178 Pomological Notices. 



a generally cultivated fruit. Our notice of it, we hope, will 

 make it better known. 



The tree is of a rather straggling and declining habit, and 

 does not make a handsome standard, unless tied up to a stake 

 until it forms a good head. The wood is stout, of an olive 

 gray color, with brown spots, and the leaves are smooth and 

 oval, with very long, slender petioles, by which it is readily 

 distinguished in summer. It is stated by Mr. Thompson to 

 succeed well on the quince. 



Size, large, three and a half inches long, and two and a 

 half in diameter : Form, oblong, largest in the middle, taper- 

 ing towards the stem and crown, the latter of which is ob- 

 lique : Skin, fair, smooth, pale green, becoming of a bright 

 lemon yellow at maturity, marbled and slightly streaked with 

 red on the sunny side, exhibiting slight traces of russet at the 

 base of the stem and around the eye : Stem, long, about one 

 and a half inches, curved, smooth, obliquely inserted, without 

 any cavity, under a swollen lip : Eye, medium size, closed, 

 and rather deeply inserted in a crumpled or furrowed basin ; 

 segments of the calyx short : Flesh, yellowish white, fine, but- 

 tery, melting and very juicy : Flavor, rich, saccharine, vinous 

 and delicious : Core, large : Seeds, medium size, dark brown. 

 Ripe in October and will keep into November. 



It is somewhat singular that this variety is scarcely known 

 in the nursery collections around Paris. And orders for the 

 Marie Louise have always been filled with another pear, 

 whose qualities we have not yet ascertained. The Marie 

 Louise Delcourt, of some French collections, is said to be the 

 same as the Marie Louise. 



40. Van Mons Leon le Clerc. Gard. Mag. Vol. XIV. 



J 



Poire de Boulogne, 



Celestin, \ Of some French collections. 



Louis Bonne de Boulogne, 



No pear of recent introduction to notice, has been heralded 

 with so much praise as the true Van Mons Leon le Clerc. 

 Throwing aside the usual adjective terms, it has been called 

 " the best pear in the world." We have already alluded to 

 it so many times in our previous volumes, (VI. p. 47, VII. p. 



