104 



PEARS. 



red, scattered over with golden yellow dots, whereas the shade 

 side is speckled and striped with light red upon a yellow 

 ground ; the flesh is half-melting, somewhat coarse and some- 

 what gritty around the seeds, of a sweet flavour and excellent 

 taste ; the seeds are long, dark brown, and lodged in broad 

 cells around a hollow centre. This is a valuable fruit and 

 ripens in December. 



FRANC-REAL. Pr. cat. Roz. Duh. Mil. For. 



Frank Royal ? Quin. Evel. 



Fine gold of winter, Pr. cat. 



Fin or d'hiver. Mil. syn. Golden end of winter. Mil. For. 



Gros micet. 



Nothing can show in a stronger light the complete system 

 of copying from each other pursued by most of the English 

 horticultural writers for a long period, than the circumstance 

 that even original errors and mistranslations have been handed 

 down for ages. The last synonyme above given is one of 

 this description and is a mistranslation of the second synonyme, 

 which by reference to Miller and other English works, will be 

 found to have been copied from one to another from a very 

 remote period down to the improved edition of Forsyth, pub- 

 lished in 1824, where it is again repeated. I now proceed to 

 describe this pear, the description of which in Forsyth is not 

 correct. 



The form of this fruit is somewhat turbinate, being two inches 

 ten lines in diameter and the same in height ; sometimes it is 

 much larger and almost pyriform, having rather more height 

 than breadth — the largest part of the fruit is about the middle ; 

 the skin is greenish, scattered over with dots and small spots^ of 

 russet, and becoming yellowish at perfect maturity ; the flesh 

 is firm and excellent for cooking and preserves ; the seeds are 

 large, flat, and dark brown, and the fruit ripens in October and 

 will keep till in December ; the tree is of vigorous growth 

 and productive in its crops, and may be ingrafted on both the 

 pear and quince. 



