was a monograph on the Camellia in 1838 and another on Morus multicaulis in 1830, the "Mulberry Craze" being in full swing at this time. General Dearborn was an ardent pear-grower and helped to test the hundreds of seedlings then being brought from Belgium and France and grew as well considerable numbers from his own seed-beds. Of all his seedlings, however, only Dearborn survives.
