THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 



143 



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, lon- 

 gevity, and earliness and regvilarity in bearing. The variety shows a predi- 

 lection 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, Massachu- 

 setts, but the date of its origin is uncertain. It was favorably mentioned 

 as a promising new fruit at the meeting of the Massachusetts Horticioltural 

 Society in i860. 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 Pomo- 

 logical Society first listed Clapp Favorite in its fruit-catalog in 1867. 



Tree large, upright-spreading, round-topped, very productive; trunk stocky, rough; 

 branches characteristically shagg^', 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 25 in. 

 long, 1 5 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, if in. across, large, well distributed, 

 averaging 7 buds in a cluster; pedicels i-rr in. long, lightly pubescent. „ 



Fruit ripe in late August and early September; large, 4 in. long, 35 in. wide, obovate- 

 obtuse-pyriform, tapering slightly toward the apex, symmetrical; stem ij in. long, very 

 thick, ciuved, fleshy; ca^^ty very shallow, narrow, lipped, with a fleshy ring around the 

 stem; calyx large, open; lobes separated at the base, narrow, aomiinate, 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 



I. 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. 



