

n^l 



850 THE BARTLETT, OK WILLIAMS' BONCIIEETION PEAR. 



THE BARTLETT, OR WILLIAMS' BONCHRETIEN TEAR* 



AYe trust tlie well-informed readers of the Horticulturist will not take it amiss that 

 we ortl-r them in our frontispiece a portrait of one of the best known and most popular 

 pears in America — the Bartlctt. We are well aware tliat we can scarcely say any- 

 thing of this fruit that is not perfectly well known to all fruit-growers of experience, 

 for scarcely any man in the country plants half a dozen pear trees without including 

 one or two Bartleits ; but there are thousands of beginners in fruit-culture who are 

 at this moment informing themselves, as well as they can, respecting what varieties to 

 plant, and who are, after all, as ignorant of a Bartlett as they are of the greatest 

 novelty in all the catalogues — and perhaps more so, for now-a-days the papers say 

 much more of novelties than of good old establislied sorts. For the particular benefit 

 of such people we give the Bartlett a place at this time, and we commend it heartily 

 to them as every way worthy to be placed at the head of their selections. No 

 other variety we can name has stood the test of so many climates and localities as 

 this. Literally from Maine to Georgia we hear of its successful culture, with here and 

 there an exception. At all the pomological meetings that have been held, no other, 

 we believe, has been so unanimously placed upon the lists for general cultivation. It 

 is an especial favorite with the New England cultivators, and is so extensively grown 

 there as to be abundant and cheap now in the Boston markets. 



It was originated in Berkshire, England, about the year 1770, and was introduced 

 by a INIr. Williams, a nurseryman near London, and there called Williams' Bonchre- 

 tien, which name it is still known by in England. In the French and Belgian 

 catalogues it is called '■'■ Williams' ,'''' or '■'■Poire Guillaume ; laiiQvXj they add 

 '■'■Bartlett of the Americans.^'' The name Bartlett, by which it is almost universally 

 known in this country, Avas originally given to it in consequence of being imported 

 and first grown here by Enoch Bartlett, of Dorchester, Mass., who lost the name 

 under which it was sent to him. It was sent from England to Mr. Bartlett about the 

 year 1799, so that it has been now upwards of half a century in this country ; but it 

 has not been widely known more than half of this time. In KenricJc's American 

 Orchardist, edition of 1833, it is classed among netv varieties. At the present day it 

 is, we think, more extensively propagated in the nurseries than any other variety, save, 

 perhaps, the White Doyenne, the staple of the pear trade in Western New York. 



Fruit — large ; on young vigorous trees often ver]/ large, in some cases weighing a 

 pound. Form — pyramidal, irregular. Surface — quite uneven. Skin — smooth, light 

 yellow, with a delicate blush frequently on tlie sunny side. Stalk — stout and fleshy, 

 an inch to an inch and a half long, and but slightly sunk. Calyx — open, shallow. 

 Basin — very slightly plaited. Flesh — white, fine-grained and buttery, with a rich 

 musky perfume, not wholly agi'eeabie to many tastes ; ripens all through Sept. Few 

 pears admit of being picked so soon as the Bartlett, for they ripen well when gathered 

 even before they are fully grown ; and this quality is of great value, as it allows 



* See Frontispiece. 



