AUTUMN PEAKS. 



379 



known, but all these names, so likely to create confusion, should 

 be laid aside for the true one, White Doyenne.* It is an old 



French varie- 

 ty, but with us, 

 is in the most 

 perfect health, 

 and bears an- 

 nually large 

 crops of superb 

 fruit. On the 

 sea - coast an 

 unhealthy, dis- 

 eased stock of 

 this pear has 

 been propaga- 

 ted, until it has 

 become so lia- 

 ble to cracking 

 as to be nearly 

 worthless. f In 

 this case it is 

 only necessary 

 to renew the 

 stock, by pro- 

 curing it again 

 from healtny 

 sources. This 

 experimenthas 

 been fairly pro- 

 ved of late. 

 The branches 



Fig. 162. White Doyenn^. 

 are strong, upright, yellowish-gray or light brown. 



Fruit of medium or large size, regularly formed, obovate. 

 It varies considerably in different soils, and is often shorter or 

 longeron the same tree. Skin smooth, clear, pale yellow, regu- 

 larly sprinkled with small dots, and often with a fine red cheek. 

 Stalk brown, from three- fourths to an inch and a fourth long, a 

 little curved, and planted in a small, round cavity. Calyx al- 

 ways very small, closed, set in a shallow basin, smooth or deli- 

 cately plaited. Flesh white, fine-grained, very buttery, melting, 

 rich, high-flavored, and delicious. September, and, if picked 

 early from the tree, will often ripen gradually till December. 



* Virgalieu seems an American name, and is always liable to be confounded 

 with the Virgouleuse, a very different fruit. The Doyenne, (pronounced dwoy-an- 

 nay,) literally deanship, is probably an allusion to the Dean, by whom it was first 

 brought into notice. 



t Even when a tree of this diseased stock is taken to the rich soil of the west, 

 it is some years before it regains its health, and bears fair ru t. 



