2IO THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 



PRESIDENT DROUARD 



i. Gard. Chron. N. S. 25:431. 1886. 1. Guide Prat. 51. 1895. 3. Cat. Cong. Pom. France 331, 

 fig. 1906. 



Prdsident Drouard. 4. Lucas Tafelbirnen 211, fig. 1894. 



Drouard. 5. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 35. 1899. 6. Budd-Hansen Am. Hort. Man. 2:241. 1903. 7. 

 Mich. Sta. Sp. Bui. 27:22. 1903. 



President Drouard has been on probation in the United States for 

 nearly thirty years, but does not seem to be in great demand in any part 

 of the country. In the pear-growing region of New York to which it first 

 came, it is scarcely known. The accompanying description shows that the 

 fruits contain all of the requisites of a good pear. The flesh is juicy, 

 melting, saccharine, rich, and perfumed. The trees, however, are not 

 satisfactory. They lack vigor, blight badly, and are niggardly in bearing. 

 With these faults, there is no place for the variety in commercial plantations, 

 but it may well be planted in home orchards and in collections. 



President Drouard is a chance seedling found in the suburbs of Pont- 

 de-Ce, Maine-et-Loire, France, by M. Olivier, gardener at the Fruit-Garden 

 at Angers. It was sent out by M. Louis Leroy of Angers and was described 

 in 1886 as a new pear. It seems to have been introduced in this country by 

 Charles A. Green, Rochester, New York. The American Pomological Society 

 added the variety to its list of fruits under the name Drouard in 1899. 



Tree of medium size, spreading, open-topped, usually hardy; branches reddish- 

 brown, nearly covered with gray scarf-skin, marked with small lenticels; branchlets thick, 

 long, greenish-brown mingled with red, dull, smooth, pubescent on the new growth, with 

 numerous small, brownish, raised, conspicuous lenticels. 



Leaf -buds small, short, pointed, plump, free; leaf -scars with very prominent shoulders; 

 Leaves 3 in. long, if in. wide, oval, thick, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin glandless 

 or with but few glands, entire or closely serrate; petiole glabrous, greenish, thick, if in. 

 long, tinged red; stipules very short, tinged with pink. Flower-buds short, conical, very 

 plump, free, arranged singly on short spurs; flowers if in. across, in dense clusters, 6 to 

 9 buds in a cluster; pedicels if in. long, lightly pubscent, greenish. 



Fruit in season from late November to December; large, 35 in. long, 3 in. wide, oblong- 

 obovate-pyriform, with unequal sides, uniform in shape; stem 1 in. long, very thick and 

 woody; cavity obtuse, deep, irregular, furrowed, usually lipped; calyx large, open; lobes 

 separated at the base, long, narrow, acuminate; basin deep, abrupt, usually smooth but 

 sometimes gently furrowed; skin thick, tough, rough, dull; color clear lemon-yellow, with 

 nettings and streaks of russet; dots numerous, small, russet, obscure; flesh tinged with 

 yellow, very granular at the core, tender and melting, buttery, juicy, aromatic, sweet; 

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

 conical; seeds large, wide, long, plump, acute, occasionally abortive. 



