THE PEARS OF NEW YORK l6l 



Fruit in season late December to February; 3 in. long, 2| in. wide, obovate-pyriform, 

 with a short, thick neck; stem f in. long, thick, woody; cavity acute, very deep, narrow, 

 furrowed, uneven, compressed; calyx open; lobes narrow, acute; basin deep, narrow, abrupt, 

 furrowed and wrinkled; skin thick, tough, roughened by the dots, the surface uneven; 

 color yellow, marked with many russet dots and with patches and veinings of russet, often 

 with a dull brownish-red blush; dots numerous, small, very conspicuous, russet; flesh tinged 

 with yellow, granular near the center and toward the calyx, tender and melting, juicy, 

 buttery, sweet, with a rich, pleasant flavor, very aromatic; quality very good. Core large, 

 dosed, axile, with meeting core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds large, wide, 

 long, plump, acute. 



ELIZABETH 



i. Mag. Hart. 8:57. 1842. 2. Ibid. 13:63, fig. 6. 1847. 3. Leroy Diet. Pom. 3:126, fig. 1869. 

 4. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 23. 1897. 



Manning's Elizabeth. 5. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 385. 1845. 6. Hovey Fr. Am. 2:41, PI. 1851. 

 j. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 231. 1854. 8. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 810, fig. 1869. 



Elizabeth de Manning. 9. Mas Le Verger 2:105, fig. 51. 1866-73. '<> Guide Prat. 93, 269. 1876. 



Nina. n. Hogg Fruit Man. 623. 1884. 12. Mathieu Norn. Pom. 258. 1889. 



Elizabeth is among the best summer pears for eastern America, either 

 for home consumption or for the markets. The characters which commend 

 it are: handsome, well-flavored fruits; and vigorous, hardy, productive 

 trees, which are as resistant to blight as those of any other European pear, 

 and which come in bearing early and bear annually. Faults are: the fruits 

 are small, a fault that can be overcome somewhat by thinning; they are a 

 little coarse in texture of flesh, which is a little too gritty; and the flavor, 

 while good for an early pear, is not as sweet and rich as might be desired. 

 The trees are nearly flawless, failing, if at all, in not attaining as great size 

 as some other inhabitants of pear orchards. The crop is often borne in 

 clusters a defect by reason of which the fruits are so often small. But 

 even with these defects, we must end as we began with the statement that 

 this is one of the best summer pears. 



In the year 1819, Van Mons established his famous nursery at Louvain, 

 Belgium, and in the years 1830 and 1831 he sent from there two consign- 

 ments of pear cions to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, both of 

 which were unfortunately lost in turn on the way. Three years later, 

 Kenrick, Manning, and Dearborn, Massachusetts horticulturists, requested 

 him to forward another collection. In the successive springs of 1835 and 

 1836, he sent two more collections which safely arrived in due course, 

 though a large proportion of the cions died. These collections comprised 

 originally about 150 named and 100 seedling unnamed varieties, and Van 

 Mons granted Manning permission to name any of the latter that might 

 ii 



