PLATE XXXII. 
5. DURONDEAU. 
/ 
[Syn : Beurre Durondeau; De Tongre.~\ 
The exact origin of this Pear is not known. The original tree exists in the garden of the 
late M. Durondeau, at the village of Tongre-Notre-Dame, near Ath, in Belgium. It was therefore, 
in all probability, one of the early results of hybridization towards which it was the good fortune of 
Thomas Andrew Knight to give so great an impulse at the beginning of the present century. 
Description. —Fruit: large and handsome, regularly formed ; obtuse pyriform, and small at 
the stalk. Skin : shining, as if varnished, on the side next the sun, where it is of a lively crimson, 
marked with broken streaks of darker crimson, and covered with large, grey, russet dots ; on the 
shaded side it is yellow, with a thin crust of cinnamon russet, and large russet dots. Eye : small 
and open set in a rather deep cavity. Stalk : an inch long, very slender, and inserted on the end 
of the fruit. Flesh : very tender, melting and very juicy, sweet, rich, and delicious. 
A first-rate and beautiful Pear ; ripe in the end of October and beginning of November. It is 
one of the finest and most beautiful of the autumn Pears ; and when grown in a good aspect, it has 
all the brillancy of Beurri Clairgeau in colour, without its capriciousness in flavour. The tree is 
hardy in habit, and bears well as a pyramid, or espalier, but it does not colour so well in the northern 
as it does in the southern counties. A fine dish of these Pears is as imposing on the dessert table 
as they themselves are delicious in flavour; and the Pear is so effective for exhibition, that it 
should always be shown in every collection. 
