THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 151 
This old French pear is worth planting, if the trees can be obtained, 
because of its very late fruits and long season. The pears come in season 
under ordinary conditions in December and keep until March. The fruits 
are not remarkable for either taste or appearance, but are good for a winter 
product when there is little competition with other varieties. The pears 
are admirably adapted for culinary purposes. In some seasons the pears 
fail to ripen, and the variety should be planted only on warm soils and in 
situations where the season is warm and long. Tree and fruit have a family 
resemblance to Easter Beurré; the latter, however, is generally a better 
pear than this one. This variety is much grown in Europe on the quince, 
and in the various fanciful forms Europeans make use of in training fruit 
trees. 
Doyenné d’Alengon is reported to be a wilding discovered by the 
Abbé Malassis near Alengon, Orne, France, and propagated by M. Thuillier, 
a nurseryman at Alengon. There was, however, a pear of the same name 
and season found at Orléans in 1628, in the orchard of Le Lectier, the 
renowned pomologist. It is probable that the pear which M. Thuillier 
propagated was the one found many years previously by Le Lectier. The 
variety must have been introduced into America between 1840 and 1850, 
as it was mentioned by the American Pomological Society in 1856 as one of 
the promising new pears. In 1858, the Society added the variety to its 
fruit-catalog, but discontinued recommending it in 1897. 
Tree medium in size and vigor, upright, dense-topped, productive; trunk thick, shaggy; 
branches stocky, reddish-brown lightly covered with gray scarf-skin; branchlets slender, 
curved, short, with short internodes, light brown, with a faint reddish tinge, smooth, pubes- 
cent near the tips of the new growth, with numerous small, raised, conspicuous lenticels. 
Leaf-buds small, short, sharply pointed, plump, free; leaf-scars with prominent 
shoulders. Leaves 22 in. long, 13 in. wide, thin; apex taper-pointed; margin with few 
glands, coarsely serrate; petiole 23 in. long, glabrous, with tinge of red, slender. Flower- 
buds small, short, conical, plump, free, arranged singly on short spurs; flowers early, 
1} in. across, in dense clusters, average 9 buds in a cluster; pedicels § in. long, lightly 
pubescent. 
Fruit ripe December to February; 23 in. long, 23 in. wide, medium in size, obovate- 
obtuse-pytiform, symmetrical, uniform; stem j in. long, thick, curved; cavity obtuse, 
shallow, symmetrical, often slightly lipped, small; calyx open, large; lobes not separated 
at the base, broad, narrow; basin narrow, abrupt, smooth, symmetrical; skin very thick, 
tough, roughish; color dull greenish-yellow, with a faint orange blush on the exposed cheek, 
marked with many brown and russet dots and netted with russet; dots numerous, small, 
brownish-russet, inconspicuous; flesh tinged with yellow, granular at the center, tender and 
melting, juicy, aromatic, with a lively vinous flavor; quality good. Core large, closed, 
