868 THE PBUIT MANUAL. 



AUKATE {Muscat d'Aoiit ; Muscat de Nancy ; Averat ; August 

 Muscat ; Goldbirne ; Auratebirne ; EUine Rothe Sommermuscateller ; 

 De Honville). — Fruit, small, growing in clusters, an inch and a quarter 

 high, and the same in breadth ; roundish turbinate. Skin, smooth, 

 green at first, but changing as it ripens to fine deep yellow, and where 

 fully exposed to the sun washed with light red, but where shaded 

 entirely yellow. Eye, large and open, with long reflexed segments, 

 and placed in a shallow depression. Stalk, an inch long, inserted 

 without depression. Flesh, yellowish white, crisp and juicy, with a 

 sugary and pleasant muscat flavour. 



A dessert pear of ordinary quality ; ripe in the middle of August, and 

 continues iu use for about fourteen days. 



The tree attains a large size, and is a vigorous grower, a very abun- 

 dant bearer, and thrives better on the pear than the quince. It is one 

 of the earliest pears, succeeding the Petit Muscat about eight days, 

 but has the advantage over that variety in being larger and better 

 flavoured. 



Austrasie. See Jaminette. 



AUTUMN BERGAMOT {Common Bergamot; Bergamot; English 

 Bergamot; York Bergamot). — Fruit, small, two inches and a half 

 wide, and the same in depth ; roundish and somewhat depressed. 

 Skin, yellowish green, with dull brown on the side next the sun, and 

 covered all over with rough grey russet specks. Eye, small and open, 

 set in a shallow basin. Stalk, half an inch long, stout, inserted in 

 a wide, round, and even cavity. Flesh, greenish white, slightly 

 gritty at the core, but otherwise tender, melting, juicy, and richly 

 flavoured. 



An old dessert pear of the first quality ; ripe in October. The tree 

 is a vigorous grower and hardy, forms a handsome standard, and 

 is a most abundant bearer. It succeeds well either on the pear or 

 quince. 



It has been stated by Switzer, and by some subsequent writers, eyidently on his 

 authority, that the Autumn Bergamot " has been an inhabitant of our island ever 

 since the time that Julius Caesar conquered it. Possibly it was the Assyrian Pear 

 of Virgil (^Quod a Syria Iranslata juisset), say some commentators, and was, as 

 may be deduced from thence, part of the furniture of the once celebrated and 

 famous gardens of Alcinous." As this can be only conjecture on the part of Switzer, 

 and unsupported by any well-founded evidence, I think it extremely improbable. 

 It is rather singular, notwithstanding this statement, that he is the first English 

 author who mentions it. It is not noticed in the lists of Eea, Worledge, or Evelyn, 

 nor in the very comprehensive list of Leonard Meager, of the fruits which were 

 cultivated in the London nurseries in 1688. Neither is it even mentioned by Rea, 

 Ralph Austin, Parkinson, nor William Lawson, and, indeed, by no author is it re- 

 corded prior to Switzer himself. Parkmson speaks of the Winter Bergamot as 

 " of two or three sorts, being all of them small fruit, somewhat greener on the out- 

 side than the summer kindes ; all of them very delicate and good in their due time ; 

 so some will not be fit to bee eaten when others are well-nigh spent, every of them 

 outlasting another by a moneth or more." But of the Autumn Bergamot we have 

 no early record. 



AUTUMN COLMAR {De Bavay).—Fimi, large, three inches and a 



