THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 139 
Bloodgood has long been a standard summer pear in America. It 
surpasses any European associate of its season in both fruit- and 
tree-characters. In particular, the fruits are meritorious for flesh of fine 
texture, which, though a little granular, is melting and juicy, and has a rich, 
sweet, perfumed flavor. Complaints appear in the horticultural press that 
the quality is exceedingly variable. The reports of poor flavor may arise 
from the fact that the quality is always poor if the fruit is not picked as soon 
as full grown and ripened indoors. The season in New York is August. 
The trees are resistant to blight, healthy, bear young and regularly, are 
long-lived, and attain large size, although in some situations they are but 
medium in size. The variety has little or no value in commercial plantations, 
but is prized in every collection for home use. 
The origin of this pear is unknown, but it is supposed to be a native of 
New York. It seems to have been brought to notice about 1835 by James 
Bloodgood of the nursery firm of Bloodgood and Company, Flushing, 
Long Island. According to Robert Manning, the variety was listed in 
Prince’s Catalogue for 1837 as Early Beurré. After being introduced by 
Bloodgood and Company, it was speedily recognized as one of the most 
valuable native sorts. The variety was placed upon the fruit catalog-list 
of the American Pomological Society in 1848. 
Tree medium in size and vigor, upright, dense, slow-growing, productive; trunk medium 
in thickness and smoothness; branches zigzag, reddish-brown partly overspread with 
grayish scarf-skin, marked with few small lenticels; branchlets thick, very long, with long 
internodes, reddish-brown, the new growth greenish, with a brown tinge, glossy, smooth, 
with small, raised, conspicuous lenticels. 
Leaf-buds broad at the base, small, short, sharply pointed, free; leaf-scars with promi- 
nent shoulders. Leaves 2} in. long, 13 in. wide, oval, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin 
finely serrate; petiole 14 in. long, slender, tinged red; stipules few, variable in size and shape, 
tinged red. Flower-buds medium in size and length, conical, plump, free, arranged singly 
on short spurs; flowers early, 1% in. across, in dense clusters, 7 or 8 buds in a cluster; pedicels 
often % in. long, pubescent. 
Fruit matures in late August; medium in size, 23 in. long, 2 in. wide, roundish-pyriform 
to acute-pyriform, symmetrical, uniform, with equal sides; stem $ in. long, thick; cavity 
russeted, lipped, drawn up in fleshy folds about the stem; calyx open, small; lobes separated 
at the base, short, broad, obtuse; basin narrow, obtuse, smooth, symmetrical; skin thick, 
tough, roughish; color bright yellow, with patches and nettings of russet, producing a mottled 
russet effect; dots many, small, russet, inconspicuous; flesh tinged yellow, granular, melting, 
buttery, rich, very juicy, sweet, highly flavored, aromatic; quality very good. Core small, 
closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, narrow, conical; seeds small, short, plump, 
acute. 
