70 



THE OECHAED AIS"!) FEUIT GAEDE^. 



pear or quince stock, but in unfavourable localities it 

 does much best on the quince. The tree has a healthy, 

 vigorous growth on the quince, the wood is of greenish- 

 brown, and the young shoots look powdered in their 

 earlj stage : it is only in warm, light, loamy soils that it 

 does well on the pear. It is cultivated with success 

 in Scotland. Louise Bonne d'Avranche is the same 

 pear. 



The Duchesse d'Angouleme, often shortened into the 

 Duchesse pear, is a fine, large, roundish, oblong pear, 

 with an uneven, bossy surface, dull yellow, with broad 

 russet patches w^hen ripe, very juicy and high-flavoured, 

 and with an agreeable perfume. The eye is deeply sunk 

 in an irregular basin, and it has a stalk of medium 

 length, which is rather thick, and inserted in an irregular 

 cavity. It is a good bearer, and does well on pear or 

 quince stock. It is particularly well adapted to the 

 quince stock, and, when grafted on it, it bears early and 

 with certainty. In size and appearance it is the fiuest 

 of the autumn pears, and reaches a size and weight 

 unusual in eating pears. The original tree is said to 

 have been found wild in the forest of Armaille, near 

 Angers, about the year 1815. 



The JSTapoleon is a fine, large, smooth-skinned pear, 

 which is bright green until it is ripe, and then pale 

 green, abundantly juicy and very nice m flavour. The 

 eye is small and a little depressed, and the stalk short 

 and thick, sometimes put on straight, and sometimes 

 inserted diagonally under a curved boss. It ripens in 

 November, and remains good many days. It is a 

 plentiful bearer on an east or west wall, and grafted on 

 the quince it makes a good open dwarf or standard. It 

 also does on the pear stock. 



The autumn pears must all be used within a very few 

 weeks after they ripen. Some must be eaten up in 

 a few days, or they become poor in flavour, and spoil ; 

 others may be in use for three weeks or a month, but it 

 is only a question of a very few weeks ; none are to be 

 depended on for a winter supply, when various circum- 

 stances, in addition to their high price in the market, 



