228 TREATISE ON FRUIT TREES. 



in diameter & three inches six lignes high. (Generally it's a better pear when it's only 

 medium-sized, about two inches two lignes in diameter by two inches ten lignes high; on 

 rare occasions it grows bigger when it's in dry soil.) It looks quite a lot like the Saint- 

 Germain, but it's smoother and more rounded at the top where there's a small eye that's 

 flush with the fruit. If the other end were more pointed, it would be like a pearl-shaped 

 pear. The stalk is short, at times only three lignes long. It inserts flush with the fruit. It's 

 plump at its origin and is often propped up by a thick fleshy pad. 



Its skin is soft, very smooth, and speckled with spots & small flecks. It's green 

 and turns whitish when the fruit is ripe. 



Its flesh is semi-buttery & tastes very good when grown in dry soil. It's not apt to 

 become gritty or soft. 



The juice is plentiful, sweet, and is enhanced with a pleasant flavor. 



The seeds are big, quite full, and pointed. 



This pear ripens in November & December. The fruit is very mediocre when 

 grown in cold & damp soil that is unsuited to it. 



XCVIII. PEAR TREE with medium-sized, blunt conical smooth green late-ripening fruit. 

 IMPERIALE a feuilles de Chene [Translator's note: oak-leaved].(/>/. LIV.) 



This is a very vigorous pear tree. It's grafted on wild stock & on the quince tree. 



The shoots are big & strong, bent at each node, green, very spotted, with a light 

 reddish tinge on the side in the sun. 



The buds are medium-sized, flattened, very pointed, broad at the base, and not 

 very free of the branch. Their stems are thick. 



The leaves are very large, four inches long 



