88 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



Beurre Clairgeau Pear. — At the exhibition of the Pomo- 

 logical Society, on the 6th of November, and of which a re- 

 port is given at page 727 of the Gardeners' Chronicle^ it 

 appears that three fruits of the Beurre Clairgeau were exhib- 

 ited ; two of these from a wall, with a southeast aspect, and 

 the other from a pyramid on the quince stock. These fruits 

 were tasted ; but part of the decision of the judges, we think, 

 they will some day alter, when they have an opportunity of 

 again tasting the fruit. All agreed that the fruits were re- 

 markable, and they found that the flesh was tender and juicy, 

 but not buttery, and the flavor watery and flat ; and, accord- 

 ingly, the variety was ranked second rate. 



The variety has but recently commenced bearing, and con- 

 sequently its properties cannot be positively judged. The 

 trees which bore the fruits in question have not been long 

 enough planted to enable them to give to the fruit all the 

 qualities it naturally possesses ; perhaps there may have been 

 other causes which ought to have been taken into consider- 

 ation. Some account of the history of this variety may be 

 interesting to pomologists. 



On the 22d of October, 1848, Peter Clairgeau, a gardener 

 at Nantes, France, exhibited to the Horticultural Society of 

 that place specimens of fruit, obtained from the seedling tree, 

 in order that they might be tasted, and their merits decided 

 on. The form having been considered -perfect, and the fla- 

 vor excellent, M. Jules d'AiroIes, Secretary of the Society, 

 opened a subscription in order to obtain the seedling. A no- 

 tice, accompanied with a drawing of the fruit, appeared, Feb- 

 ruary 15th, 1849, in the " Revue Horticole " of Paris. Ac- 

 cording to this, maiden plants were to be supplied to the sub- 

 scribers in the following autumn, provided the number of 

 subscribers amounted to 200, but this not being the case, the 

 trees were not delivered. In the meantime we had an op- 

 portunity of seeing two members of the Horticultural Society 

 of Nantes, and we subjoin their statements respecting the 

 vigorous growth of the seedling, even on the quince stock ; 

 the beauty and good qualities of the fruit, two specimens of 

 which we have now before us from Nantes. It remained to 



