MEMORANDA ON PEARS. 



171 



both excellent, as are the Verte Longue, 

 the Capiaumont, the Sylvanche Vert, the 

 Urhanist and Duchesee d'Angouleme. 



But the autumn pear, under the name 

 of Van Mons' Leon le Clerc, which has late- 

 ly been brought into notice, has a great re- 

 putation in England, whence it was import- 

 ed a few years since. I have had this fruit 

 in bearing two or three years, and have 

 found it very good, but not equal to the ac- 

 count given of it by Mr. Loudon in his Hor- 

 ticultural Journal. I prefer the Dix pear to 

 it, although the Dix is not so large or so 

 handsome ; but it continues in eating longer, 

 and when well ripened, has, to my taste, a 

 better or more agreeable flavor. 



Besides the above, there are several other 

 kinds of autumn pears that deserve atten- 

 tion, such as the Beurre Portugal, the Figue 

 d' Amiens, the Beurre Bronz.', the Vicar of 

 Winkfield, Wilkinson, and others of equal 

 value. 



And, among autumn Pears, were I to se- 

 lect, I should name the Dix, the St. Ghis- 

 lain, Gansel's Bergamot, Beurre Diel, Sec- 

 kel, Marie Louise, White Doyenne (or St. 

 Michael,) Isambert, Louise bonne de Jer- 

 sey, Duchesse d'Angouleme, Van Mons' 

 Leon le Clerc, and Urbaniste. 



As regards the winter Pears, the Napo- 

 leon and Passe Colmar may be considered 

 as belonging to this class, although they 

 sometimes ripen in November, but may be 

 kept till late in December with proper care. 

 These are both excellent fruits. 



Among the new or Belgian Pears, that 

 ripen later in winter, those mostly esteemed 

 are the Winter Nelis, the Glout Morceau, 

 Beurre d'Aremberg, and Easter Beurre. 



Although the St. Germain, the Virgou- 

 louse, the Winter Colmar, and Chaumon- 

 tel, are no longer cultivated in the open 

 country near the sea-board, yet they still 

 may be, and are raised in towns, as in Bos- 



ton, in perfection, and may be in other ci" 

 ties, where they find that protection which 

 the open country does not afford them in 

 New England. Of these, the most valua- 

 ble is the St. Germain, which fruit possesses 

 more of the useful and valuable qualities 

 which we require, than any other of the 

 winter sorts ; as it begins to ripen in Janu- 

 ary, and continues, if properly taken care 

 of, into March and April, while it possesses 

 the excellent texture of the buttery sorts, 

 and is among the finest flavored of the pear 

 tribe. [The St. Germain ripens fine crops 

 here, and still finer in the interior of the 

 State of New-York.— Ed.] 



But as I have said before, this decides 

 nothing ; for my taste may and would per- 

 haps, be condemned by well informed gar- 

 deners. In fact, on this subject of taste in 

 the flavor of fruits, I have long since be- 

 come convinced, that no one can judge for 

 all others, as I once had a practical evidence 

 of its extraordinary deviation from what I 

 had thought an established rule. 



Being in Boston market in the autumn, 

 I vvas, with several other persons, looking 

 over some baskets of peaches and pears at 

 one of the fruit and vegetable stalls. Pre- 

 sently a sailor entered, and the fruiterer of- 

 fered him a choice of his fine fruit, by call- 

 his attention to his fine water melons and 

 musk melons, and apples and pears, peaches 

 and plums, of which he had an abundant 

 supply. But Jack turned up his nose at all 

 these, and fixing his eye upon a green cu- 

 cumber, he exclaimed, " None of tlie.se for 

 me, a cucumber for my money I" and ap- 

 plying the action to the word he seized 

 upon one of them, and clapping the bitter 

 end into his mouth, he ate away upon it till 

 the tears ran out of his eyes, and he was 

 almost suffocated by the hasty and greedy 

 manner that he swallowed it. The bystan- 

 ders looked at him with astonishment, ex- 



