190 



THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 



This pear was obtained by M. Leon Leclerc, a distinguished pomologist 

 living at Laval, France, who dedicated it to his friend Van Mons. Desiring 

 to couple his own name with that of his friend, he gave it the name of Van 

 Mons Leon Leclerc, by which appellation it has been known by most 

 authors. The variety first fruited in 1828. There has been a good deal 

 of confusion as to the identity of this pear, owing to the fact that Van Mons 

 raised a pear in 18 16 which he dedicated to Leon Leclerc. The proper 

 name of the latter pear is Leon Leclerc de Laval. There is also a Leon 

 Leclerc de Louvain. The variety under discussion was fruited in this 

 country previous to 1843 by Marshall P. Wilder. The American Porno- 

 logical Society added the variety to its fruit-catalog in 1862 but dropped 

 it in 1869. 



Tree medium in size, vigorous, spreading, open-topped, productive; trunk shaggy; 

 branches roughish, reddish-brown, overspread with heavy, dull scarf-skin, with conspicu- 

 ous, numerous, large lenticels; branchlets very slender and curved, short, with short inter- 

 nodes, light brown streaked with gray and tinged with green, dull, smooth, glabrous, 

 with numerous small, conspicuous, raised lenticels. 



Leaf-buds very small, short, pointed, appressed. Leaves i\ in. long, 3J in. wide, 

 leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin glandless, entire; petiole i| in. long, glabrous, reddish- 

 green. Flower-buds small, short, conical, plump, free, singly on short spurs; flowers 

 showy, ij in. across, in dense racemes, 7 or 8 buds in a cluster; pedicels § in. long, pubescent. 



Fruit ripe in late September and October; large, 3! in. long, 2} in. wide, oblong-pyri- 

 form, tapering to a very long, narrow neck ; stem 1 in. long, thick, curved ; cavity very small, 

 compressed, usually lipped; calyx large, open; lobes separated at the base, broad, acute; 

 basin shallow, narrow, obtuse, symmetrical; skin thick, tough, roughened by russet specks; 

 color dull yellow, covered with dots and tracings of russet and occasionally with a faint 

 russet-red blush; dots numerous, small, russet, conspicuous; flesh granular under the skin, 

 nearly melting, juicy, subacid or with a peculiar sprightliness ; quality good. Core large, 

 closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, narrow, conical; seeds large, wide, long, 

 acute. 



LINCOLN 



1. Mass. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 88. 1845. 2. III. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 196, Pis. 1894. 3. Mich. Horl. Soc. 

 Rpt. 141. 1894. 4. ///. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 42. 1889. 5. Rural N. Y. 48:754. figs- 275 and 276. 1889. 

 6. A m. Pom. Soc. Cat. 36. 1899. 7. Budd-Hansen A m. Hort. Man. 2:253. '9°3- 



Nearly a hundred years old without having received favorable mention 

 from pear growers, Lincoln has been brought from the limbo of lost fruits 

 in recent years to take high rank in the list of pears for the Mississippi 

 Valley. The variety is spoken of in such superlative terms for that region 

 that judging from its behavior in New York, it would seem that western 

 pear-growers give it attributes which Nature denies it. At best, in the 



