168 THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 
Tree medium in size, vigorous, upright, very hardy and very productive; branches few, 
dark brownish-red, sprinkled with numerous lenticels; branchlets long, pubescent on the 
youngest shoots. Leaves small, flat, roundish-ovate; flowers open early. 
Fruit ripens November to December; medium in size, 3 in. long, 2 in. wide, oblong- 
obovate-pyriform, with a neck variable in length; stem 1 in. long, slender; cavity shallow, 
oblique, narrow, often lipped; calyx small, open; lobes broad; basin shallow, narrow, 
abrupt; skin smooth; color yellow, more or less overlaid with red, deepening to rich crimson 
next to the sun, profusely covered with grayish-russet dots which are margined or rayed 
with crimson; dots numerous, large and small, russet or grayish; flesh white, fine-grained, 
although slightly granular at the center, melting, buttery, juicy, aromatic, with a rich, 
vinous flavor; quality good. Core medium in size; seeds nearly black, of medium size. 
FOX 
x. Budd-Hansen Am. Hort. Man. 2:245. 1903. 2. Ragan Nom. Pear, B. P. I. Bul. 126:123. 1908. 
B. S. Fox. 3. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 2nd App. 154. 1876. 4. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 42, fig. 1877. 
5. Gard. Mon. 22:369. 1880. 6. Mo. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 170. 1883. 
Fox seems to have failed in the pear-growing regions of America, in 
spite of its having several excellent characters in both fruit and tree. The 
fruits are not quite attractive enough to sell on the markets or to grace the 
table of the amateur, their rough, russet skins detracting greatly from their 
appearance. When the skin is removed, however, a better late fall pear 
cannot be found. The flesh is white, fine in texture, very juicy, melting, 
and has a brisk, vinous flavor and a pleasant aromatic smell and taste that 
at once place the quality very high. The trees are but mediocre in the 
prime characters of a good orchard plant, and condemn the variety for any 
purpose other than the collector’s plantation. 
Fox is one of many seedlings originated by B. S. Fox,! San José, Cali- 
fornia. Most of these seedlings were raised from seed of Belle Lucrative 
1 Bernard S. Fox was a pioneer nurseryman and fruit-grower in California who gave much time to 
improving the pear through seedlings. During his stay of thirty years in the state of his adoption he was 
noted for his energy and enterprise in every industry that had to do with fruit-growing. Fox was an 
Irishman who came to America in 1848 and began work in thegarden and nurseries of Hovey and Company 
of Boston. A few years later he emigrated with the gold-seekers to California where, shortly, he settled 
at San Jose as a nurseryman and fruit-grower. Eventually he became possessed of a considerable amount 
of land the increasing value of which made him a very wealthy man, and he took pleasure in being a patron 
of horticulture as well as a worker in its several fields. Early in his career at San Jose his interest was 
aroused in the production of new pears from seed. He was a most conscientious selecter and only the 
best survived in his orchards. He was at all times extremely anxious not to cumber the list of pears with 
worthless varieties. Out of a great number of seedlings, only three finally received his approval, P. Barry, 
Fox, and Colonel Wilder. All have high places in the pear lists of California and the United States, 
and do honor to an enthusiastic and painstaking breeder of pears. For many years before his death in 
July, 1880, he was the Vice President of the American Pomological Society for California. Bernard S. 
Fox was one of the first fruit-growers to bring fame to California, and Californians are justly proud of him. 
