THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 153 



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

 shoulders. Leaves 3! in. long, ij in. wide, leathery; apex abruptly pointed; margin very 

 finely serrate; petiole 15 in. long, slender. Flower-buds small, long and narrow, conical, 

 free, singly on very short spurs; flowers early, showy, if in. across, in dense clusters, average 

 8 buds in a cluster; pedicels if in. long, thick, pubescent. 



Fruit ripe in September; large, 3 in. long, aj in. wide, uniform, obtuse-obovate-pyri- 

 form, symmetrical; stem i in. long, very thick; cavity obtuse, rather shallow, broad, often 

 russeted, furrowed, lipped; calyx large, open; lobes separated at the base, broad, acute; 

 basin shallow, wide, obtuse, gently furrowed and wrinkled; skin thin, tender, smooth 

 except for the russet nettings; color pale yellow, occasionally with a mottled pinkish-red 

 blush on the exposed cheek, more or less netted with russet; dots numerous, small, russet, 

 conspicuous ; flesh white, tender and melting, buttery, very juicy, briskly acid ; quality good* 

 Core large, closed, axile, with meeting core-lines; calyx-tube very short, wide, broadly 

 conical; seeds black, narrow, long, flattened, often abortive. 



DOYENNE DU COMICE 



i. Mag. Hort. 18:168, fig. 16. 1852. 2. Ann. Pom. Beige 8:47, PI. 1860. 3. Am. Pom. Soc. 

 Rpt. 68. 1862. 4. Pom. France a: No. 58, PI. 58. 1864. 5. MasLe Verger 3: Pt. i, 7, fig. 2. 1866-73. 

 6. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 744, fig. 1869. 7. Jour. Hort. N. S. 17:440, fig. 1869. 8. Leroy Diet. Pom. 

 2:60, fig. 1869. o. Hogg Fruit Man. 565. 1884. 10. Rev. Hort. 447, PI. 1908. 



Beurre Robert. II. Leroy Diet. Pom. 1:418, fig. 1867. 12. Ibid. 2:775. 1869. 



Cornice. 13. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 36. 1883. 



Vereins Dechantsbirne. 14. Mathieu Norn. Pom. 293. 1889. 15. Gaucher Pom. Prak. Obit. No. 

 68, PI. 36. 1894. 16. Deut. Obstsorten 5: Pt. 14, PI. 1909. 



This pear has been esteemed long and justly for the beauty and high 

 quality of its fruits. If its tree-characters were better the variety would 

 take high place in commercial orcharding as well as for the home orchard, 

 to which it is now almost wholly confined. The fruits are very large, 

 smooth except for russet markings, clear handsome yellow at maturity, 

 sometimes brightened by a delicate blush, with yellow, fine-grained flesh 

 which is tender, melting, very juicy, sweet, piquant, perfumed. The 

 quality is so good that the fruits of this variety are called by many the best 

 of all pears. The list of faults for the trees is as long as the list of merits 

 for the fruits. The young trees make a poor growth in the nursery; young 

 or old, the trees must be humored in soil, climate, and care; they are subject 

 to blight; while usually productive, they are not always so even where 

 vigorous, healthy, and hardy; lastly, they are a little below the average in 

 hardihood to cold. The variety is seldom at home in New York, but where 

 it thrives, as on the Pacific slope, it is a valuable commercial pear, and is 

 always worthy a place in the home orchard or in the collection of the pear- 

 fancier. In Europe, it is reported as doing especially well on the quince. 



