220 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



JAMJART If. ixao. 



(For the New England Farmer.) ' of ydlmv color and strong- — its color nuich rosern- i by pvidonce nhich we believe most true and con- 



^ . nr . TT.r-^Mm .^•r^ T.nI^r^^.nI/.. t^n i,-r-r> bUn" that of the Williams Boncliiotieii, Or Rartlett I cluslvc, that thc " Frcdsric de Wurtemberjr" is its 

 CAPIAUMONT A>D FREDERIC I)E U t R- ,J,^^- ^^^^.^^ expande,!, .ol ren.n.l : thrir color ' only and propername. 



TEVBERG. corresponding with the basis of the fruit — and of In my forii.er communication, I have stated, that 



I have perused with much attention, the remarks the wood, is also yellow, which color they retain j when about four years since, I w.ns at Salem, Mr 

 of Mr Lowell, in your valuable journal of the 7tli with but little cijanse, till they fall in autumn, j Manning- had called my attention to a tree received 

 Nov. lai-t: but my anwer has been thus frir dc- But, according to the colored pntriavint? in the by him in that year from Messrs Cuel &. Wilsi/U 

 ferred, owing to rny recent journey and long absence Pomolo^rical .Magazine, the wood of the true Capi- as the " Roi de W urtenil iiig" — and believed to 

 at the south. i aumont is rfir*-^ cmn-so?! tcoicn, and is thus described ^ have been received by th lu anoppst other kinds 



Hitherto it seems to have been a point, admitted in that work — " Wood clear reddish brown, sprin- which they had obtained Irciii the garden of the 

 on all sides, and as I believe doubted by none in kled with white spots." But this description does ] London Horticultural Sccipty. This tree, on in- 

 this country, that the fruit which was sent by Mr ' not apply to the wood of the tree sent by Mr Knight i spectinn, we both pronounced to be the same, in all 

 Knight, as the Capiuumont, w.-i.s one and the same , The loaves also appear to difler as much from those I its likeness and similitude, as the Capiaumont 

 fruit, as that of the same name wliich is figured } of the Capiaumont of Mr Kniglit as does the wood, | which wa.s sent by Mr Knight ; it hss since borne 

 and described as the Capiaumont, ill the Pomologi- 1 and are there described as follows — "Leaves ob- fruit, which has been exhibited, and proves to be 

 cal Magazine ; and that both were one and idrnti- ! long, narrow, mi'rh folded and rtcuried." \ identically the same as that received of him. Since 



In the year \S-iS, or spring of 182i), I received 'that time we have sent direct to Dr Van Mens of 

 s])rciuien trees of the ("apiaumont from Messrs. t Louvain in Flanders, for scions of the " Frederic 

 Prince & Sons, which they had obtained from the | de Wurteiiiberg," and he also has sent us the ?':ions 

 nost correct sources known to them in Europe — i of the " Wurtemberg," and these same scions, m- 

 the wood brownish red, or dark brownish rj-iWon, ' gra lied by Mr Manning, have also produced fruit 

 and conforming to the colored engraving and de- | which has been exhibited by him, and which proves 

 scription in the Pomological Magazine. In the to bo identically the same with the " Roi dc Wur- 

 next year I sent to them again, and received trees tei,,berg" previously received from Mr Buel, and 

 of appearance similar, from this same source, as : also the same as the fruit sent by Mr Knight as 

 did Mr Manning in the previous years. These | the Capiaumont in lP-33. 



circumstances awakened our suspicicms until ve\ No reason seems to remain for the basis of the 

 became fully convinced that great error existed ! supposition, that any mistake could have occurred 

 somewhere, either in regard to these specimen trees ; on the part of Dr Van Mons, at the time he sent 



cal. Latterly, however, having considered the 

 subject more attentively, I have arrived at the con- 

 clusion that those two fruits are distinct and sepa- 

 rate, and thus far I now fully Mgree with Mr Lowell, 

 that the fruit which is there figured and described 

 in that publication is in reality the trne Benrre 

 Capiaumont. Here then, I must now freely and 

 candidly admit that Mr Lowell must be right. But 

 that titlB fruit is not identiital, as has been hereto- 

 fore believed by some, willi that Capiaumont which 

 was sent by Mr Knight tu Mr Lowell in 182y, is 

 ■what I shall now attempt to prove. Also, that the 

 Capiaumont of Mr Knight, which was thus sent 

 hither by him with the wrong name, is in reality 

 none other than the true " FrerJtric de ITurlcmbcrg" 

 of Van Mons, and that this, and no other, is its 

 only true and proper name. 



1st. The Capiaumont of the Pomological Maga- 

 zine is figured and described as a " middle sized 

 fruiV — its height 3 1-4 inches by about 2 1-2 

 inches in breadth. The Chevalier Parmenticr, in 

 his list of fruits, to which Mr Lowell has referred, 

 has also described it as a fruit of "middle size" — 

 so also has Mr Thomson, in his Descriptive Cata- 

 logue of the fruits grown in the garden of the Lon- 

 don Hort. Society. Both those writers, have clnsse'd 

 this fruit with the Citron des Carmes,Benrr<f Crap- 

 jpaux, St Ghislain, Sucre Vert, Swisse, &c. all which 

 are designated by them as fruits of " middle Site." 

 While each, and all of those authorities concur in 

 describing the Jargonelle (of the English) and Eas- 

 ter Beurre, the Marie Louise, Passe Colmar, and 

 Napoleon, as of " large size." In the Pomological 

 Magazine, this last named fruit is figured as con- 

 taining full twice the volimic of the true Capiau- 

 mont. Now we all knew that the Capiaumont of 

 Mr Knight is also a larp;e fruit ; in similar soils and 

 situations, its height and its breadth being fully as 

 great, if not greater, han any of those, kin 

 above named, which all those authors have called 

 " large fruits." 



2d. The color of the fruit as described in the 

 Pomological Magazine is " a fine clear cinnamon 

 • fading into yellow in the shade, and acquiring i 

 rich bright red next the sun." But Mr Thomson, 

 -whose pre-eminent accuracy and intelligence are 

 so fully acknowledged by tlio editors of that publi- 

 cation, has since described tlie same fruit, in the 

 descriptive catalogue of fruits of the garden of the 

 London Society, and pei haps with greater accuracy, 

 as " brownish red." But this description evidently 

 belongs not to the Capiaumont of Mr Knight, 

 which is very peculiar as well as beautiful, and of 



received of Messrs Prince, or in the tree which 

 was sent by Mr Knight. To satisfy ourselves 

 more fully on this point, about the year 1834 or 

 1835, we sent direct to Mr Thomson, of the gar- 

 den of the London Horticultural Society for scions 

 of the true Capiaumont ; at the same time we also 

 sent to Dr Van Mons, for scions of this same fruit. 

 These we received from both sources, and all con- 

 forming in the color of the wood to those before 

 received of Messrs. Prinee & Sons, and also to the 

 description and colored engraving in the volume 

 above named : — the wood of but medium strength 

 and dark brownish red ; — or of a color full as dark 

 %nd much resembling he wood of the St Ghislain, 

 the Easter Beurre and the Belle dc Flanders. 



In Feb. 1837 we received specimen trees of near 

 two hundred names of pears from .Messrs Baumann of 

 I'olwiller and from another source near Paris, and 

 the niostcorrectsources then known to us in France, 

 and amongt these was found, by name, the Beurre 

 Capiaumont. These trees being inoculated on the 

 quince stock, have since borne fiuit, both here and 

 at Mr Ives'; the fruit of "middle size," and turbin- 



us the '■ Wurtemberg," originated as it was by him- 

 .lelf, since it proves to be identical with the fruit of 

 the same name which was sent by Judge Buel, and 

 by him obtained from another source. This con- 

 curring testimony seems the more perfect and com- 

 plete, coming at once as these specimens did from 

 two opposite sources and distant points. 



Mr Lowell appears to doubt, whether the Fred- 

 eric de Wurtemberg existed, or had a being, at the 

 date of 1820 — and seemingly for no other reason 

 than because it is not to bo found in the list of M. 

 Parmentier of 1824. He observes on this point — 

 " 1 prove that Mr Knight must have had this pear 

 in 1820, probably in 1818. Can Mr Kenrick show 

 that the Frederic de Wurtemberg then ej:isted ? 

 I need not spend words to show that Mr Knight 

 could not have sent me a pear which had no being ! ! 

 This is not a frivolous or captious objection ; for 

 M. Parmentier was requested in 1824 to make a 

 list of all the pears he then knew. He did, and 

 the London Society voted him their gold medal of 

 the value of ten guineas for it. In that list the 

 Roi de Wurtemberg and the Frederic de Wurtom- 



ale, or, conforming in appearance to the description berg are not found." 



of the fruit in the English publication ; — the wood 

 also of the same dark red compleetion as of all tlie 

 specimens before received, of Messrs. Prince and 

 Thomson and of DrVan Mons. In all ihe trees of 

 this kind, as I have particularly noticed, the leaves 

 late in autumn assume a color corresponding with 

 that of the wood, becoming of a dark red dye. 



Thus have I attempted to prove, not by assump- 

 tion alone, but by evidence, that the (/apia-umont 

 which was sent as such, by Mr Knight to Mr Low- 

 ell in 1823, is not the true Capiaumont. Here then 

 are the facts, the concurrent foreign testimonies 



To the above I reply, that the Wurtemberg is 

 not the only fine fruit which then had a being, 

 though unknown to M. Parmentier at the time he 

 formed his list in 1824, and therefore omitted by 

 him from this cause; the Angouleme, our own far 

 famed Seckel, and many others, could be named, 

 which are also of this number, and omitted in that 

 list from this same cause. 



At what period of time the Wurtemberg was 

 originated, I am at present unable t i say, but that 

 it liad existence previous to 1820, cannot as I think, 

 with reason be doubted; as it certainly is siilfi- 



— of the Pomological Magazine, of the intelligent ciently evident that it did exist previous to the date 

 Mr Thomson of the garden of the London Si>ciety of M. Parmcntier's li.st in 1824. Tliis I infer from 

 — of some of the most intelligent men of France a notice of this fruit in the abridged descriptive 



-also of Dr Van Mons and of Flanders. Were 



a brilliant or splendid red next the sun ; no fruit is it necessary here, I might again add also the testi- 

 more so that I have ever seen ; the color yellow in ' mony on this point of M. De Wael. 

 the shade. It now only remains to show what the Capiau- 



3d. The wood of the pear sent by Mr Knight, is mont thus sent by Mr Knight actually is, or to show 



catalogue of fruits contained in the collection of 

 Dr Van Mons, which was printed at Louvain in 

 1823. In that catalogue, at page 20, mention is 

 made of the "Frederic de Wirtemberg;" as a k-nd 

 originated by Van Mons himself, and so named ny 



