THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 137 



A prime requisite in any pear of best quality is that there be no dis- 

 agreeable after-taste in the flesh. The fruits of almost none of the winter 

 pears meet this requirement. Almost all have more or less astringency 

 in the after-taste. But the fruits of this variety are wholly free from 

 this astringency and are, moreover, so sweet and rich that they are 

 nearly as delectable as those of Seckel, the standard of excellence in quality. 

 The pears ripen at Geneva in January and may be kept for a month or six 

 weeks at a season when there are few other sweet, rich pears, the fruits of 

 nearly all other pears of this season being vinous and piquant. The trees 

 are hardy and productive, but are slow in coming in bearing, rather small, 

 and not at all self-assertive and must be coddled somewhat. They are 

 reported by many to do better on quince than on pear stocks. The variety 

 is desirable only for the amateur. 



According to Mas, the French pomologist, M. de Jonghe mentioned 

 this pear in a pamphlet on new varieties published in 1 865. It was described 

 in the Magazine of Horticulture in 1857 as a new variety. In Gardener's 

 Chronicle, 1866, M. de Jonghe said that he saw this pear first in 1852 at 

 Uccle, Belgium. The seedling had been planted there two years before. 



Tree medium in size and vigor, spreading, slow-growing, hardy, very productive; 

 trunk slender, shaggy; branches reddish-brown overspread with thick scarf-skin; branch- 

 lets thick, curved, short, with very short internodes, smooth except for the raised, conspic- 

 uous lenticels. Leaf -buds small, short; leaf-scars with prominent shoulders. Leaves 

 2 1 in. long, ij in. wide, thick; apex abruptly pointed; margin glandular, finely serrate; 

 petiole ij in. long, reddish-green. Flower-buds large, long, very plump, free; flowers 

 ii in. across, 7 or 8 buds in a cluster; pedicels in. long, thick. 



Fruit ripe December to January; medium in size, 3 in. long, z\ in. wide, obovate- 

 obtuse-pyriform, very regular; stem short, thick, inserted obliquely; cavity very shallow 

 or none, the flesh often drawn up in a lip on one side of the stem; calyx small, open; basin 

 shallow; skin thin; color dull yellow, thickly overspread with a pale, brownish-russet, 

 often with traces of a russet-red blush; dots numerous, small, dull russet; flesh nearly white, 

 fine-grained, melting, buttery, pleasant flavored, aromatic, sweet; quality very good. 



BEURRE SUPERFIN 



i. Mag. Horl. 20:8, 135. 1854. a. Horticulturist N. S. 5: 88. 1855. 3. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 465. 

 1857. 4. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 231. 1858. 5. Leroy Diet. Pom. 1:432, fig. 1867. 6. Hogg Fruit Man. 

 529. 1884. 



Hochfeine Butterbirne. 7. Lauche Deut. Pom. II: No. 59, PI. 59. 1883. 8. Gaucher Pom. Prak. 

 Obst. No. 47, PI. 60. 1894. 



Superfin. 9. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 40. 1883. 



Tender in skin and delicate in flesh, the product of this variety is not 

 for the markets, but that of few other sorts so admirably supplies those 



