THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 125 



since no other variety is so easily grown, nor so reliable in the markets, 

 Bartlett promises long to continue its supremacy for home and commercial 

 plantations. After Kieffer, it is the most desired of all pears by the canning 

 trade. Bartlett is the parent of several other well-known varieties, and of 

 many sorts of small importance. 



This pear was found as a wilding by a Mr. Stair, a schoolmaster at 

 Aldermaston, Berkshire, England. From him it was acquired by a Mr. 

 Williams, a nurseryman at Turnham Green, Middlesex, and as it was prop- 

 agated and distributed by him it became known by his name, although 

 it is still known as Stair's pear at Aldermaston. It was brought to this 

 country in 1797 or 1799 by James Carter of Boston for Thomas Brewer 

 who planted the variety in his grounds at Roxbury, Massachusetts, under 

 the name of Williams' Bon Chretien, by which name it was then and still is 

 known both in England and France. In 1817 Enoch Bartlett, Dorchester, 

 Massachusetts, became possessed of the Brewer estate, and not knowing its 

 true name allowed the pear to go out under his own. Henceforth it was 

 known in America as Bartlett. The American Pomological Society added 

 this variety to its catalog-list of fruits in 1848. 



Tree medium in size, tall, pyriform, upright, hardy, very productive; branches 

 stocky, smooth, reddish-brown overlaid with ash-gray scarf-skin, with few lenticels; 

 branchlets short, with short internodes, reddish-brown, glossy, smooth, glabrous, with 

 conspicuous lenticles. 



Leaf -buds short, obtuse, pointed, mostly free; leaf -scars prominent. Leaves af in. 

 long, iy in. wide, oval, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin tipped with small dark red 

 glands, finely serrate; petiole if in. long. Flower-buds large, conical, pointed, free; flowers 

 showy, i in. across, in dense clusters averaging 7 buds in a cluster; pedicels ij in. long, 

 slender, slightly pubescent. 



Fruit matures in September; large, 3$ in. long, 2! in. wide, oblong-obtuse-pyriform, 

 tapering toward the apex, symmetrical, uniform; stem if in. long, often curved, thick; 

 cavity small, usually lipped, with thin, overspreading streaks of light russet, acute, shallow; 

 calyx partly open; lobes separated at the base, narrow, acute; basin very shallow, narrow, 

 obtuse, furrowed and wrinkled; skin thin, tender, smooth, often dull, the surface some- 

 what uneven; color clear yellow, with a faint blush on the exposed cheek, more or less 

 dotted with russet and often thinly russeted around the basin; dots many, small, con- 

 spicuous, greenish-russet; flesh fine-grained although slightly granular at the center, melt- 

 ing, buttery, very juicy, vinous, aromatic; quality very good. Core large, closed, with 

 clasping core-lines; calyx-tube long, wide, funnel-shaped; seeds wide, plump, acute. 



BELLE LUCRATIVE 



i. Lindley Guide Orch. Card. 364. 1831. 2. Kenrick Am. Orch. 135. 1841. 3- Hovey Fr. A m. 1 : 4 i . 

 PI. 1851. 4. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 53. 1852. 5. Field Pear Cult. 1 94, fig. 68. 1858. 



