490 THE FRUIT MANUAL. 



segments, and placed even with the surface, and without any depression. 

 Stalk, half an inch long, and slender. 



This is a very fine old perry pear. The specific gravity of its juice 

 is, according to Mr. Knight, 1070. 



Mr. Knight says : " Many thousand hogsheads of perry are made from this fruit 

 in a productive season ; but the perry is not so much approved by the present as 

 it was by the original planters. It however sells well whilst new to the merchants, 

 who have probably some means of employing it with which the public are not 

 acquainted ; for I have never met with it more than once within the last twenty 

 years out of the districts in which it is made ; and many of the Herefordshire 

 planters have applied to me in vain for information respecting its disappearance. 

 It may be mingled in considerable quantity with strong and new port, without its 

 taste being perceptible ; and as it is comparatively cheap, it possibly sometimes 

 contributes one of the numerous ingredients of that popular compound." 



" The Barland Perry appears to have been extensively cultivated in Herefordshire 

 prior to the publication of Evelyn's 'Pomona,' in 1674, in which it is very fre- 

 quently mentioned ; and as no trees of this variety are found in decay from age, in 

 favourable soils, it must be concluded that the identical trees which were growing 

 when Evelyn wrote, still remain in health and vigour." 



" The original tree grew in a field called the Bare Lands, in the parish of Bos- 

 bury, whence the variety obtained its name, and it was blown down a few years 

 ago." Marshall says, " The Barland Pear is in great repute, as producing a 

 perry which is esteemed singularly beneficial in nephritic complaints." 



BARONNE DE MELLO (His; Phillipe Goes). Fruit, of a 

 curved pyramidal shape, rounding towards the eye, and tapering on 

 one side with a dipping curve towards the stalk ; sometimes the surface 

 is bossed or undulating, but generally it is even. Skin, almost entirely 

 covered with dark brown russet, which is thin and smooth, so that it 

 has no roughness to the feel ; on the shaded side, the ground colour, 

 which is generally more or less visible, is greenish yellow, mottled 

 over with russet. Eye, small and open, with incurved, tooth-like seg- 

 ments, and placed in a very slight depression, sometimes almost level 

 with the surface. Stalk, half an inch long, slender, woody, and of a 

 brown colour, inserted on the surface of the fruit. Flesh, greenish 

 yellow, fine-grained, melting, and buttery ; juice, very abundant, rich, 

 sugary, brisk, and vinous, with a fine aroma when it is in perfection ; 

 but in some seasons, and in poor soils, in exposed and cold situations, 

 I have found it coarse-grained and gritty, not at all sugary, and with a 

 watery juice. 



This is a very excellent autumn pear, and one of the very first 

 quality. It ripens in the end of October, and sometimes keeps well 

 into November. Though an early autumn pear, it ripens well without 

 decaying at the core, a property which too many do not possess. The 

 tree is very hardy, and maintains a vigorous, though not a rampant 

 growth. It is an excellent bearer, and succeeds well on the quince 

 stock, either as a pyramid or a dwarf bush. 



This is the true Baronne de Mello, respecting which there is a great confusion. 

 I had it from M. Papeleu, of Wetteren, in 1847, and it proves to be identical with 

 the fruit described by M. Decaisne, M. Mas, and M. de Liron d'Airolles. It is 

 remarkable that the latter is the only one of these authors who notices the greenish 

 tinge of the flesh, which I have observed as a constant character. It also corre- 



