THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 15! 



This old French pear is worth planting, if the trees can be obtained, 

 because of its very late fruits and long season. The pears come in season 

 under ordinary conditions in December and keep until March. The fruits 

 are not remarkable for either taste or appearance, but are good for a winter 

 product when there is little competition with other varieties. The pears 

 are admirably adapted for culinary purposes. In some seasons the pears 

 fail to ripen, and the variety should be planted only on warm soils and in 

 situations where the season is warm and long. Tree and fruit have a family 

 resemblance to Easter Beurre; the latter, however, is generally a better 

 pear than this one. This variety is much grown in Europe on the quince, 

 and in the various fanciful forms Europeans make use of in training fruit 

 trees. 



Doyenne d'Alencon is reported to be a wilding discovered by the 

 Abbe Malassis near Alencon, Orne, France, and propagated by M. Thuillier, 

 a nurseryman at Alencon. There was, however, a pear of the same name 

 and season found at Orleans in 1628, in the orchard of Le Lectier, the 

 renowned pomologist. It is probable that the pear which M. Thuillier 

 propagated was the one found many years previously by Le Lectier. The 

 variety must have been introduced into America between 1840 and 1850, 

 as it was mentioned by the American Pomological Society in 1856 as one of 

 the promising new pears. In 1858, the Society added the variety to its 

 fruit-catalog, but discontinued recommending it in 1897. 



Tree medium in size and vigor, upright, dense-topped, productive; trunk thick, shaggy; 

 branches stocky, reddish-brown lightly covered with gray scarf-skin; branchlets slender, 

 curved, short, with short internodes, light brown, with a faint reddish tinge, smooth, pubes- 

 cent near the tips of the new growth, with numerous small, raised, conspicuous lenticels. 



Leaf -buds small, short, sharply pointed, plump, free; leaf -scars with prominent 

 shoulders. Leaves zj in. long, 15 in. wide, thin; apex taper-pointed; margin with few 

 glands, coarsely serrate; petiole 25 in. long, glabrous, with tinge of red, slender. Flower- 

 buds small, short, conical, plump, free, arranged singly on short spurs; flowers early, 

 i^ in. across, in dense clusters, average 9 buds in a cluster; pedicels f in. long, lightly 

 pubescent. 



Fruit ripe December to February; 2j in. long, zf in. wide, medium in size, obovate- 

 obtuse-pyriform, symmetrical, uniform; stem f in. long, thick, curved; cavity obtuse, 

 shallow, symmetrical, often slightly lipped, small; calyx open, large; lobes not separated 

 at the base, broad, narrow; basin narrow, abrupt, smooth, symmetrical; skin very thick, 

 tough, roughish ; color dull greenish-yellow, with a faint orange blush on the exposed cheek, 

 marked with many brown and russet dots and netted with russet; dots numerous, small, 

 brownish-russet, inconspicuous; flesh tinged with yellow, granular at the center, tender and 

 melting, juicy, aromatic, with a lively vinous flavor; quality good. Core large, closed, 



