PEARS. 487 



A dessert pear of ordinary quality ; ripe in the middle of August, and 

 continues in use for about fourteen days. 



The tree attains a large size, and is a vigorous grower, a very abun- 

 dant bearer, and thrives better on the pear than the quince. It is one 

 of the earliest pears, succeeding the Petit Muscat in about eight days, 

 but has the advantage over that variety in being larger and better- 

 flavoured. 



Aurore. See Beurre Capiaumont. 

 Austrasie. See Jaminette. 



AUTUMN BERGAMOT (Common Bergamot; Bergamot; English 

 r>i'f<j<tniot ; York Bergamot). Fruit, small, two inches and a half 

 wide, and the same in depth ; roundish and somewhat depressed. 

 Skin, yellowish green, with dull brown on the side next the sun, and 

 covered all over with rough grey russet specks. Eye, small and open, 

 set in a shallow basin. Stalk, half an inch long, stout, inserted in a 

 wide, round, and even cavity. Flesh, greenish white, slightly gritty 

 at the core, but otherwise tender, melting, juicy, and richly flavoured. 



An old dessert pear of the first quality ; ripe in October. The tree 

 is a vigorous grower and hardy, forms a handsome standard, and is a 

 most abundant bearer. It succeeds well either on the pear or quince. 



It has been stated by Switzer, and by some subsequent writers, evidently on his 

 authority, that the Autumn Bergamot " has been an inhabitant of our island ever 

 since the time that Julius Caesar conquered it. Possibly it was the Assyrian Pear 

 of Virgil (Quod a Syria translata fuisset~), say some commentators, and was, as 

 may be deduced from thence, part of the furniture of the once celebrated and 

 famous gardens of Alcinous." As this can be only conjecture on the part of Switzer, 

 and is unsupported by evidence, I think it extremely improbable. It is rather 

 singular, notwithstanding this statement, that he is the first English author who 

 mentions it, for it is not in the lists of Kca, Worledge, or Evelyn, nor in the very 

 comprehensive list of Leonard Meager, of the fruits which were cultivated in the 

 London nurseries in 1688. Neither is it even mentioned by Kea, Ralph Austin, 

 Parkinson, nor William Lawson, and, indeed, by no author is it recorded prior to 

 Switzer himself. Parkinson speaks of the Winter Bergamot as " of two or three 

 sorts, being all of them small fruit, somewhat greener on the outside than the 

 summer kindes ; all of them very delicate and good in their due time ; so some 

 will not be fit to bee eaten when others are well-nigh spent, every of them outlast- 

 ing another by a moneth or more." But of the Autumn Bergamot we have no 

 early record. 



AUTUMN COLMAR (De Bavay). Fruit, large, three inches and a 

 quarter long, by two and three-quarters wide ; obtuse pyramidal, rounded 

 at the apex, and narrowing obtusely towards the stalk. Skin, smooth, 

 lemon-coloured, strewed with dots and markings of russet, and with a 

 circle of russet round the eye. Eye, open, with erect narrow segments, 

 and filled with the remnants of the stamens, placed in a shallow basin 

 rather on one side. Stalk, nearly two inches long, curved, fleshy, 

 uneven, with indications of incipient buds, dark brown, but green where 

 it has been shaded, inserted on the end of the fruit with little or no 



