THE PEARS OF NEW YORK I4I 



BUFFUM 



1. Kenrick Am. Orch. 166. 1832. 2. Mag. Horl. 10:300, fig. 15. 1844. 3. Ibid. 16:297. 1850. 

 4. Hovey Fr. Am. 2:19, PI. 1851. 5. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 53. 1852. 6. Horticulturist N. S. 6:300, PI. 

 1856. 7. Ibid. 25:104, fig. 1870. 8. Mas Le Verger 3: Pt. I, 81, fig. 39. 1866-73. 



Buffam. 9. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 356, fig. 150. 1845. 



Without deserving a high place among pears, Buffum has several 

 meritorious characters which should keep it in the list of standard varieties. 

 The variety must depend chiefly on its tree-characters for approbation, 

 and in these it excels nearly all of its orchard associates. The trees are 

 remarkably vigorous, nearly free from blight, very productive, although 

 they have a tendency to bear biennially; and by virtue of great size, sym- 

 metrical, pyramidal form, dark green, glossy foliage, and sturdy, ruddy wood 

 in winter, they are among the most ornamental of all fruit trees. In full 

 leaf, a Buffum tree might easily be taken for a Lombardy poplar. The 

 quality of the fruits is very variable. At times the flesh is rich, aromatic, 

 melting, and very good; again, the pears may be insipid or even illy flavored, 

 devoid of perfume, coarse in texture, and poor. The fruits are never large 

 and often run small. To attain good quality, the pears must be picked 

 early and ripened in a moderately cool fruit-room. The culture of Buffum 

 is on the wane, chiefly for the reason that its fruits ripen with those of 

 Seckel and fail in competition, as the Seckels are nearly as large and much 

 better in quality. But because of its admirable tree-characters the variety 

 should not be lost. 



Some confusion exists as to the origin of Buffum. Some writers state 

 that the original tree stood on the grounds of Prescott Hall, Newport, 

 Rhode Island. Hovey, however, in his Fru its of A merica , 1 85 1 , says that the 

 variety originated in the garden of David Buffum, Warren, Rhode Island, 

 shortly after the advent of the nineteenth century. In the opinion of Down- 

 ing the variety came from seed of White Doyenne. Soon after the founding 

 of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 1828, Robert Manning 

 exhibited specimens of the Buffum pear, and through him the variety became 

 known in the vicinity of Boston from which place it was disseminated 

 throughout the country. Buffum was added to the fruit-list of the 

 American Pomological Society in 1852. 



Tree vigorous, very upright, dense, hardy, almost immune to blight, very productive; 

 branches shaggy, zigzag, reddish-brown, overspread with grayish scarf-skin, with numerous 

 small lenticels; branchlets short, reddish-brown, tinged with green and streaked with 

 grayish scarf-skin, smooth, glabrous, with conspicuous, small, raised lenticels. 



