DESSERT PEARS. 543 



in turnery, tool-making, for picture-frames, and for dyeing to imitate 

 ebony. The leaves will dye yellow. 



Properties of a good Pear. Dessert pears are characterized by a 

 sugary aromatic juice, with the pulp soft and sub-liquid or melting, as 

 in the beurres or butter-pears. Kitchen pears should be of large size, 

 with the flesh firm and crisp, neither breaking nor melting, and 

 rather austere than sweet, as in the Windsor, for instance. Perry pears 

 may be either large or small ; but the more austere the taste, the 

 better will be the liquor. Excellent perry is made from the wild 

 pear, which is altogether unfit either for the kitchen or the dessert. 



The varieties of pear cultivated by the Romans, Pliny informs us, 

 were numerous ; in France they have long been more so than the 

 varieties of the apple; and hence the kinds formerly cultivated in 

 this country were obtained from France, and generally required the 

 protection of walls. Since the Peace of 1815, however, many new and 

 hardy varieties of pear have been introduced Irom Belgium, where the 

 cultivation and improvement of this fruit has, till lately, been more 

 attended to than anywhere else. Some excellent and very hardy 

 varieties have also been raised by the late Mr. Knight, so that the old 

 French varieties, with the exception of some of superior excellence, 

 such as the Jargonelle, are rapidly disappearing from our gardens. In 

 1842 more than 700 sorts had been proved in the Horticultural Society's 

 Gardens to be distinct, as appears by the Society's Fruit Catalogue. 

 Many more have been added to our gardens since then. The fol- 

 lowing will be found a good selection, arranged in the order of their 

 ripening. 



Dessert Pears, earliest varieties, from June to September. 



Jargonelle, Citron des Carmes, Doyenne d'Ete, Peach, Tyson, Autumn 

 Bergamot, Beurre G-oubault, Beurre d'Amanlis, Colmar d'Ete, Beurre 

 Gifford, Yat, Jersey Gratioli, Beurre Superfin, Williams's Bon Chretien, 

 Calebasse d'Ete, d'Aremberg, Summer Beurre. 



Dessert Pears in Season from September to January. 



Marie Louise, Louise Bonne of Jersey, Fondante d'Automne, 

 Duchesse d'Orleans, Duchesse d'Angouleme, Vicar of Winkfield, 

 Crasanne, Thompson's, Passe Colmar, Glou Morceau, Beurre Leon 

 le Clerc, Huyshe's Victoria, Forelle, Napoleon, Ligne d'Hiver, Delices 

 d'Hardenpont, Urbaniste, Beurre Bosc, Gansel's Bergamot, Suffolk 

 Thorn. 



Dessert Pears, Second Period, from September to January. 



Chaumontel, Beurre Clairgeau, White Doyenne, Aston Town, Beurre 

 Hardy, Comte- de Lamy, Prince Consort, Doyenne du Cornice, 

 Seckle, Alexander Lambre, Beurre d'Aremberg, Dumas' Honey, Beurre 

 d'Anjou, Comte de Lamy, ('omte de Fiandres, Gansel's Late Bergamot, 

 Delices de Hardenpont, Knight's Monarch, Vicar of Winkfield. 



