THE LAWRENCE PEAR, 



TjAweence. Magazine of Horticulture, vol. xii. p. 452. 



The Lawrence is one of our finest American 

 pears, probably the best winter variety yet found 

 among our native kinds. It has, what few other 

 of the winter sorts possess, the excellent property 

 of keeping well under the most ordinary care, and 

 of ripening off as freely as the Baldwin apple. 

 This property, which should be considered an almost 

 indispensable one in a fine winter pear, is one of 

 its most valuable characteristics ; still it has all the 

 other requisites of a superior variety. It is of 

 good size, fair form, attaining a fine yellow hue 

 when fully mature, and its melting flesh abounds with a rich, sugary, 

 refreshing, and perfumed juice. 



It was first brought to the notice of cultivators by Messrs. Wilcomb 

 & King, nurserymen of Flushing, L. I., who sent some fine specimens 

 of the fruit to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in November, 

 1843, accompanied with a letter, in which they state, " that it is a 

 native of Flushing ; that it produces abundant crops every year, and is 

 in eating over four months, from November to February. It is not 

 inclined to rot or shrivel, as is tlie case with some of our winter pears. 

 The tree is of fair growth, and appears to be a cross between the Old 

 St. Germain and the St. Michael, (White Doyenne,) as it resembles 

 both of them in wood, foliage and fruit, and there is no other variety 

 in the neighborhood of the tree." 



The Lawrence, in its habit, resembles the St. Germain; and there 

 can be but little doubt that it is a natural hybrid, partaking of the com- 

 bined qualities of its two parents. In the growth of the tree, as well 

 as the quality of the fruit, it approaches the Dix, itself a seedling from 

 the St. Germain. But the Lawrence is of a more vigorous, as well as 

 of a more beautiful, habit, than either of those varieties, forming, natu- 

 rally, a fine pyramidal tree. It is an early as well as an abundant 

 bearer. It will not grow freely upon the quince. 



Tree. — Vigorous, upright and regularly branched; annual shoots, 

 slender, straight, and moderately long. 



Wood. — Clear dark yellow, dotted with small, grayish specks, slender 

 and short-jointed ; old wood, dull brownish yellow ; buds, medium 

 size, roundish, obtuse, diverging : Flower-buds, small, roundish. 



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