658 THE FBUIT MANUAL. 



towards the eye, rather curved and more swollen on one side of the 

 axis than the other. Skin, smooth, dark green, changing to yellowish 

 green, and with dull brownish red on the exposed side, dotted all 

 over with bright brown and a few tracings of russet. Eye, open, with 

 erect rigid segments, set in a deep, narrow basin. Stalk, an inch to 

 an inch and a half long, curved, inserted in a small close cavity. Flesh, 

 white, crisp, juicy, and slightly gritty. 



An excellent stewing pear ; in use from January to April. 



This appears to be an English pear, and to have been raised by Dr. Uvedale, 

 who was a schoolmaster, and lived at Eltham, in Kent, in 1690. He appears to 

 have removed to Enfield, where he continued his school. Miller, in the first 

 edition of his Dictionary, in 1724, speaks of him as Dr. Udal, of Enfield, " A curious 

 collector and introducer of many rare exoticks, plants, and flowers." Bradley, in 

 1733, speaks of the pear as "Dr. Udale's great pear, called by some the Union 

 pear, whose fruit is about that length one may allow eight inches." I have ascer- 

 tained by the old books of the Brompton Park Nursery that it was grown there in 

 1752 under the name of "Udale's St. Jarmaine." 



Although doubts have been expressed by some pomologists on the subject, 

 I am quite satisfied that this is Belle Angevine of the French ; any person who 

 has seen the two fruits could have no doubt on the subject. But in M. Leroy's 

 Dictionary he makes it a synonyme of Tonneau, a fruit to which it has no resem- 

 blance. One of the reasons given in the Dictionnaire de Pomologie for supposing 

 it is distinct from Belle Angevine is, because in a French edition of " Miller's 

 Gardener's Dictionary," Uvedale's St. Germain is described as " rond et verte 

 fence," but in all the English editions it is correctly described as " a very large, 

 long pear, of deep green colour." 



The trouble M. Leroy has taken to investigate the history of this pear is very 

 considerable, and he has devoted a good deal of attention to the subject. He 

 tells us that it received the name of Belle Angevine from M. Audusson, a nursery- 

 man at Angers, who received it from the Garden of the Luxembourg, under 

 the name of Inconnue a Compdte, in 1821. Beyond this M. Leroy cannot trace it. 

 It is very probable that by some means it was transported from England to Paris, 

 for it had already, before that time, been grown in our gardens for upwards of a 

 century. 



VALLEE TRANCHE (Bonne de Kienzheim; De Kienzheim). 

 Fruit, medium sized ; obovate or obtuse pyriform. Skin, smooth 

 and shining, yellowish green, becoming yellowish as it ripens, and 

 covered with numerous small russet dots. Eye, set in a shallow 

 basin. Stalk, an inch long, inserted without depression. Flesh, white, 

 rather crisp, very juicy, and sweet. 



A good early pear ; ripe in the end of August, succeeding the Jargo- 

 nelle. It requires to be eaten immediately it is gathered, otherwise it 

 speedily becomes mealy. The tree is an immense and regular bearer, 

 very hardy, and an excellent orcharding variety. 



VAN ASSCHE. Fruit, large; roundish oval, bossed and ribbed 

 in its outline. Skin, yellow, covered with flakes of russet on the 

 shaded side, and with beautiful red on the side next the sun. Eye, 

 half open, set in a ribbed basin. Stalk, half an inch long, inserted in 

 a small cavity. Flesh, half-melting, very juicy, rich, and aromatic. 



In use during November and December. 



