198 THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 
gists generally agree that its fruits are the finest flavored of their season. 
The flesh is tender and melting, very juicy, and the flavor is a most delect- 
able commingling of refreshing piquancy and scented sweetness. In shape, 
the pears resemble those of Beurré Bosc, having the same trim contour, 
but the color is very different —rich yellow, netted and sprinkled with 
russet, and sun-flecked with red on the sunny side. The fruit is some- 
what susceptible to the scab fungus, and even the most careful spraying 
fails to give it a fair cheek in some seasons. The trees are hardy but only 
moderately vigorous, somewhat susceptible to blight, rather uncertain 
in bearing, and vary much from season to season in abundance and quality 
of product. Not at all suited for a commercial plantation, Marie Louise 
is one of the choicest sorts for a home collection or in the hands of a pear 
fancier. 
The Abbé Duquesne, Mons, Belgium, raised this pear from seed in 
1809 and dedicated it to Marie Louise, the second consort of Napoleon 
the First. The Abbé passed the pear on to Van Mons, who in 1816 sent 
it without a name to a Mr. Braddick of Thames Ditton, England, where in 
time it became one of the best-known pears. Thomas Andrew Knight 
sent cions of the variety from England to John Lowell, Roxbury, Massa- 
chusetts, in 1823, whence it became widely disseminated in America. The 
American Pomological Society placed Marie Louise in its list of fruits in 
1862. 
Tree medium in size, vigorous, spreading, open-topped, hardy, productive; trunk 
slender; branches dark reddish-brown mingled with thin gray scarf-skin, marked with 
many large lenticels; branchlets very slender and very short, with short internodes, light 
brown, tinged with brownish-red, glossy, smooth, glabrous, with very small, slightly 
raised lenticels. 
Leaf-buds small, short, sharply pointed, plump, free. Leaves 23 in. long, 13 in. wide, 
narrow, short, oval or somewhat elongated, leathery; apex obtusely or slightly taper- 
pointed; margin glandless, entire; petiole 2 in. long, greenish, glabrous, slender. Flower- 
buds small, conical, free, arranged singly as lateral buds or on short spurs; flowers very 
showy, 12 in. across, in dense clusters, 7 to 9 buds in a cluster; pedicels often 1} in. long, 
slender, slightly pubescent, greenish. 
Fruit ripe in late September and early October; above medium in size, 3} in. long, 
27s in. wide, variable in size, oblong-pyriform, irregular, usually with sides unequal; stem 
14 in. long, thick, curved; cavity very small and one-sided, russeted, often lipped; calyx 
large, open; lobes separated at the base, narrow, acuminate; basin obtuse, considerably 
furrowed; skin thin, tender, smooth, dull; color yellow, netted and sprinkled with russet 
especially on the exposed cheek; dots numerous, small, russet, somewhat obscure; flesh 
yellowish-white, granular, tender, buttery, very juicy, aromatic, with a rich, vinous flavor; 
