THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 213 



russet, conspicuous; flesh tinged with yellow, granular under the skin, tender, moderately 

 juicy, vinous; quality good. Core large, closed, axile, with meeting core-lines; calyx- 

 tube short, wide, conical; carpels ovate; seeds medium in size, width, and plumpness, 

 obtuse. 



ROOSEVELT 



I. Gard. Chron. 3rd Ser. 37:243, fig. 92. 1905. 2. Rev. Hart. 454. 1905. 3. Rural N. Y. 54:826, fig. 

 352. 1905. 4. Bunyard Cat. 43. 1913-14. 5. Bunyard Handb. Hardy Fr. 195. 1920. 



This variety is still on probation in America, with the chances strongly 

 against it proving worthy to bear the name of the man after whom it was 

 called. On the grounds of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 the fruits are too small, too poorly colored, and too poor in quality to 

 compete with those of a score of other sorts of the same season. The core 

 is remarkably small, and the seeds are few and small, but these are insufficient 

 merits to count against the several defects named. The tree is robust and 

 generally satisfactory. The variety may not be at its best on the grounds 

 of this Station, as in Europe it was heralded as a most remarkable sort — 

 one " destined to bring about a revolution in pear-growing." It may be 

 worth further trial in New York. 



This pear was introduced in 1905 by the noted French pomologist 

 Charles Baltet, Troyes, France, after he had tested it for several years. 

 He named it after President Roosevelt. The variety was approved at 

 Horticultural Congresses in Paris, Lyons, and Orleans, as well as by the 

 Royal Horticultural Society of London. It was received in America shortly 

 after its dissemination in France. 



Tree medium to large, vigorous, very upright, dense-topped, rapid-growing, productive; 

 trunk slender, smooth; branches slender, smooth, glossy reddish-brown, mottled and over- 

 laid with gray scarf-skin, marked with numerous small, raised lenticels; branchlets char- 

 acteristically thick, with blunt ends, long, with short internodes, dull reddish-brown 

 mingled with gray scarf-skin, smooth, glabrous, with many large, raised lenticels. 



Leaf-buds long, conical, sharply pointed, plump, free; leaf -scars with prominent 

 shoulders. Leaves 3 in. long, if in. wide, stiff; apex taper-pointed; margin usually 

 glandless, finely serrate to almost entire; petiole 2 in. long, slender, curved. Flower- 

 buds large, long, conical, pointed, free, singly on short spurs; flowers with a disagreeable 

 odor, earl}', showy, if in. across, in dense clusters, average 7 buds in a cluster; pedicels 

 15 in. long, thick, pubescent. 



Fruit ripens in late September and October; medium in size, about 2-fV in- in length 

 and width, roundish-obtuse-pyriform, symmetrical ; stem 1 in. long, thick; cavity very shal- 

 low, or lacking, faintly lipped ; calyx very open, large ; lobes separated at the base, narrow, 

 acute; basin shallow, wide, obtuse, smooth, symmetrical; skin unusually thick, tough, 

 smooth, dull ; color pale lemon-yellow, mottled and netted with russet, with a faint blush ; 



