JULY. 
151 
with broad clove-like segments, and set in a shallow depression. Stalk from 
half an inch to three-quarters long, slender and woody, inserted in a very 
narrow cavity, with a fleshy lip on one side of it, and surrounded with a con¬ 
siderable patch of russet. Flesh half melting, rather crisp, gritty at the core, 
and with a pleasant rose-water flavour. 
A coarse and only second-rate Pear, ripe in the end of October and during 
November. It was raised by M. Goubault, of Angers. 
BEST D’ HERY.— Merlet. 
Identification. —Merlet Abrege, 80. 
Synonymes. —Bezi d’Hery, Duh. Arb. Fruit, ii. 139. Besy d’Hery, Knoop. Pom. 117. 
Besi de Heric, Decaisne Jard. Fruit, du Mus. liv. 6. Bezi d’Heri, Hort. Soc. Cat. ed. 3. 
p. 129. Besidery, Mill. Did. n. 45. Bezi royal, Acc. Hort. Soc. Cat. De Bourdeaux, 
Ibid. Wilding von Hery, Diel. Kernobst. xv. 97. Kiimmelbirne, Christ. Handb. No. 72. 
Franzdsische Kummelbirn, Christ. Worterb. 190. 
Figures. —Knoop. Pom. tab. vii. Decaisne Jard. Fruit, du Mus. liv. 6. 
Fruit about medium size, 2f inches wide and the same in height, roundish. 
Skin thin, very smooth, bright 
green at first, but changing 
when it ripens to pale yellow, 
with a slight tinge of red on 
the side next the sun, strewed 
with very minute points, and 
with a patch of delicate rus¬ 
set round the eye and the 
stalk. Eye large and open, 
with spreading segments, set 
in a shallow depression. Stalk 
slender, 1^ inch long, inserted 
in a small round cavity. Flesh 
white, fine-grained, crisp, and 
juicy, with somewhat of a 
muscat flavour, or of the 
Elder-flower perfume. 
A first-rate cooking Pear, 
in use from October to No¬ 
vember. 
The tree is vigorous, and 
a good bearer in rich soil, and 
succeeds well as a standard. 
It was discovered early in the 
seventeenth century in the 
forest of Hery, in Brittany, 
between Rennes and Nantes. 
Mollet, writing in 1652, says, 
“ This variety came recently 
from Brittany. The Bretons 
give it the name of Beside- 
Hery, signifying the Pear of 
when the King 
Besi d’Hdry, 
Henry: for 
Henry the Great, _ of happy memory, travelled into Brittany to reduce the 
inhabitants to subjection, when he was at Nantes he sent me to see a garden 
which is near Nantes, called Cliassee. Immediately after I had arrived at 
Nantes the gentlemen of Rennes sent a basket of fruit to His Majesty.” 
{To be continued.) ' H. 
