THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 1 77 



JARGONELLE 



I. Knoop Pomologie loi, fig. 1771. 2. Coxe Cult. Fr. Trees 183, fig. 13. 1817. 3. Pom. Mag. 3: 

 108, PI. 1830. 4. Lindley Guide Orch. Card. 341. 1831. 5. Mag. Hort. 9:363, fig. 30. 1843. 

 6. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 758. 1869. 



Cergonell. 7. Parkinson Par. Ter. 593. 1629. 



£pargiie. 8. Duhamel Trait. Arb. Fr. 2:133, PI. VII. 1768. 9. Coxe Cult. Fr. Trees 181, fig. 10. 

 1817. 10. Prince Pom. Man. 1:152. 1831. 11. Pom. France 2: No. 85, PI. 85. 1864. 13. Mas Le 

 Verger 2:19, fig. 8. 1866-73. 13- Leroy Diet. Pom. 2: 135, fig. 1869. 14. Guide Prat. 62, 269. 1876. 



Sparbirne. 15. 'Dochnahl Fiihr. Obstkunde i:it,i. 1856. 16. Mathieu iVow. Fom. 286. 1889. 



Wdlsche Birne. 17. Dochnahl Fiihr. Obstkunde 3:144. 1856. 



At one time the best second early pear, Jargonelle is now little grown in 

 America, native varieties having crowded it out. The crop ripens two or 

 three weeks before that of Bartlett, so that the pears come on the market 

 with those of Bloodgood and Dearborn, which, for most situations, are 

 better sorts. The fruits are as attractive as any of their season and are 

 vmique in shape and in having a long, curved stem. The quality leaves 

 much to be desired. The flesh is coarse, rather gritty, and the flavor lacks 

 the rich sugary taste on the one hand, or the refreshing piquancy on the 

 other hand, of good pears. The fruits rot at the core and the season is 

 short. The crop should be picked early and ripened in the house. The 

 trees are large, vigorous and sometimes very productive, but are coarse, 

 imtidy bearers, especially when yotmg, and are often uncertain in bear- 

 ing. After setting the faults against the merits of this variety, one must 

 conclude that is it too worthy to discard, but hardly good enough for a 

 recommendation for other than the home orchard or in the plantings of 

 collectors. 



Jargonelle is a patriarch among pears, being one of the oldest of all 



varieties. Its name appears to be derived from Jargon, anciently Gergon, 



a corruption of Groecimi; whence Merlet, writing in 1675, infers that the 



Jargonelle was the Pyrum Tarentinum of Cato and Columella, the Numid- 



ianum Groecum of Pliny, and the Groeculum of Macrobius. So far as we 



know the earliest mention of the Jargonelle in England is by John Parkinson, 



who, writing in 1629, mentions sixty -five varieties of pears, among them 



being the Peare Cergonell. Stephen Switser, who wrote in 1731, also 



names it. The vitality of the English Jargonelle is remarkable ; the trees, 



it is said, often live for 200 years. In Scotland the variety is cultivated as 



far north as pears will grow. William Coxe, Burlington, New Jersey, 



writing in 181 7 of the Jargonelle, said, " This pear has not been much 



ctiltivated in America, and almost always under false names." 

 12 



