146 The Beurre Bosc and Paradise d' Automne Pears. 



tory is truly a labyrinth : but, after elucidating it at considerable length, 

 he finally concludes, that, for a long time, there have existed two pears 

 having a great analogy between them as to the form, color, and taste, 

 but distinguished by a different season of maturity, and by the characteris- 

 tics of the trees ; that these two varieties have been indifferently called 

 Calebasse Bosc, and regarded by a great number of persons as one and 

 the same variety ; that one of these, the Beurre Bosc, has a certain date, 

 and sprang from seed with Prof. Van Mons about 1810, while the other, 

 the Calebasse Bosc, is of unknown origin and date, but certainly older than 

 the Beurre. 



The same writer informs us, that there is in the garden of M. Bouvier, 

 at Jodoigne, a tree of the Beurre Bosc which was grafted a short time after 

 its first production, that is, about 18 10, the grafts having been received 

 from Van Mons. There were also two fine trees of the Calebasse Bosc, 

 which are described as covered with beautiful fruit of golden-russet color, 

 resembling superb girandoles, the grafts of which were received from the 

 same source. It is remarkable, that, while the name of Calebasse has been 

 applied to both these fruits, the term Beurre has been throughout restricted 

 to one, and that the least buttery of the two ; and another anomaly is, that 

 the Beurre is much more of calabash form than the Calebasse. 



Although the Paradise d'Automne is older than the Beurre Bosc, it was 

 not introduced into this country until some years later. Its first fruiting 

 was in 1844, on a tree grafted by my father in 1840, or a year or 

 two previous. From this tree, the greater part of those now growing 

 in this country have probably been propagated. The source whence 

 the grafts were received is unknown ; but I am under the impression 

 that they were brought by Mr. William Kenrick from France, where it 

 probably received the name by which it is now so generally known. The 

 color of the young wood resembles that of the Bosc ; but, while the 

 shoots of the latter are short and blunt, those of the Paradise are long 

 and tapering, and the growth is very vigorous, at first upright, but after- 

 wards waving and horizontal. Though the individual leaves are not as 

 large as those of the Bosc, the foliage as a whole is much thicker, and in the 

 flowers a very marked distinction is noted, those of the Bosc having narrow 

 petals at a distance from each other, and also very widely spread in the 



