102 



PEARS. 



tioles ; the leaves on the fruit spurs are narrower, with much 

 longer stalks than those on the young wood ; flowers middle- 

 sized, with pointed petals ; fruit middle-sized, obconical, flat- 

 tened next the eye, which is open ; stalk about an inch long, 

 moderately thick, slightly sunk at its insertion ; skin green, 

 when ripe becoming yellowish, sprinkled with russet, and if 

 well exposed having a considerable tinge of red ; the surface is 

 somewhat uneven, with some slight longitudinal furrows, run- 

 ning downwards from the stalk end ; flesh yellowish, melting, 

 buttery, juicy, very rich, and most excellent. It is said on the 

 continent to be in season from December to February ; it will 

 keep till the latter period with us (in England), but December 

 and January are the months in which it is in its greatest per- 

 fection." 



I will now extract the description of the same fruit from the 

 New Duhamel, which was published in 1825, when the charac- 

 ter of this fruit was not so well known. 



" This pear has quite a regular pyramidal shape, sometimes 

 however it is more inclined to a turbinate form ; it is thirty to 

 thirty-two lines in height, and twenty-four to twenty-six in 

 breadth ; the stem, which is fifteen to eighteen lines in length, 

 is somewhat enlarged at its junction with the fruit ; the eye is 

 even with the extremity of the fruit, without any depression or 

 any remarkable projection ; the skin which is at first greenish, 

 becomes of a light yellow at perfect maturity, and it is often 

 marked in difierent places by large russet spots ; the flesh is 

 rather firm, pleasant and sweet ; the seeds are brown, and the 

 fruit ripens in January and February." 



In regard to the synonymes, the seven first named are given 

 in the Pomological Magazine, to which I have added the resi- 

 due from my own opinion in regard to them ; and I scarcely 

 deem any of those annexed by me to be dubious, although I 

 have annexed to one of them an expression of doubt. 



The synonyme " Chapman's," extracted from the Pomolo- 

 gical Magazine, is said in that work to have derived its origin 

 from the circumstance of some grafts of this kind falling into 

 the hands of a market gardener of that name, at an early pe- 



