PEARS. 



87 



VIRGOULEUSE. Pe. cat. Quin. Evel. Roz. Duh. Mil. 

 For. Coxe. 



Le VirgouU, or Virgoulee, '\ 



Chambrette, \ 

 Poire de glace, of Gascony, 

 La Virguleuse. Mil. syn. 

 Ice -pear. Evel. Mil. 

 Winter Virgalieu, erroneously. 



The height of this pear is thirty-three to thirty-six lines, 

 and its breadth twenty-six to thirty lines at the largest part, 

 which is nearly midway of the fruit, and as the section next 

 the stem is but slightly contracted and almost as broad as that 

 .near the base, it thence results that the general form of the 

 fruit is more oval than pyramidal. The stem is short, being 

 usually but nine or ten lines in length, and is inserted even 

 with the fruit, or in a very small cavity ; the skin is at first 

 green, but at maturity becomes of a lemon colour ; the side 

 next the sun acquires a slight reddish tint and the whole sur- 

 face is dotted over with small reddish specks ; the seeds are 

 oblong and brown, and the fruit ripens in December and Ja- 

 nuary. Duhamel himself places this among the number of 

 the best pears ; the tree is vigorous, but irregular in its growth, 

 and difficult to train into an erect or handsome form when 

 young. Its bark is rough and the tree is slow to produce 

 fruit ; but when it commences bearing, it affords crops pretty 

 regularly. It may be grafted on either the quince or pear, 

 but it is not recommended to train the trees in espalier form, 

 nor to plant standard trees in a southern exposition, because 

 the fruit is then apt to crack and become injured. 



This pear takes its title from the village of Virgoule, near 

 St. Leonard, in Limousin, where it was first raised and sent 

 to Paris by the Marquis of Chambrette, and from the latter 

 circumstance has been called after him. Fessenden states that 

 this, which he considers one of the finest French pears, is in 



