THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 153 
Leaf-buds small, short, sharply pointed, plump, free; leaf-scars with prominent 
shoulders. Leaves 3} in. long, 1% in. wide, leathery; apex abruptly pointed; margin very 
finely serrate; petiole 14 in. long, slender. Flower-buds small, long and narrow, conical, 
free, singly on very short spurs; flowers early, showy, 18 in. across, in dense clusters, average 
8 buds in a cluster; pedicels 1} in. long, thick, pubescent. 
Fruit ripe in September; large, 3 in. long, 22 in. wide, uniform, obtuse-obovate-pyri- 
form, symmetrical; stem 1 in. long, very thick; cavity obtuse, rather shallow, broad, often 
russeted, furrowed, lipped; calyx large, open; lobes separated at the base, broad, acute; 
basin shallow, wide, obtuse, gently furrowed and wrinkled; skin thin, tender, smooth 
except for the russet nettings; color pale yellow, occasionally with a mottled pinkish-red 
blush on the exposed cheek, more or less netted with russet; dots numerous, small, russet, 
conspicuous; flesh white, tender and melting, buttery, very juicy, briskly acid; quality good. 
Core large, closed, axile, with meeting core-lines; calyx-tube very short, wide, broadly 
conical; seeds black, narrow, long, flattened, often abortive. 
DOYENNE DU COMICE 
1. Mag. Hort. 18:168, fig. 16. 1852. 2. Ann. Pom. Belge 8:47, Pl. 1860. 3. Am. Pom. Soc. 
Rpt. 68: 1862. 4. Pom. France 2: No. 58, Pl. 58. 1864. 5. MasLe Verger 3: Pt. 1,7, fig.2. 1866-73. 
6. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 744, fig. 1869. 7. Jour. Hort. N.S. 172440, fig. 1869. 8. Leroy Dict. Pom. 
2:60, fig. 1869. 9. Hogg Fruit Man. 565. 1884. 10. Rev. Hort. 447, Pl. 1908. 
Beurré Robert. 11. Leroy Dict. Pom. 1:418, fig. 1867. 12. Ibid. 2:775. 1869. 
Comice. 13. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 36. 1883. 
Vereins Dechantsbirne. 14. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 293. 1889. 15. Gaucher Pom. Prak. Obst. No. 
68, Pl. 36. 1894. 16. Deut. Obstsorten 5: Pt. 14, Pl. 1909. 
This pear has been esteemed long and justly for the beauty and high 
quality of its fruits. If its tree-characters were better the variety would 
take high place in commercial orcharding as well as for the home orchard, 
to which it is now almost wholly confined. The fruits are very large, 
smooth except for russet markings, clear handsome yellow at maturity, 
sometimes brightened by a delicate blush, with yellow, fine-grained flesh 
which is tender, melting, very juicy, sweet, piquant, perfumed. The 
quality is so good that the fruits of this variety are called by many the best 
of all pears. The list of faults for the trees is as long as the list of merits 
for the fruits. The young trees make a poor growth in the nursery; young 
or old, the trees must be humored in soil, climate, and care; they are subject 
to blight; while usually productive, they are not always so even where 
vigorous, healthy, and hardy; lastly, they are a little below the average in 
hardihood to cold. The variety is seldom at home in New York, but where 
it thrives, as on the Pacific slope, it is a valuable commercial pear, and is 
always worthy a place in the home orchard or in the collection of the pear- 
fancier. In Europe, it is reported as doing especially well on the quince. 
