THE MANNING'S ELIZABETH PEAR. 



Manning's Elizabeth. Magazine of Horticulture, vol. viii. p. 57. • 



158 Van MoNs, Magazine of Horticulture, vol. viii. 

 Elizabeth, Van Mons, Magazine of Horticulture, vol. xiii. 



Neaely twenty-five years have elapsed since Dr. 

 Van Mons sent to the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society two collections of pear scions, both of which, 

 in successive years, were unfortunately lost on the 

 way. Deprived thus of securing the choice seed- 

 lings, the fruits of his labors for many years, Messrs. 

 Kenrick, Manning and Dearborn, in 1834,sohcited 

 Van Mons to send another collection, with the hope 

 of better success in their transportation. Fortu- 

 nately, in the spring of 1835, these arrived safely 

 at their destination, and in such good order that 

 more than half of them were saved. In the spring of 1836 another 

 package came to hand, and, though delayed on its way, many addi- 

 tional sorts were secured. These two collections embraced nearly one 

 hundred and fifty named varieties, and upwards of one hundred unnamed 

 or numbered kinds, the latter wholly seedlings, and designated under 

 the numbers by which they were known in Dr. Van Mons's nursery at 

 Louvain, the original trees of which were soon after removed or de- 

 stroyed, leaving their entire possession in the hands of Messrs. Kenrick 

 and Manning. 



The Elizabeth was one of these numbered varieties, (No. 158.) Dr. 

 Van Mons kindly gave Mr. Manning permission to name any of them 

 which might prove worthy of cultivation ; and in accordance with his 

 wishes Mr. Manning described and named it in the Magazine of Horti- 

 culture, (vol. viii. p. 57,) as the Elizabeth, Van Mons. Subsequently we 

 described it more fully under the same name, accompanied with an out- 

 line of the fruit ; but as commendatory of the zealous labors of Mr. Man- 

 ning in the introduction and dissemination of various pears, it has more 

 recently been called Manning's Ehzabeth, a name well deserved, and one 

 which we are happy to aid in disseminating. 



The Elizabeth is a very fine early pear ; remarkably beautiful, with a 

 deep yellow skin and a bright red cheek. Often it is peculiarly marked ; 

 when about two-thirds of its size, one half of the pear, — the blossom 

 end, — in most of the specimens, assumes a thick russet covering, which 

 usually terminates in a complete circle around the middle of the fruit, 



[41] 



