THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 135 



are remarkable for their small cores. The trees, while in no way remarkable, 

 are quite up to the average in all characters, and surpass most of their 

 orchard associates in hardiness and fruitfulness. The variety is desirable 

 for both home and commercial orchards. 



This early summer pear was found as a chance seedling in 1825 by 

 Nicolas Giffard, Foussieres, France. In 1840, M. Millet, president of the 

 Society of Horticulture of Maine-et-Loire, wrote the first description of it 

 in the Bulletins of the Society. It was introduced in America about 1850, 

 and in 1858 was added to the fruit catalog-list of the American Pomological 

 Society. 



Tree of medium size, vigorous, spreading, open-topped, hardy, productive; branches 

 reddish-brown, nearly covered with gray scarf-skin, with long and narrow, large lenticels; 

 branchlets slender, new growth willowy, long, reddish-brown, smooth, glabrous except 

 near the tips of the new growth, with conspicuous, raised, round lenticels. 



Leaf-buds small, short, pointed, appressed. Leaves 2\ in. long, i\ in. wide, stiff; 

 apex taper-pointed; margin entire, sometimes slightly pubescent; petiole z\ in. long, slender, 

 reddish-green; stipules very long and slender. Flower-buds small, plump, free, singly 

 on very short spurs; flowers showy, i\ in. across, in dense clusters, average 8 buds in a 

 cluster; pedicels f in. long, pubescent. 



Fruit ripe in late August; variable in size, averages 3 in. long, 25 in. wide, obovate- 

 acute-pyriform; stem J in. long; cavity lacking, the flesh closing up symmetrically around 

 the stem except when drawn up in a lip; calyx open, small; lobes separated at the base, 

 narrow, accuminate; basin shallow, narrow, obtuse, almost smooth, symmetrical; skin 

 thin, tender, smooth; color dull greenish-yellow, with a dotted, dull red blush, often without 

 blush; dots numerous, small, greenish and russet, very conspicuous; flesh tinged with yellow, 

 granular at the center, melting, very juicy, vinous, highly aromatic; quality very good. 

 Core small, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube narrow, funnel-shaped; seeds plump, 

 acute. 



BEURRfi HARDY 



i. Barry Fr. Garden 314. 1851. 2. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 466. 1857. 3. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 66. 

 1862. 4. Pom. France 2: No. 46, PI. 46. 1864. 5. Mas Le Verger 3: Pt. I, n, fig. 4. 1866-73. 6. 

 Leroy Diet. Pom. 1:379, fig. 1867. 7. Hogg Fruit Man. 521. 1884. 8. Soc. Nat. Hort. France Pom. 

 378, fig. 1904. 



Hardy. 9. Card. Chron. 463. 1863. 10. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 38. 1883. 



Gellert's Butterbirne. n. Gaucher Pom. Prak. Obst. No. 38, PI. 78. 1894. 



Beurre Hardy is one of the good autumn pears. Both fruit and tree 

 commend it. The fruits are usually large; are handsome in appearance; 

 and the flesh and flavor are exceptionally fine. Thus, the flesh, while a 

 little granular at the core, is melting, juicy, and richly aromatic, as truly 

 luscious as in any other pear. Unfortunately the fruits do not keep well, 

 having a tendency to soften at the core as maturity advances. When poorly 



