Plate XV. 
3. BELLISSIME d’ HIVER. 
[Syn : Teton de Venus; Belle de Noisette; Vermillion d’Espagnei] 
Nothing is to be found with reference to the origin of this fine pear, but it is a variety which 
has long been known and is well described by Duhamel (1758) and other old writers. 
Description .—Fruit : very large, four inches wide and three inches and three quarters high ; 
roundish, turbinate. Skin : smooth and somewhat shining, of a fine deep green colour on the shaded 
side, and fine vermillion next the sun ; strewed all over with large brown russet dots. Eye : large 
and open, set in a rather deep basin. Stalk : an inch long stout and somewhat fleshy, particularly at 
the insertion, where it is placed in a rather deep cavity with a fleshy swelling on one side of it. 
Flesh : white, fine grained, crisp and tender, sweet, and with a musky flavour. 
The tree is a free and vigorous grower, an excellent bearer, and succeeds well as a standard 
either on the pear, or the quince stock. It is one of the very best culinary pears and quite free from 
the disagreeable grittiness which is peculiar to baking pears generally. “ Elle est beaucoup meilleure 
cuite sous la cloche que le Catillac. On peut meme en faire d’assez bonnes compotes ” says Duhamel, 
Vol. II., p. 235. In favourable situations, it is superior in size and in every other respect to the 
Catillac. It is in season from November to April. 
