118 



PEARS. 



it is usually four inches in diameter, and its two extremities 

 are contracted nearly in the same proportion ; the skin is a 

 little rough to the touch, and at first of a greenish hue, some- 

 times it is marked with fawn spots that become proportionably 

 apparent as the fruit approaches maturity, at which period the 

 green becomes changed to yellow ; the flesh is tender, break- 

 ing, half-melting when fully ripe, and of a sweet and bland 

 flavour ; the seeds, which are contained in narrow cells, are 

 most generally small and abortive ; the pear, which is good 

 raw and still better when cooked, begins to ripen in December^ 

 and keeps until in February and March. 



FORTY OUNCES. Pr. cat. 

 Quarante onces. N. Duh. Lond. Hort. cat. 



This fruit seems to have been so little known about Paris at 

 the time of the publication of the last edition of Duhamel, in 

 1825, that the editors of that work acknowledge their indebt- 

 edness to a gentleman of Provence, one of the most southern 

 districts of France, for the pears which enabled them to make 

 their description, and which they say had not yet attained 

 their full development— from which circumstance we may con- 

 fidently infer, that they could not fully judge what are the en- 

 tire merits of the variety at its complete maturity. The fol- 

 lowing description is copied from the work referred to. 



" Of all the varieties this would be, without doubt, the larg- 

 est, if in the comparison we excepted the Treasure pear, or 

 Poire d' amour just described, — and the title which it bears is 

 particularly indicative of its magnitude ; it appears necessary 

 however to notice, that it is according to the customary pounds 

 of Provence that this fruit has been found to weigh forty 

 ounces, and even more. The one that we shall proceed to 

 describe, and which had not attained its full growth, weighed 

 twenty-seven and a half ounces according to the customary 

 weight at Paris. Its general form was turbinate, being four inches 

 and a half in diameter, and four inches in height; its surface 



