PYR US, PEAR TREE. 119 



TYPES AND VARIETIES. 



I. PEAR TREE with very small early fruit. 



SMALL MUSK PEAR. SEPT-EN-GUEULE. (Pi. I.) [Translator's note: a very ancient pear, 

 probably dating from Roman times and earlier.] 



This pear tree grows vigorously & becomes quite a large tree. It's grafted on wild 

 stock & on the quince tree. 



The shoots are stout, long and straight. They're red-brown shading to purple and 

 speckled with gray-white spots. 



The buds are big, slightly flattened, pointed, and are not very free of the branch, 

 i.e. they form a very acute angle with the branch. They're attached to wide & not very 

 prominent stems. 



The leaves are small, oval, twenty-eight lignes long & eighteen lignes wide. They 

 terminate in a long point and are edged with sharp & very small teeth. The midrib folds 

 downward & forms a groove at the tip of the leaf. The petiole is twenty-three to twenty- 

 seven lignes long. 



The flowers are fourteen lignes in diameter. The petals are very concave like a 

 spoon. The sections of the calyx are long & very narrow. 



The fruit grows in clusters; it's very small and round. Some resemble a top, others 

 look somewhat like a gourd. Sometimes the stalk is long & slender, sometimes short & 

 thick, and almost always slightly plump. Sometimes there are small bumps next to the 

 stalk. The fruit is usually flat at the top end. There's a small indentation around the eye, 

 which is very prominent. This is a full sized & beautiful pear when it's an inch in 

 diameter at its most enlarged part & an inch long. Often it's smaller than that. 



Its skin is quite thin. When the fruit is ripe it's yellowish green on the shaded side, 

 red-brown on the side in the sun and almost white & more or less transparent next to the 

 stalk. 



