90 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



with vigorous spurs.] The fruit was tasted on November 23, 

 1851, by M. Bivort, editor of the '■'■ Album de Pomologie,''^ 

 and the description was then completed. The fruit was very 

 large, pyramidal, sometimes flattened on the side, and curved, 

 about 41 inches in length, and 3i inches in diameter. Stalk 

 short and very thick, but not fleshy, obliquely inserted. Eye 

 in a small shallow cavity. Flesh white, fine, melting, but- 

 tery, with abundance of sugary and agreeably perfumed 

 juice. 



The Commission Royal de Pomologie Beige has given in 

 its Annales, p. 29, a notice equally favorable. M. d'Airoles, 

 of Nantes, who has seen the original tree in bearing for eight 

 years, and the fruit of propagated plants for four or five years, 

 has given a description of the variety, which is inserted in 

 the Gardeners'' Chronicle, p. 388. In our Catalogue for the 

 spring of 1854 we have stated of the Beurre Clairgeau : — 

 Fruit very large and long. Flesh melting, ripe in November 

 and December. Tree vigorous, suitable for a wall, pyramid, 

 and standard. There is, then, a great difference between the 

 appreciation of the fruit by the British Pomological Society, 

 from specimens obtained from Redleaf, and that by M. d'Air- 

 oles, from fruit grown at Nantes, and also that by M. Bivort, 

 from the produce of trees on quince, in my garden. 



Although we have cultivated this new variety of pear dur- 

 ing four years, we should not wish to constitute ourselves the 

 arbitrators between the different opinions respecting the mer- 

 its of the fruit ; for we know, from long experience, that a 

 certain lapse of time is necessary, and which experimental 

 connoisseurs fix at from 5 to 20 years, from the period of the 

 first production of a new fruit before, in consequence of com- 

 parative observations, a definite opinion can be given of the 

 real merits of the variety. All that we can say at present is, 

 that this new variety, the Beurre Clairgeau, originated at 

 Nantes, is the most vigorous, hardy, and productive of all 

 new sorts received from France. In order to preserve its 

 qualities from deterioration in the climates of Belgium and 

 England, we are of opinion that the variety ought to be 

 woiked on the pear stock ; or if worked on the quince, the 

 grafts should only be taken from trees growing on pear 



