FEBRUARY. 83 



011(1, that " no other variety of Summer Doyenne except 

 this excellent pear has been propagated in the province of 

 Le Perche *' ; and third, that his fruits of the Doyenne galeux 

 " proved to be the true Gros Doyenne Blanc." What can 

 M. Malle mean ? — for every cultivator knows that the White 

 Doyenne is not " woolly fleshed," but finer than the Gray. 

 Neither is it a summer pear : — but, overlooking these incon- 

 sistencies, we pass on to the remarkable change which forms 

 the main substance of his memoir, viz. : the produce of some 

 five or six half grown fruits of the second crop of his Do- 

 yenne galeux pears, which proved to be the Gros Doyenne 

 Blanc ; showing, as he states, the return of a " comparatively 

 modern variety of pear to one more ancient." 



The result is simply this : two Gray Doyenne pear trees, 

 (which are the same as Doyenne galeux,) in M. Malle's gar- 

 den, have all their flowers destroyed by frost. In July and 

 August the new buds form at the ends of the same year's 

 growth, open, and partially mature six fruits, which, because 

 they are yellow-skinned and smooth, he forthwith concludes 

 have changed their character, and taken the original form of 

 the variety from which it was undoubtedly a sport, viz., the 

 White Doyenne. 



We see no evidence of this whatever, though it would be 

 nothing remarkable that such changes should occur. It is 

 common with all fruits and flowers obtained in the same 

 manner. The Striped Long Green, the Striped Madeleine, 

 and other varieties of pears originated by sports, often assume 

 the normal character of the parent. The Beurre Diel is 

 sometimes very much russeted, and again entirely smooth 

 and yellow ; and so great have been these changes, that they 

 have given rise to new names. We have in catalogues the 

 Passe Colmar and the Passe Colmar dore, both alike ; the 

 Beurre gris and Beurre dore, both the same. Hence, we 

 should not be surprised at an accidental change of the Gray 

 Doyenne to the White ; but that M. Malle should endeavor 

 to make this out from such imperfect specimens as were pro- 

 duced on his trees from the second crop, and read a memoir 

 on the subject before the Academy of Sciences, is some- 

 what surprising. 



