Account of the Red Doyenne Pear. 231 



properly observe, " That if nurserymen and gardeners would 

 " meet together, as the florists do at Haarlem, to agree in 

 " naming a new flower so judiciously, the nomenclature of 

 " fruits would not be so absurd as we often find it/' They 

 then add, respecting their Doyenne' Rom, " what opinion 

 " can we have of him who first called this Pear DoijennS Gris 

 " (g rav )> which has nothing gray about it, but is of a lively 

 "red? yet Duhamel, and all subsequent writers, have 

 " adopted this silly name. Thinking it our duty, on this-oc- 

 " casion, not to assert what is false, we have not hesitated to 

 " change the name/'* 



Agreeing perfectly with the sentiments of these celebrated 

 writers on this point, I now proceed to give a short descrip- 

 tion of our tree. 



All those I have seen, have been most abundantly pro- 

 ductive, yet vigorous, and forming handsome conical heads, 

 with lateral branches horizontal, and sometimes, in a rich 

 soil, weeping; leaves oval, more or less finely toothed, with 

 very slender footstalks ; flower buds conical, the end of the 

 branch under them a little thickened, but not so remarkably 

 as in the common Doyenn6 Pear tree, the fruit of which, 

 though larger in size, is very inferior in goodness. Flowers 

 slightly tinged with rose colour ; but the tint varies, and is, I 

 believe, deeper when the nights are colder than usual, espe- 

 cially if the frost is very sudden : they are about an inch 

 in diameter. Fruit commonly a little turbinated, or top- 

 shaped, sometimes, when they grow in clusters, almost globu- 

 lar, crowned with the permanent leaflets of the calyx, which 



* Duhamel Traite dcs Arbres Fruitiers par Poiteau et Tuepik. Sub. 

 Doyenne Roux. 



VOL. I. H H 



