134 THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 
by M. Meuris, head gardener for Dr. Van Mons. Being unnamed and of 
fine quality, Van Mons dedicated it to his German friend, Diel, one of the 
most distinguished German pomologists. Van Mons sent cions of the variety 
to the London Horticultural Society in 1817. In 1823, Thomas Andrew 
Knight sent cions to the Massachusetts Agricultural Society whence it 
became disseminated generally throughout the United States. The Ameri- 
can Pomological Society placed this variety upon its fruit catalog-list in 
1854. 
Tree medium in size and vigor, spreading, open-topped, slow-growing, hardy, pro- 
ductive; trunk slender, smooth; branches slender, twisting, reddish-brown mingled with 
grayish scarf-skin, with few lenticels; branchlets with short internodes, dark reddish-brown, 
smooth, glabrous, with few small, raised lenticels. 
Leaf-buds obtuse, free; leaf-scars prominent. Leaves 23 in. long, 12 in. wide, oval, 
thick, leathery; apex abruptly pointed; margin finely serrate; petiole 13 in. long. Flower- 
buds large, long, conical, rather plump, free; flowers open early, nearly 12 in. across, 
showy, in dense clusters, 7 or 8 buds in a cluster; pedicels 14 in. long, pubescent, greenish. 
Fruit ripe in November; large, 3 in. long, 23 in. wide, uniform in size, obovate-obtuse- 
pyriform, often irregular and usually with sides unequal; stem 14 in. long, thick, curved; 
cavity obtuse, shallow, very narrow, russeted, furrowed and uneven, often lipped; calyx 
partly open, large; lobes separated at the base, broad, acute; basin shallow, obtuse, furrowed 
and uneven; skin very thick and granular, somewhat roughened by russet markings and 
by dots; color lemon-yellow, with a faint pinkish-red blush and markings and flecks of 
tusset; dots many, russet, very conspicuous; flesh yellowish-white, firm, becoming tender 
and melting, quite granular around the core, very juicy, sweet, aromatic and rich; quality 
very good. Core large, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; 
seeds large, wide, long, plump, often abortive, acute. 
BEURRE GIFFARD 
1. Gard. Chron. 69. 1848. 2. Mag. Hort. 18: 433, fig. 30. 1852. 3. Ann. Pom. Belge 5:69, Pl. 1857. 
4. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 231. 1858. 5. Pom. France 1: No.1, Pl. t. 1863. 6. Mas Le Verger 2:39, fig. 
18. 1866-73. 7. Leroy Dict. Pom..1:369, fig. 1867. 8. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 689. 1869. 9. Hogg 
Fruit Man. 521. 1884. 10. Soc. Nat. Hort. France Pom. 374, fig. 1904. 
Giffard's Butterbirne. 11. Oberdieck Obst-Sort. 255. 1881. 12. Lauche Deut. Pom. II: No. 57, Pl. 
57. 1883. 
Giffard. 13. Gard. Chron. 415. 1863. 14. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 38. 1883. 
This is one of the few summer pears with a distinctly vinous flavor, 
which, with the crisp and tender flesh, makes it one of the most refreshing of 
summer fruits. The pears are larger than those of most other sorts of its 
season, somewhat like those of Beurré Clairgeau in shape and color, and ripen 
at a time — just before Clapp Favorite — when good pears should be in 
demand for home and market. The fruits keep well for summer pears, and 
