206 



THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 



product. On unsuitable soils and under indifferent care, the pears are 

 unattractive and poor in quality. The accompanying illustration, it is 

 to be feared, shows the variety at its worst rather than at its best, since it 

 does not thrive on the heavy, cold clay of the Station lands. Under condi- 

 tions at this Station, the flesh is crisp and gritty, rather than buttery and 

 fine as it seems to be under more suitable conditions. The trees are very 

 vigorous on standard stocks and heavy soils, with the result that the 

 fruits are many but small and poor; checking vigor by dwarfing on quince 

 or planting on poor soil suits the variety. The trees are hardy and as free 

 as the average pear from blight. The variety is a good winter sort for home 

 or market. 



This variety was raised in 1758 at Mons by the Abbe Hardenpont, 

 the Belgian priest and horticulturist. Extensively cultivated in Belgium, 

 it acquired a great diversity of names in different localities. From that 

 country it passed first to Germany toward the end of the eighteenth century, 

 and early in the nineteenth was taken to France. Soon after the close of 

 the Napoleonic wars, about 1817, it was received in England. Within a 

 few years after its introduction in England, the variety found its way to 

 America where, for a time, it was quite extensively grown. The Ameri- 

 can Pomological Society added Passe Colmar to its fruit-list in 1862 but 

 dropped it in 1899. 



Tree medium in size, vigorous, upright, tall, rapid-growing, productive; trunk slender; 

 branches medium in thickness and smoothness, reddish-brown almost entirely overspread 

 with thick, gray scarf-skin, marked by large, conspicuous lenticels; branchlets thick, long, 

 light brown mingled with green, dull, smooth, pubescent only near the ends of the new 

 growth, sprinkled with few small, raised, inconspicuous lenticels. 



Leaf-buds short, plump, free, thick at the base; leaf-scars with prominent shoulders. 

 Leaves 3 in. long, ij in. wide, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin tipped with few small 

 glands, finely serrate to nearly entire; petiole 2 in. long, glabrous, pinkish-green. Flower- 

 buds small, short, thick, conical, plump, free, singly as lateral buds or on very short spurs; 

 flowers late, showy, if in. across, unusually large, in dense clusters, average 6 buds in a 

 cluster; pedicels J in. long, thick, thinly pubescent. 



Fruit ripe December to January; medium in size, 2^ in. long, 25 in. wide, obovate- 

 obtuse-pyriform, somewhat irregular; stem i in. long, very thick; cavity obtuse, shallow, 

 narrow, russeted, slightly furrowed; calyx partly open; lobes separated at the base, rather 

 narrow, acute; basin shallow, narrow, obtuse, gently furrowed; skin thick, granular, tender, 

 roughish; color greenish-yellow, sprinkled with reddish-brown and russet patches and 

 nettings; dots numerous, small, russet, obscure; flesh tinged with yellow, granular, tender, 

 buttery, very juicy, sweet, vinous, aromatic; quality very good. Core large, closed, with 

 clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds large, wide, plump, acute. 



