200 THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 



the exposed cheek, dotted and netted with russet; dots numerous, small, russet, obscure; 

 flesh white, with a faint tinge of yellow, often with a green tinge under the skin, granular, 

 tender and melting, juicy, sweet, aromatic, with a vinous tendency; quality good to very 

 good. Core large, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx -tube short, wide, conical; seeds 

 variable in size, wide, long, plump, acute, many abortive. 



OLIVIER DE SERRES 



I. Mas Le Verger 1:67, fig. 40. 1866-73. 2 - Downing Fr. Trees. Am. 822. 1869. 3. Leroy Diet. 

 Pom. 2:477, fig. 1869. 4. Tilton Jour. Hort. 9:377, fig- 1871. 5. Oberdieck Obst-Sort. 316. 1881. 

 6. Jour. Hort. 3rd Ser. 4:15, fig. 4. 1882. 7. Hogg Fruit Man. 624. 1884. 8. Gaucher Pom. Prak. 

 Obst. No. 58, PI. 51. 1894. 9. Deut. Obstsorten 5: Pt. 15, PI. 1909. 



This variety is rated in Europe as a delicious late-winter pear, and the 

 pomological writers of the last century give it all of the virtues on this side 

 of the Atlantic ascribed to it by Europeans. A closer study of the variety 

 as grown in America shows that it does not possess the merits in this country 

 given it by the French and English. The quality of the pear as grown in 

 New York is below that of several other sorts of its season. The flesh is 

 coarse and gritty and the flavor is mediocre. The tree-characters are good, 

 but are not sufficiently good to offset the faults of the fruits. 



Olivier de Serres was raised from seed of Fortunee about the middle 

 of the nineteenth century by M. Boisbunel, Rouen, France. It fruited a 

 few years later, but did not receive attention until about 1862. At that 

 time it was brought to the notice of the French Society of Horticulture, 

 and was pronounced a fruit of merit. At the suggestion of M. Boisbunel, 

 it was named after the illustrious Frenchman, Olivier de Serres, who in 

 France is called " The Father of Agriculture." It was brought to America 

 about 1865. 



Tree medium in size, vigorous, dense-topped, upright-spreading, productive; trunk 

 and branches marked with numerous lenticels; branchlets slender, short, curved, with 

 short internodes, light reddish-brown, tinged with green, sprinkled with scattering, incon- 

 spicuous, very small, raised lenticels. Leaf -buds small, short, sharply pointed, free; 

 leaf -scars with prominent shoulders. Leaves 2 J in. long, ij in. wide; apex taper-pointed; 

 margin glandular, finely serrate; petiole 2 in. long, slender. Flower-buds small, short, 

 sharply pointed, free, singly on short spurs; flowers with an unpleasant odor, showy, 

 it% in. across; pedicels 1 in. long, thinly pubescent. 



Fruit ripens January to March; medium in size, i\ in. long, 2! in. wide, roundish- 

 obtuse-pyriform, truncate at both ends, irregular in outline; stem variable in length, 

 averaging \ in. long, thick, enlarged at the top, curved; cavity broad, slightly furrowed; 

 calyx large, slightly open; basin variable in depth, furrowed; skin tender; color greenish- 

 yellow, partly overspread with cinnamon-russet and sometimes with a dull blush on the 



