180 THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 
This pear originated about 1830 in the seed beds of Major Espéren, 
the well-known pomologist of Mechlin (Malines), Belgium, who named it 
Joséphine de Malines in honor of his wife. It was introduced in America 
prior to 1850, and in 1862 was added to the fruit-list of the American 
Pomological Society, a place it has since retained. 
Tree large, vigorous, spreading, tall, dense-topped, rapid-growing, hardy, very produc- 
tive; trunk stocky; branches thick, shaggy, reddish-brown overlaid with gray scarf-skin, 
marked with few lenticels; branchlets thick, dull reddish-brown, smooth, glabrous, with 
small, raised, inconspicuous lenticels. 
Leaf-buds short, obtuse, plump, appressed, Leaves 2} in. long, 1} in. wide, leathery; 
apex taper-pointed; margin finely serrate; petiole 12 in. long. Flower-buds short, plump, 
free; flowers early, 12 in. across, white, occasionally tinged with pink, well distributed, 
average 7 buds in a cluster; pedicels 3 in. long, slender, thinly pubescent. 
Fruit ripe December to February; medium in size, 2} in. long, 23 in. wide, turbinate, 
inclined to truncate; stem long, very thick; cavity obtuse, shallow, narrow, slightly 
furrowed: calyx large, open; lobes short, broad, obtuse; basin narrow, obtuse, smooth; 
skin thick, tough, dull; color pale greenish-yellow, netted and patched more or less with 
tusset; dots numerous, small, brown or russet, conspicuous; flesh light salmon, granular, 
melting, buttery, very juicy, sweet, slightly aromatic; quality good. Core large, closed, 
axile, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide; carpels pyriform; seeds large, wide, 
long, plump, acuminate. 
KIEFFER 
1. Gard. Mon. 22:49, fig. 1880. 2. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 38. 1883. 3. Jour. Hort. 3rd Ser. 123131. 
1886. 4. Garden 68:398. 1905. 5.Ibid.69:68. 1906. 6. Cornell Sta. Bul. 332:483. 1913. 7. Country 
Gent. 84:26, fig. 1919. 
Kieffer's Hybrid. 8. W. N. Y. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 53. 1879. 
Keiffer. 9. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 3rd App. 179. 1881. 10. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 240. 1889. 
11. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 178. 1909. 
Although the most pretentious cheat in the orchard, Kieffer is grown 
more commonly than any other pear in North America. Its popularity can 
be accounted for only by accepting Barnum’s dictum that ‘Americans 
love to be fooled.’’ Pears are grown to eat, but those of Kieffer are fit to 
eat only in culinary preparations, dire necessity alone compelling their 
consumption uncooked. Yet, pleased by a bright cheek and a fair form, 
regardless of the potato-like flavor, people buy and eat Kieffer pears and 
persist in doing so. There are several reasons why Kieffer is popular. 
No pear has been advertised so widely and so unqualifiedly, growers of 
trees often supplying virtues to the variety which Nature denies it, because 
of all pears the trees of Kieffer are most easily grown. Besides this virtue 
in the trees there are several others that commend the variety more highly. 
Thus, of all pears grown in America, the trees are uniformly the most vigor- 
