THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 227 
Clion, 12. Kenrick Am. Orch. 159. 1841. 
Le Curé. 13. Hovey Fr. Am. 1:47, Pl. 1851. 
Curé. 14. Pom. France 1: No. 18, Pl. 18. 1863. 15. Leroy Dict. Pom. 1:610, fig. 1867. 16. Guide 
Prat. 61, 261. 1876. 17. Soc. Nat. Hort. France Pom. 396, fig. 1904. 18. Cat. Cong. Pom. France 221, 
fig. 1906. 
Pastorenbirne. 19. Mathiea Nom. Pom. 262. 1889. 20. Gaucher Pom. Prak. Obst. No. 59, Pl. 
49. 1894. 
Though large and handsome, the pears of this variety vary so much in 
quality, often being wretchedly poor, that trees of it are now seldom planted 
in America. The variety is not liked, also, because the trees blight badly. 
The fruits, besides being large and handsome, keep well, and are excellent 
for all culinary purposes. They are in season from November to January. 
The pears have a strong musky smell, and are more or less astringent. 
The quality depends largely on the soil, and is best when the trees stand 
in a deep, warm loam. The fruits are long-pyriform, usually one-sided, 
and are further characterized by the peculiarity that the calyx is not in 
line with the axis, as in other pears, but is on one side, generally opposite 
to that in which the stalk is inserted as shown in the accompanying illus- 
tration. The trees, barring ‘susceptibility to blight, are about all that 
could be desired — large, vigorous, handsome, and thrive both as standards 
and dwarfs. Many old trees of largest size of this variety are still to be 
found in New York, but young stock is now seldom set. 
In 1760, this pear was found as a wilding by a French curate at 
Villiers-en-Brenne. In due course it was introduced into England by the 
Rev. W. L. Rahm, Vicar of Winkfield, in Berkshire, and from this circum- 
stance it lost its proper name, Curé or Le Curé, and wrongly acquired that 
by which it is now known here and in England. The variety was intro- 
duced to America early in the nineteenth century. It was placed on 
the list of recommended fruits by the American Pomological Society in 
1852. 
Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, dense-topped, hardy, very productive, long- 
lived; trunk and branches stocky; branches zigzag, greenish-brown overspread with grayish 
scarf-skin, with lenticels variable in number and size; branchlets curved, thick, long and 
willowy, with long’ internodes, light greenish-brown which is mingled with red on the 
newer growth, smooth, glabrous except near the ends of the new growth, sprinkled with 
conspicuous, raised lenticels. 
Leaf-buds small, short, pointed, free. Leaves 3 in. long, 2} in. wide, thick, leathery; 
apex abruptly pointed; margin tipped with minute scattering glands, finely serrate; petiole 
variable in length, pinkish-green; stipules short, tinged with pink. Flower-buds small, 
short. conical, plump, free, singly on very short spurs. 
