THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 207 



PITMASTON 



I. Can. Horl. 26:129, fig- 2564. 1903. 2. Ont. Dept. Agr. Fr. Ont. 173, fig. 1914. 



Pitmaston Duchesse d'Angouleme. 3. Card. Chron. 1108, fig. 1864. 4. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 55. 1871. 



Pitmaston Duchess. 5. Jour. Horl. N. S. 18:11, fig. 1870. 6. Tilton Jour. Hart. 7:239, fig. 1870. 

 7. 7o«r. Kor/. N. S. 38:201, fig. 30. 1880. i.'Ro^g Fruit Man. 631. 1884. 9. Card. Chron. 3rd Ser. 

 4:608. 1888. 10. Rev. Hort. \<)(>, t^l. 1900. 11. 'Bvinya.rdHandb. Hardy Fr. K)^,. 1920. 



Although this fine old English pear has more than ordinary merit, 

 it seems to be little grown in America. In appearance, the pears are 

 unsurpassed. The accompanying color-plate shows the shape and color 

 very well, but not the size, as, well grown, the pears are larger. From 

 the illustration, all must agree that the pears are handsome, fruits of few 

 other sorts being so alluring in shape and color. On warm soils or in 

 warm seasons, the flavor is choicely good giving the pears a rating of 

 " good to very good;" but in cold soils and seasons, the flavor is often 

 austere, or even acid and astringent. The season prolongs that of Bartlett, 

 and as the fruits are flavored very differently, being more piquant and 

 refreshing, and are ordinarily larger and handsomer, Pitmaston ought 

 to make a good market variety where it thrives. The subacid flavor 

 makes this one of the very best pears for culinary purposes. Such reports 

 as are at hand state that the fruits keep and ship well. The variety seems 

 not to have been grown widely in America, so that one cannot speak with 

 assurance of the tree-characters; but on the grounds of this Station, the 

 trees have fewer faults than those of most of the standard varieties. 

 They are hardy, vigorous, fairly immiine to blight, and while but moder- 

 ately productive, bear annually, and the large size of the fruits makes 

 them high yielders. The variety should be put on probation by those 

 who grow for the markets, and is well worthy a place in all home 

 orchards. 



Pitmaston was raised by John Williams at Pitmaston, near Worcester, 

 England, in 184 1. It has been generally stated that it originated from a 

 cross between Duchesse d'Angouleme and Glou Morceau, although an old 

 gardener, who was employed by Mr. Williams, stated that there was no 

 record whatever of its parentage, but that it was the best of a nimiber of 

 seedlings. For some time it was known as the Pitmaston Duchesse 

 d'Angouleme on account of the theory of its derivation in part from the 

 Duchesse d'Angouleme; but in 1870 its name was simplified in England to 

 Pitmaston Duchess. In 1874 it obtained a first-class certificate from the 

 Royal Horticultural Society, England. In this country it was first fruited 



