VARIETIES OF PEARS 



307 



culiarity; cut through the shaded yellow-russet skin, flesh with 

 a faint rosy tint is displayed. It is the 

 quality of the fruits that commends the va- 

 riety most. The flesh is buttery, juicy, 

 sweet, and perfumed. In the orchard, the 

 trees are satisfactory, but nurserymen find 

 them difficult to grow; this, no doubt, is the 

 chief reason for the neglect of this excellent 

 pear. The trees thrive in almost any soil or 

 situation suitable to pears, and are fruitful, 

 hardy, and resistant to blight. This pear ^''^de'Maiines.^'''" 

 originated about 1830 in the seed-beds of 

 Major Esperen, the well-known pomologist of Mechlin, Belgium. 



Tree large, vigorous, spreading, tall, dense-topped, rapid-growing, hardy, 

 very productive. Fruit ripe December-February; medium in size, turbi- 

 nate, inclined to truncate; stem long, very thick; cavity obtuse, shallow, 

 narrow, slightly furrowed; calyx large, open; lobes short, broad, obtuse; 

 basin narrow, obtuse, smooth; skin thick, tough, dull; color pale greenish- 

 yellow, netted and patched more or less with russet; dots numerous, small, 

 brown or russet, conspicuous; flesh pinkish -white, firm, granular, melting, 

 very juicy, sweet, aromatic; quality good; core large, closed, axile, with 

 clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide; carpels pyriform; seeds large, 

 wide, long, plump, acuminate. 



475. Lawrence (Fig. 130). — The tree is hardy, moderately 

 vigorous and fruitful, an early, annual, and 

 uniform bearer, and has the reputation of 

 being one of the longest lived of all pear-trees. 

 The fruits are of medium size, but are trim in 

 contour and distinctive in shape because of 

 the rounded truncate stem-end, and in color 

 are a bright clean lemon-yellow, marked with 

 patches of russet and faintly blushed on the 

 side to the sun. The fruits come in season in 

 early winter and keep well under ordinary 

 care for a full month or longer. The melting 

 flesh bounds with a rich, sugary, perfumed 

 juice, by virtue of which it is justly esteemed 

 as the best flavored pear of its season. Law- 

 rence is a chance seedling, a native of Flushing, Long Island, 

 and was introduced in 1843. 



Fig. 130. Lawrence. 



