856 THB FRUIT MANDAL. 



on the pear stock. It requires a very warm situation to liave the fruit 

 properly ripened, and in this country it will require the protection of a 

 wall. 



This valuable late pear was raised from seed of Passe Colmar in 1850 by my 

 esteemed friend M. A. Mas, of Bourg ( Ain), President of the Societe Pomologique 

 of France, and was named in honour of Madame Mas. 



ALPHA. — Fruit, medium sized ; obovate, inclining to oblong. Skin, 

 smooth, pale yellowish green on the shaded side, and pale brown, 

 dotted with minute reddish dots, on the side exposed to the sun. 

 Eye, open, with short rigid segments, and set in a round basin. Stalk, 

 an inch long, not deeply inserted. Flesh, white, tender, buttery, and 

 pleasantly flavoured. 



A dessert pear, of second-rate quality ; ripe in October. The tree is 

 an excellent bearer, and succeeds well as a standard, grows with mode- 

 rate vigour on the quince, and does not form a good pyramid. It is 

 better adapted for a standard or half-standard. It was raised by Dr. 

 Van Mens. 



ALPHONSE KAKK. — Fruit, about medium sized, two inches and 

 a half wide, and about the same high ; roundish ovate, even and 

 regular in its outline, pinched in towards the stalk. Skin, entirely 

 covered with a crust of cinnamon russet. Eye, very small and 

 open, set almost level with the surface. Stalk, slender, half an 

 inch long, inserted in a small round cavity. Flesh, yellowish, crisp, 

 coarse grained, rather sweet, and with a slight perfume. 



An inferior pear ; ripe in the beginning of November. The French 

 pomologists describe it as a variety of the first quality, and no doubt it 

 is so in that climate. 



It was raised by Major Esperen, of Malines, and first fruited in 1849. 



ALTHORP. — This variety is enumerated in the Catalogue of the 

 Horticultural Society as having once existed in the Society's Grarden, 

 but now either lost or discarded as unworthy of cultivation. It is de- 

 scribed as of medium size, obovate shape, green on the shaded side, 

 and brown on the other. Flesh, buttery. 



It is of second-rate quality as a dessert pear, is ripe in November, 

 and the tree succeeds as a standard. 



ALTHORP CRAS ANNE. —Fruit, rather above the medium size, 

 two inches and three-quarters wide, and two inches and a half high; 

 roundish obovate, widest in the middle, and tapering gradually to the 

 apex, which is somewhat flattened, but rounding towards the stalk. 

 Skin, pale green, with a slight tinge of brown on the side exposed to 

 the sun, and covered with minute russety dots. Eye, rather large and 

 open, placed in a shallow and slightly plaited basin. Stalk, an inch 

 and a half long, slender, curved, and not deeply inserted. Flesh, 

 white, buttery, and juicy, with a rich and slightly perfumed flavour. 



A dessert pear of the finest quality, which ripens in October, and 



