PEAKS. 467 



ABBOTT. Fruit, medium sized ; obovate, inclining to pyrifonn, 

 widest at the centre, and tapering to either extremity. Skin, bright 

 green at first, but changing as it ripens to yellowish ; it is strewed all 

 over with grey and crimson dots, has a blush of crimson on the side 

 next the SUD, and is marked here and there with traces of russet and 

 with a patch round the stalk. Eye, open, with erect stout segments, 

 and placed in a wide and shallow basin. Stalk, rather obliquely in- 

 serted by the side of a fleshy lip, slightly depressed. Flesh, white, 

 buttery, melting and juicy, but slightly gritty, with a sweet and 

 agreeably perfumed flavour. 



A second-rate American pear, which ripens in the end of September 

 and beginning of October, and which is unworthy of cultivation. 



Abondance. See Ah / Mon Dieu. 



ACHALZIG. Fruit, large, three inches long, and two inches and 

 three-quarters broad ; abruptly pyramidal. Skin, green at first, but 

 becoming of a lemon yellow colour as it attains maturity, and strewed 

 with white and grey dots, and is rather rough to the feel from being 

 covered with small cracks. Eye, open, set in a wide shallow basin. 

 Stalk, two inches long, somewhat obliquely inserted, with a swelling- 

 on one side of it. Flesh, yellowish white, slightly gritty, melting,, 

 sweet, and richly flavoured. 



This ripens in October, and continues in use for a month afterwards. 



Tt is a Crimean variety sent into Europe by Mr. Hartwiss, the superintendent 

 of the royal garden at Nikita. 



ACHAN (Black Achan ; Red Auchan ; Winter Achan ; Black Bess 

 f ( 'tistle 3/t'MctV.s). Fruit, below medium size ; turbinate, but frequently 

 also of an obovate shape when grown to a large size, flattened at the 

 apex. Skin, greenish yellow on the shaded side, and strewed with 

 grey russet patches and dots. On the side next the sun it is of a 

 dull brown ferruginous red, covered with large grey russety dots or 

 freckles. Eye, large and open, with broad dry reflexed segments, and 

 slightly depressed. Stalk, an inch long, obliquely inserted under a 

 large prominent lip, and surrounded with thin russet. Flesh, tender, 

 buttery, juicy, sugary, with a rich and aromatic flavour. 



A Scotch dessert pear of first-rate quality ; ripe in November and 

 December. The tree is a very abundant and regular bearer, par- 

 ticularly when it has acquired age. 



The description here given is as the fruit is grown in Scotland, 

 where it is justly reckoned one of the finest, if not the finest, winter 

 pear ; but, singularly enough, when grown in the southern counties of 

 England, it loses entirely its good properties. It is evidently one of 

 those fruits that require to be grown and ripened gradually, for in the 

 south, where it acquires much greater dimensions than it does in the 

 north, the flesh is pasty and insipid, and the fruit does not last beyond 

 the middle part of October. I have seen this variety grown in some 



