198 THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 



gists generally agree that its fruits are the finest flavored of their season. 

 The flesh is tender and melting, very juicy, and the flavor is a most delect- 

 able commingling of refreshing piquancy and scented sweetness. In shape, 

 the pears resemble those of Beurre Bosc, having the same trim contour, 

 but the color is very different — rich yellow, netted and sprinkled with 

 russet, and sun-flecked with red on the sunny side. The fruit is some- 

 what susceptible to the scab fungus, and even the most careful spraying 

 fails to give it a fair cheek in some seasons. The trees are hardy but only 

 moderately vigorous, somewhat susceptible to blight, rather uncertain 

 in bearing, and vary much from season to season in abundance and quality 

 of product. Not at all suited for a commercial plantation, Marie Louise 

 is one of the choicest sorts for a home collection or in the hands of a pear 

 fancier. 



The Abb6 Duquesne, Mons, Belgium, raised this pear from seed in 

 1809 and dedicated it to Marie Louise, the second consort of Napoleon 

 the First. The Abbe passed the pear on to Van Mons, who in 18 16 sent 

 it without a name to a Mr. Braddick of Thames Ditton, England, where in 

 time it became one of the best -known pears. Thomas Andrew Knight 

 sent cions of the variety from England to John Lowell, Roxbury, Massa- 

 chusetts, in 1823, whence it became widely disseminated in America. The 

 American Pomological Society placed Marie Louise in its list of fruits in 

 1862. 



Tree medium in size, vigorous, spreading, open-topped, hardy, productive; trunk 

 slender; branches dark reddish-brown mingled with thin gray scarf-skin, marked with 

 many large lenticels; branchlets very slender and very short, with short intemodes, light 

 brown, tinged with brownish-red, glossy, smooth, glabrous, with very small, slightly 

 raised lenticels. 



Leaf-buds small, short, sharply pointed, plvrnip, free. Leaves 25 in. long, ij in. wide, 

 narrow, short, oval or somewhat elongated, leathery; apex obtusely or slightly taper- 

 pointed; margin glandless, entire; petiole 2 in. long, greenish, glabrous, slender. Flower- 

 buds small, conical, free, arranged singly as lateral buds or on short spurs; flowers very 

 showy, if in. across, in dense clusters, 7 to 9 buds in a cluster; pedicels often i| in. long, 

 slender, slightly pubescent, greenish. 



Fruit ripe in late September and early October; above medivun in size, 35 in. long, 

 2 A in. wide, variable in size, oblong-pyriform, irregular, usually with sides unequal; stem 

 I J in. long, thick, curved; cavity very small and one-sided, russeted, often lipped; calyx 

 large, open; lobes separated at the base, narrow, acuminate; basin obtuse, considerably 

 furrowed; skin thin, tender, smooth, dull; color yellow, netted and sprinkled with russet 

 especially on the exposed cheek; dots ntmierous, small, russet, somewhat obscure; flesh 

 yellowish-white, granular, tender, buttery, very juicy, aromatic, with a rich, vinous flavor; 



