PLATE LV. 
[Syn : Marie Louise Delcourt; Marie Louise Nova; Forme de Marie Louise; Marie 
Chretienne; Princesse de Panne ; Braddick's Field Standard; Doncklelaar .] 
The Abbe Duquesne raised this well-known variety in 1809 and named it in honour of 
Marie Louise, the Consort of Napoleon. It was sent into this Country in 1816 by Dr. Van Mons 
of Louvain, to Mr. Braddick of Thames Ditton, without a name. He planted it in a field as an 
open standard, where it succeeded so well and produced fruit so different in appearance, that is, so 
much more russety than that growing against a wall, that it was at first consided a distinct variety 
and was named Braddick's Field Standard. 
An excellent coloured figure of this Pear is given in the Transactions of the London 
Horticultural Society, Vol. iv., pi. 20, p. 159. 
Description. —Fruit: large, oblong, or pyriform. Skin : smooth, pale green, changing to 
yellow as it ripens, and marked with tracings of thin brown russet. Eye : small and open, set in 
a narrow and rather deep and uneven basin. Stalk : an inch and a half long, inserted without 
depression on one side of the apex, which is generally higher on one side than the other. Flesh : 
white, delicate, very juicy and melting with an exceedingly rich, sweet and vinous flavour. 
A dessert pear of the highest merit, in season in October and November. In flavour and 
beauty, says Lindley, it has scarcely a superior. 
The tree is hardy and vigorous. It succeeds best against a wall, though if grown as a 
pyramid or standard, the fruit is smaller but richer in flavour. It is rather an uncertain bearer, and 
it has been recommended to thin out the blossoms, leaving only two or three on a spray. It does 
not grow well on a Quince stock. It should have a place in every garden. 
