THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 179 



Tree large, vigorous, upright, the younger branches inclined to droop, very productive; 

 branches stocky, dark reddish-brown ; branchlets often curved and drooping, short, sprinkled 

 with elongated, inconspicuous lenticels. Leaf-buds large, conical, appressed. Leaves oval, 

 enlarged at the base; apex abruptly pointed; margin coarsely serrate; petiole long, thick. 

 Flower-buds large, long-conic; flowers medium in size. 



Fruit ripens in August and September; medium to sometimes large, 3^ in. long, 2I in. 

 wide, obtuse-pyriform to oblong-pyriform; stem i in. long, slender, obliquely inserted; 

 cavity obtuse, very shallow; calyx small, open; lobes long, projecting; basin variable 

 in depth, small, irregular, furrowed; skin smooth, glossy; color lemon-yellow, blushed with 

 red on the sunny side, occasionally marbled with thin orange-russet about the neck; dots 

 light greenish or russet; flesh white, coarse, juicy, sweet, aromatic; quality good. Core 

 large; seeds dark brown, small, narrow, long, often abortive. 



JOSEPHINE DE MALINES 



I. Mcintosh Bk. Card. 2:461. 1855. 2. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 68. 1862. 3. Pom. France 2: No. 

 50, PI. 50. 1864. 4. Jour. Hart. N. S. 14:67. 1868. 5. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 793, fig. 1869. 6. 

 Leroy Diet. Pom. 2:310, fig. 1869. 7. Guide Prat. 61, 282. 1876. 8. Jour. Hart. 3rd Ser. 5:565, fig. 

 96. 1882. 9. Hogg Fruit Man. 599. 1884. 10. Bunyard Handb. Hardy Fr. 182. 1920. 



Josephine von Mecheln. 11. Dochnahl FUhr. Obstkunde 2:93. 1856. 12. Mathieu Nam. Pom. 239. 

 1889. 13. Gaucher Pom. Prak. Obst. No. 50, PI. 31. 1894. 



Malines. 14. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 24. 1897. 



This is another of the few good winter pears. The fruit-characters 

 are so distinctive and meritorious that the variety should be grown in every 

 home orchard, and it possesses much merit for commercial plantations. 

 The fruits have a marked peculiarity. Cut through the shaded yellow-russet 

 skin, flesh with a faint, rosy tint is displayed. Several red or rosy-fieshed 

 pears are grown in Europe, but this is the only one described by American 

 pomologists. The tree also, has a marked peculiarity; it thrives amazingly 

 well on the white-thorn as well as on pear and quince stocks. But it is the 

 quality of the fruits that commends the variety most highly. The flesh is 

 buttery, juicy, sweet, and perfumed — pleasing in every character that 

 gratifies the palate. The season is exceedingly variable, and is given by 

 different pomologists from December to March and January to May. 

 The fruits are not very pleasing in appearance, but the accompanying 

 illustration scarcely does them justice in either size or color. In the orchard, 

 the trees are satisfactory, but the nurserymen find them rather difficult to 

 grow, this, no doubt, being the chief reason for the apparent neglect of this 

 splendid pear. The trees thrive in almost any soil or situation suitable to 

 pears, and are everywhere prodigiously fruitful, hardy, and resistant to 

 blight. The variety deserves wider recognition than it now receives. 



