PEAR. 



315 



Another pear, called the Seckle, which ripens 

 about the same time, has lately been introduced from 

 America, and of which many extravagant and very 

 contradictory accounts are given : one praising it 

 for its high scent, being a good bearer, and adapted 

 for any situation ; while another asserts, that it will 

 only ripen on a south wall. If, however, it has 

 half the merit ascribed to it, it is well worth culti- 

 vation. 



Late Autumn and Winter Pears, 



28. Duchess d'Angouleme P. — Ripe about the be- 

 ginning of November. This is the third of the new 

 Flemish pears cultivated by the author, and he has 

 found it one of the very best of its season. The 

 fruit are large, oblong, and swelling most near the 

 eye ; diminishing somewhat bluntly to the stalk, 

 which is short and thick. The eye is small and deep; 

 colour brown and yellow, deepening as it ripens. 

 The flesh is melting, abundantly juicy, and of ex- 

 cellent flavour. This variety is famed for early pro- 

 lificacy, taking freely on the quince as well as on 

 the common stock ; but on the former it comes 

 sooner into bearing. It forms a fine healthy tree, 

 either against a warm wall, where it ripens best, or 

 as an espalier in a warm situation. 



The author gathered from a tree on a quince 

 stock, in the third year from the graft, a fruit which 

 weighed above fourteen ounces, and which was pre- 

 sented to the Horticultural Society of London, by 

 whom it was much admired, and who returned a vote 



