138 THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 



who want choicely good fruits. The pears are not as attractive in appear- 

 ance 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. 



Beurre 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 Beurre 

 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 35 in. long, i| in. wide, stiff; apex abruptly pointed; margin tipped with small glands, 

 coarsely serrate; petiole if in. long. Flower-buds conical, pointed, plump, free, singly 

 on short branches and short spurs. 



Fruit matures in October; large, 3J in. long, af in. wide, roundish-oblate, with a short, 

 thick, rounded neck, symmetrical; stem 15 in. long, very thick, ciuved; 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; calj^ 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, melt- 

 ing, 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 



i.Mag.Hort.y.14. 1837. 2. Manning Book of Fruits 65. 1838. 3. il/cg. .ff or/. 9:366, fig. 31. 1843. 

 4. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 332, fig. 132. 1845. $. Proc. Nat. Con. Fr. Gr. 51. 1848. 6. Mas £e Verger 

 2:181, fig. 89. 1866-73. 7- Leroy Diet. Pom. 1:449, fig. 1867. 8. Hogg Fruit Man. 532. 1884. 



Bloodgood's Sommerbirne. 9. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 186. 1889. 



