I 58 THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 
giving us the Traité des arbres fruitiers published in 1768, rendered and still 
renders valuable services to horticulturists. The original tree began to 
fruit in 1862 and was cataloged by Leroy in 1865. The variety seems to 
have been described first in America by Downing in 1876. 
Tree vigorous, upright, dense, hardy; trunk stocky; branches thick, zigzag, dull 
brownish-red, covered with ash-gray scarf-skin, marked with numerous large lenticels; 
branchlets very thick, short, with short internodes, brownish-red, tinged with green, dull, 
smooth, glabrous, with many conspicuous, raised lenticels. 
Leaf-buds long, obtuse, appressed; leaf-scars prominent. Leaves 3 in. long, 1% in. 
wide, long, folded lengthwise with the margins curled under, leathery; apex taper-pointed; 
margin entire or coarsely crenate; petiole 2 in. long, slender. Flower-buds large, long, 
conical, plump, free, singly on short spurs; blossoms open late; flowers 1 in. across, well 
distributed, averaging 7 buds in a cluster; pedicels 13%; in. long, slender, pubescent, pale 
green. 
Fruit ripe October to November; above medium in size, 3} in. long, 23 in. wide, uniform 
jn size, roundish-pyriform or at times oblong-pyriform, symmetrical, with equal sides; 
stem 1 in. long, slightly curved, thick; cavity lacking, the stem being attached to the smooth, 
flat surface; calyx open; lobes separated at the base, short, obtuse or acute; basin shallow, 
obtuse, gently furrowed, small; skin thin, tender, roughened by the russet skin, dull; color 
greenish-yellow overspread with solid russet, or splashed, spotted and sprinkled with russet, 
the cheek often solid russet; dots many, small, russet, obscure because of the russet color, 
slightly raised; flesh yellowish-white, granular especially around the core, melting, buttery, 
very juicy, vinous; quality very good. Core variable in size, closed, with clasping core- 
lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds elongated-oval, wide, plump, acute. 
EARLY HARVEST 
1. Neb. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 129. 1890. 2. Budd-Hansen Am. Hort. Man. 2:243. 1903. 
Chambers. 3. Horticulturist 25:263, fig. 1870. 4. Tilton Jour. Hort. 8:293. 1870. 8. Mass. 
Hort. Soc. Rpt. 157. 1874. 6. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 32. 1875. 7 Downing Fr. Trees Am. 3rd App. 
174. 1881. 8. Can. Hort. 26:130. 1903. 9. Ont. Dept. Agr. Fr. Ont. 151, fig. 1914. 
The fruits of Early Harvest are so poor in quality and rot at the core 
so soon after ripening, that the variety is hardly worth growing in New York, 
where there are many better pears of its season. To offset these defects, 
the pears are large and handsome for early fruits, and the trees are healthy 
and regular and heavy bearers. The pear is characterized by a thick, 
fleshy stem and a large closed core. Nurserymen report that the tree is 
difficult to propagate, and fruit-growers find that it is slow in coming in 
bearing; the growth is usually straggling and difficult to manage in nursery 
or orchard. The variety is more popular in the Middle West than in any 
other part of the country. 
