PKAES. 505 



green, changing to pale yellow on the shaded side, and reddish brown 

 next the sun. Eye, not depressed. Stalk, half an inch long, stout, 

 and inserted without depression. Flesh, white, crisp, rich, sugary, 

 and slightly perfumed. 



A dessert pear when well ripened, but generally used for culinary 

 purposes ; ripe in April. 



Satin. See Lansac. 



Scotch Bergamot. See Hampden's Bergamot. 

 Scot's Cornuck. See Charnock. 

 Schnabelbime. See Bequesne. 

 Schweitzerbergamotte. See Beryamotte Suisse. 



SECKLE {New York Bed-cheek ; Shakespear ; Sicker ; Lammas of 

 the Americans). — ^Fruit, small ; obovate, regularly and handsomely 

 shaped. Skin, at first dull brownish green, changing as it ripens to 

 yellowish brown, with bright red on the side exposed to the sun. 

 Eye, small and open, with very short segments, and not at all de- 

 pressed. Stalk, half an inch long, inserted in a small narrow 

 depression. Flesh, buttery, melting, and very juicy, with a rich and 

 unusually powerful aromatic flavour. 



One of the most valuable dessert pears, surpassing in richness any 

 other pear in cultivation ; it is ripe in October. The tree is very 

 hardy and vigorous, an abundant bearer, and succeeds well as a 

 standard. 



The Seckle Pear is of American origin, and is first noticed by Coxe, an 

 American pomologist in his " View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees." It was 

 sent to this country in 1819 by Dr. Hosack of Philadelphia, along with several 

 other fruits, to the garden of the Horticultural Society. The original tree is 

 still in existence, and is growing in a meadow in Passynnk township, about a 

 quarter of a mile from the Delaware, opposite League Island, and about three 

 miles and a half from Philadelphia. It is over a hundred years old, and about 

 thirty feet high. The diameter of the trunk, at a foot from the ground, is six 

 feet ; and five feet from the ground it is four feet nine inches. The trunk is 

 hollow and very much decayed ; the bark, half way round, to the height of six feet, 

 is entirely gone ; and so far has the progress of decay advanced, that, it is feared, 

 in a few more years the tree will have ceased to exist. There are, however, young 

 suckers growing from the root, by which the original stock will be preserved ; but 

 it is to be regretted that some means were not taken to preserve the original tree, 

 as by a very simple process of plastering up the decayed portion the progress of 

 decay might be arrested. The property on which the tree stands belonged in 1817, 

 according to Coxe, to Mr. Seckle (not Seckel) of Philadelphia, and hence the 

 origin of the name. Downing says, " The precise origin of the Seckel Pear is 

 unknown. The following morceau of its history may be relied on as authentic, it 

 having been related by the late venerable Bishop White, whose tenacity of memory 

 is well known. About 1765, when the Bishop was a lad, there was a well-known 

 sportsman and cattle-dealer in Philadelphia, who was familiarly known as ' Dutch 

 Jacob.' Every season, early in the autumn, on returning from his shooting 

 excursion, Dutch Jacob regaled Ms neighbours with pears of an unusually 

 delicious flavour, the secret of whose place of growth, however, he would never 

 satisfy their curiosity by divulging. At length, the Holland Land Company, 

 owning a considerable tract south of the city, disposed of it in parcels, and Dutch 



