THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 163 
brownish, minute specks; dots numerous, very small, conspicuous, russet or brown; flesh 
tinged with yellow, slightly granular under the skin, strongly granular at the center, tender 
and melting, very juicy, sweet, vinous, aromatic; quality very good. Core large, closed, 
with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube-short, wide, conical; seeds wide, plump, acute. 
FLEMISH BEAUTY 
1. Pom. Mag. 3:128, Pl. 1830. 2. Lindley Guide Orch. Gard. 373. 1831. 3. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 
386, fig. 167. 1845. 4. Proc. Nat. Con. Fr.Gr.51. 1848. 5. Hovey Fr. Am.1:51, Pl. 1851. 6. Down- 
ing Fr. Trees Am. 760, fig. 1869. 7. Hogg Fruit Man. 578. 1884. 
Belle de Flanders. 8. Kenrick Am. Orch. 172. 1832. 
Fondante des Bois. 9. Ann. Pom, Belge 6:41, Pl. 1858. 10. Pom. France 1: No. 25, Pl. 25. 1863. 
11. Mas Le Verger 3: Pt. 2, 55, fig. 124. 1866-73. 12. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:166, fig. 1869. 13. Guide 
Prat. 58, 272. 1876. 14. Soc. Nat, Hort. France Pom. 412, fig. 1904. 
Holzfarbige Butterbirne. 15. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 235. 1889. 16. Gaucher Pom. Prak. Obst. No. 
49, Pl. 38. 1894. 
At one time Flemish Beauty was a leading commercial variety in the 
pear regions of eastern America, but it has been supplanted by other varieties 
because the toll of blighted trees is too great, and the fruits are too often 
disfigured by the scab fungus. Perhaps the latter is the greater fault as 
in some seasons no applications of spray give the pears a clean cheek, and 
they are blackened, scabbed, cracked and malformed with this fungus. 
Not infrequently the scab-infected foliage drops before the crop matures. 
To offset these defects, the trees have to their credit great vigor, unusual 
fruitfulness and as great hardihood to cold as those of any other variety. 
The trees do not come in bearing early, and are not suitable for dwarfing as 
they overgrow the quince stock. The fruits are nearly perfect if scab-free 
and properly matured. To make sure of perfect maturity, the pears must 
be picked as soon as they attain full size and be permitted to ripen under 
cover. So treated, a bright-cheeked Flemish Beauty is as handsome as 
any pear, and is almost unapproachable in quality; the flavor is nicely 
balanced between sweetness and sourness, very rich, and has a pleasing 
muskiness. Blight and scab condemn tree and fruit for commercial orchards, 
but a lover of good pears should combat these troubles for the sake of the 
choice fruits. 
The parent tree of this variety is said to have been.a wilding found in 
a wood near Alost, East Flanders, Belgium, about the beginning of the 
nineteenth century. It was cultivated under the Flemish name of Bosc 
Peér or Pear of the Woods. About 1810, the propagation of the variety 
was taken up by Van Mons who introduced it a few years later under the 
name Fondante des Bois by which name it was known in Europe for many 
years. Lindley, writing in 1831, described this variety under the name 
