176 THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 



There, presumably, the fruits are larger and better flavored than in the 

 East. As the accompanying plate shows, the pears are only medium in 

 size on the grounds of this Station, but they are attractive in color and of 

 excellent taste. The core is small, and the seeds are often abortive and 

 sometimes wanting. The flesh is tender, buttery and almost free from 

 granulation, with a rich, sweet, vinous flavor which make the rating for 

 this fruit " good to very good." In many regions the pears are large, 

 rough, and gross — sometimes a facsimile of Duchesse d'Angouleme. The 

 trees are dwarf and fruitful to a fault so that the pears often run small; 

 they are hardier than those of almost any other pear and bear annually. 

 To offset these good characters, however, the trees have the fatal fault of 

 blighting, so that the variety is of value only in regions where blight is not 

 an annual scotirge of this fruit. 



Idaho was raised from seed of an unknown variety about the year 

 1867 by a Mrs. Mulkey, Lewiston, Idaho, and, having been propagated by 

 the Idaho Pear Company, was first brought to public notice in the autumn 

 of 1886 by John H. Evans of Lewiston. In 1888 it was introduced to 

 Europe and was shown at the congress of fruit growers held at Geneva, 

 Switzerland, in 1899. Idaho is included in the American Pomological 

 Society's list of fruits recommended for general cultivation, having been 

 added to this list in 1899. 



Tree medium in size, vigorous, upright-spreading, hardy, very productive; trunk 

 smooth; branches slender, smooth, reddish-brown overspread with much gray scarf-skin, 

 sprinkled with many small lenticels; branchlets dull brownish-red, overlaid with scarf-skin, 

 smooth, glabrous, with small lenticels. 



Leaf-buds small, short, conical, pointed, free; leaf-scars prominent. Leaves 2I in. 

 long, i^ in. wide, leathery; apex abruptly pointed; margin glandular, finely serrate; petiole 

 2 in. long. Flower-buds short, conical, very plump, free, singly on short spurs; flowers 

 showy, 1 5 in. across, in dense racemes, average 8 buds in a cluster; pedicels i| in. long, 

 pubescent. 



Fruit matures in late September and October; mediimi in size, 2 in. long, 25 in. wide, 

 roundish, slightly pyriform, symmetrical; stem i in. long, thick, slightly curved; cavity 

 acute, narrow, furrowed, slightly lipped; calyx closed; lobes broad, acute; basin shallow, 

 obtuse, somewhat furrowed; skin thick and granular, tough, roughish; color dull lemon- 

 yellow, tinged with green, dotted and streaked with russet, splashed with russet patches; 

 dots numerous, small, russet, conspicuous; flesh dull white, tinged with yellow, firm, tender, 

 buttery, juicy, sweet, rich, almost vinous; quality good to very good. Core closed, with 

 clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds wide, acute. 



