VARIETIES OF PEARS 



301 



Fig. 123. Howell. 



ing, very juicy, sweet and vinous, with a rich and pleasantly aromatic 

 flavor; quality very good to best; core large, closed, with clasping core- 

 lines; calyx-tube short, Avide, conical; seeds acute. 



465. Howell (Fig. 123).— The trees are 

 not above the average in vigor, healthful- 

 ness, hardiness, and fruitfulness, but their 

 spreading tops make them desirable orchard 

 inhabitants and handsome dooryard orna- 

 mentals. The fruits cannot be praised for 

 appearance or quality, but they are uni- 

 form and are freer from the ravages of 

 the scab fungus than those of almost any 

 other pears. Howell seems to be better 

 suited to the middle western than to the 

 eastern states. About 1830, Thomas Howell, 

 New Haven, Connecticut, planted pear 

 seeds; one of the trees resulting was named Howell. 



Tree large, vigorous, spreading, open-topped. Fruit ripe in late Sep- 

 tember; medium in size, 2% inches long, 2^4: inches wide, obovate-pyriform, 

 symmetrical; stem 1 inch long, thick, curved; cavity obtuse, very shallow 

 and narrow, symmetrical; calyx open, small; lobes separated at the base, 

 short, narrow, obtuse; basin obtuse, but slightly furrowed, nearly sym- 

 metrical; skin smooth, dull; color pale lemon-yellow with a trace of blush 

 and Avith tracings of russet; dots many, small, russet, very conspicuous; 

 flesh yellowish-white, firm but tender, granular, melting, very juicy, sweet, 

 with a rich vinous flavor, aromatic; quality very good; core rather large, 

 closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds long, 

 plump, acute, frequently abortive. 



466. Flemish Beauty (Fig. 124).— At one 



time Flemish Beauty was a leading com- 

 mercial variety in eastern America, but it 

 has been supplanted by other sorts because 

 the toll of blighted trees is too great, and 

 the fruits are too often disfigured by the scab- 

 fungus. To offset these defects, the trees 

 are unusually fruitful, and as hardy as those 

 of any other variety. The fruits are nearly 

 perfect if scab-free, and properly matured. 

 The parent tree was a wilding in a wood near 

 Alost, Belgium, about the beginning of the nineteenth century. 



Fig. 124. Flemish 

 Beauty. 



