JUNE. 269 



177. Alpha. London Hort. Soc. Ca^. 3d Ed. 



The Alpha {Jig. 10) is comparatively an old pear, and was 

 described in the 2d Ed. of the Catalogue of the London 

 Hort. Soc. in 1831. Messrs. Manning and Kenrick received 

 the scions of it from the London Hort. Soc. in 1834 and '35, 

 and it first fruited, we believe, in the Pomological Garden at 

 Salem. It appears to have been somewhat neglected, as it 

 has only fruited in some of the amateur collections around 

 Boston. It proves to be a very good fruit, and was particu- 

 larly noticed at the last meeting of the American Pomologi- 



THE ALPHA. 



cal Society in Boston, and was thought by some of the mem- 

 bers as worthy of being placed on the list which promises 

 well. We have not seen enough of it to form a decided 

 opinion of its merits. The tree is a good grower, and abund- 

 ant bearer. 



Size, medium, about two and half inches long, and two 

 and a half in diameter : Form, roundish obovate, somewhat 

 flattened at the crown, rounding off to the stem : Skin, fair, 

 smooth, green, with a broad shade of dull red on the sunny 

 side, indistinctly mottled, and dotted with small roundish 



