THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 1 65 



color on the sunny side. The flesh, while gritty near the core, is tender, 

 juicy, buttery, very rich, sweet, and aromatic. It is just the pear for those 

 who prefer sweetness to vinousness or piquancy, and who object to even a 

 trace of astringency. The trees, while only medium in size, are vigorous, 

 hardy, healthy, and productive. If the variety grows elsewhere as well as 

 it does on the grounds of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station it 

 is too good to be lost. The fruits are in season and at their best for 

 Christmas. 



This pear was raised from seed by Major Esperen, MechHn, Belgium. 

 The tree fruited first in 1842 and was given the name Fondante de Noel to 

 indicate the day on which it was tasted for the first time. In 1862 a pear 

 called Souvenir d' Esperen, attributed to seed grown by Berckmans, a noted 

 Belgian horticulturist living in the United States, was put forth, but after 

 examination there did not appear to be any difference in either the fruit 

 or the wood of this tree from that of the variety grown by Major Esperen. 

 Because the name Souvenir d' Esperen appears in connection with Fondante 

 de Noel, the variety has been confused with another pear which was raised 

 by Major Esperen and named Souvenir d' Esperen. The two, however, 

 are entirely distinct and the last-named sort has long been known and is 

 still found growing in certain pear orchards of the eastern United States. 



Tree medium in size and vigor, upright, hardy, productive; trunk thick, smooth; 

 branches brownish-green, nearly covered with gray scarf-skin; branchlets slender, with 

 long intemodes, smooth, glabrous, marked with conspicuous, raised lenticels. 



Leaf -buds large, long, conical, plump, free. Leaves 3^ in. long, if in. wide; apex 

 taper-pointed; margin glandless, finely serrate; petiole 25 in. long. Flower-buds large, 

 long, plump, free, singly on short spurs; flowers showy, 15 in. across, white often tinged 

 pink on the edges of the petals, average 9 buds in a cluster; pedicels | in. long. 



Fruit matures December to January; large, 2J in. long, 25 in. wide, roundish-turbinate, 

 irregular; stem f in. long, thick, woody, obliquely set; cavity obtuse, shallow, narrow, 

 furrowed, often lipped; calyx small, nearly closed; basin narrow, obtuse, furrowed; skin 

 roughened by russet dots and patches; color dull greenish-yellow, with many dots, flecks 

 and patches of russet, often with a faint trace of brownish-red on the sunny side; dots 

 numerous, small, russet, rather conspicuous; flesh white, gritty only near the core, tender, 

 buttery, juicy, sweet, highly aromatic; quality good to very good; core large, with meeting 

 core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide; seeds large, long, plimip, acute. 



FONTENAY 



I. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 38. 1883. 



Jalousie de Fontenay Vendee. 2. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 396, fig. 173. 1845. 3. Am. Pom. Soc. 

 Rpt. 68. 1862. 



Belle de Esquermes. 4. Mag. Hort. 20:1^5. 1854. 



