140 THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 
BRANDYWINE 
1. Horticulturist 3:166, figs. 25 and 26. 1848-49. 2. Mag. Hort. 15:106. 1849. 3. Hovey Fr. Am. 
2:51, Pl. 1851. 4. Mag. Hort. 19:450, fig. 30. 1853. 5. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 231. 1858. 6. Leroy 
Dict. Pom. 1:496, fig. 1867. 7. Pom. France 4: No. 160, Pl. 160. 1867. 
Were it not that Tyson is better in both tree and fruit, Brandywine, 
which ripens its crop with that of Tyson, could be put down as about the 
best pear of its season. Tyson is the better variety, however, in almost 
every soil and situation, and Brandywine has a place in American pear flora 
only because the pears have a distinct flavor which gives them the charm 
of individuality. The flesh is neither sweet nor perfumed, as is that of most 
pears at this season, but has the piquant smack of some of the winter pears 
which makes the fruits particularly refreshing. The tree is vigorous, with 
a handsome pyramidal top, but is not remarkable otherwise. Sometimes 
it is unproductive. The variety is worth planting for the sake of diversity 
in home orchards. 
The original tree, a chance seedling, was found on the farm of Eli 
Harvey, Chaddsford, on the banks of the Brandywine River, Pennsylvania. 
This parent tree began to bear about 1820, but in 1835 wind broke it down 
near the surface of the ground. The present tree is a sucker from the original, 
and first fruited in 1844. This fact accounts for its not sooner having 
become known to cultivation. Dr. Brincklé of Philadelphia showed the 
fruits first at a meeting of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 1848 
when it received high commendations. In 1858 the American Pomological 
Society added Brandywine to its list of recommended fruits. 
Tree large, vigorous, very upright, dense-topped, productive; branches long, olive- 
gray, sprinkled with roundish lenticels; branchlets slender, curved, with short internodes, 
brownish-red overspread with scarf-skin, glabrous, with few small, obscure lenticels. 
Leaf-buds medium in size and length, pointed, free. Leaves small, long-ovate; apex 
taper-pointed; margin serrate; petiole 14 in. long. Flower-buds large, plump, conical, free, 
singly on spurs and as terminal buds; flowers j in. across, in dense clusters, average 9 buds 
in a cluster; pedicels 3 in. long, slender, pubescent. 
Fruit ripens in late August and early September; medium in size, 23 in. long, 2} in. 
wide, variable in shape but generally obovate-pyriform; stem 1} in. long, fleshy, curved, 
obliquely attached; cavity lacking, the flesh drawn up in a wrinkled fold about the base of 
the stem; calyx large, open; lobes short, entire; basin small, shallow, usually smooth; skin 
roughish; color greenish-yellow, blushed with red on the sunny side, marked with tracings 
of russet especially near the cavity; dots numerous, large, conspicuous, russet; flesh whitish, 
or faintly tinged with yellow, granular, melting, juicy, aromatic, vinous; quality good to 
very good. Core small; seeds few, small, dark brown. 
