414 



THE PEAR. 



Mr. Robert Thompson, the head of the fruit department, in the 

 Society's garden, to whose pomological acumen, the horticultu- 

 ral world is so largely indebted. It is, appropriately, a fruit 

 of high merit, having the qualities of the Passe Colmar and 

 Doyenne somewhat 

 combined, but with 

 most of the richness 

 of the former. It is 

 very productive, and 

 merits a place in 

 every collection of 

 pears. Young shoots 

 diverging, yellowish- 

 olive. 



Fruit of medium 

 size, obovate, slight- 

 ly irregular in sur- 

 face. Skin pale lem- 

 on yellow, with a few 

 small, russetty dots 

 and streaks. Stalk 

 pretty stout, an inch 

 or more long, insert- 

 ed in a blunt, uneven 

 cavity. Calyx open, 

 stiff, often without di- 

 visions, basin slightly 

 sunk. Flesh white, 

 buttery, melting, with 

 a rich, sugary, slight- 

 ly aromatic flavour. 

 October and Novem- 

 ber. Fig. 187. Thompson's. 



173. SWAN'S EGG. Thomp. Lind. 



Moor-fowl Egg, incorrectly of some Boston gardens. 



The Swan's Egg is an old English pear, valued in Britain, 

 for its great hardiness and the large crops it bears as a stan- 

 dard, where comparatively few pears succeed without being 

 trained. In this country it is little esteemed, for no man, 

 where so delicious a fruit as the Seckel can be had merely for 

 the trouble of planting, will care to retain so ordinary a kind as 

 the Swan's Egg. Branches long, upright or waving, dark 

 coloured. 



Fruit small, oval, inclining to obovate. Stalk an inch or 

 more long, slender, inserted with very slight depression. Skin 



