Descriptions of Select Varieties of Pears. 195 



have been described and figured in our Magazine for four- 

 teen years, either by ourselves or by Mr. Manning, amount- 

 ing to upwards of three hundred, more than fifty of them 

 were among those sent to Messrs. Kenrick, Manning, and 

 Dearborn, in 1834, '35, and '36. 



The tree is a vigorous and healthy grower, with an erect 

 and upright habit, and the wood is of a yellowish brown. It 

 is also a good bearer, and ripens its fruit well. 



Our description is as follows : — 



Size, large, about three and a half inches long, and two 

 and a half in diameter : Form, oblong pyramidal, broad and 

 slightly flattened at the crown, and tapering regularly to an 

 obtuse point at the stem : Skin, fair, smooth, yellow when 

 mature, broadly tinged with pale red on the sunny side, and 

 thickly covered with large green and russet specks : Stem, 

 medium length, about one inch long, moderately stout, curved, 

 and slightly inserted in a shallow cavity, on one side of a 

 small projection : Eye, medium size, open, and sunk in a 

 very small, round, rather shallow basin; segments of the 

 calyx long, and partially reflexed : Flesh, white, little coarse, 

 melting and juicy : Flavor, rich, saccharine, sprightly, per- 

 fumed, and excellent : Core, medium size : Seeds, medium 

 size, light brown. Ripe in November. 



104. ExcELLENTissiMA. Kcnrick's Americaii Orchardist. 



Much has been said of late about reducing the great num- 

 ber of pears in cultivation, and also, of the prevailing mania, 

 especially among the Boston pear cultivators, of adding ev- 

 ery new sort to the already greatly extended list of varieties 

 which fill our catalogues. No experienced pomologist will 

 pretend to doubt that there are many kinds which may be 

 judiciously discarded from cultivation, but to talk of reducing 

 the number to twenty or thirty, or to say that there is not 

 more than that number of really good pears, is perfectly ab- 

 surd. 



Equally absurd is the attempt to make some cultivators 

 believe that we have already good pears enough, and that it 

 is little else than folly to run after all the new varieties which 

 are enumerated in foreign catalogues. We would not waste 



