Some of the members of the Association who received a tree of this pear
in the Spring of 1873, have had the satisfaction of seeing the fruit and
testing its quality. Mr. A. Morse, of Smithville, County of Lincoln, in
reporting upon the trees received from the Association, speaks of this
fruit as being _poor_. His report, which is extremely laconic, does not
explain in what respect he finds it poor, nor give any account of the
soil in which the tree is planted, nor the exposure to sun and air in
which it is growing. Our own experience with this variety does not, by
any means, confirm the opinion given by Mr. Morse. We have found the
tree to be a vigorous grower, forming a very handsome head, quite hardy,
and no more subject to the pear-blight than its parent, the Flemish
Beauty. The trees are growing in a gravelly loam, with a clayey bottom,
and sheltered on the west by an apple orchard. The fruit is large, very
uniform in size, and evenly distributed through the tree; the
appearance, when ripe, is very handsome, the color being a pale lemon
yellow, with splashes of crimson on the sunny side, and occasional
patches of russet. The flesh is very fine grained, buttery, and juicy,
with a very agreeable, sweet, vinous flavor. It ripens before the
Bartlett, and like all summer pears, will not last long; indeed to be
enjoyed at all, must be quickly consumed. It has the fault of its
parent, namely that of decaying at the core, so that while the exterior
is very beautiful and firm, giving the impression of soundness and
perfection, the interior may be wholly decayed. It is quite possible,
that to this peculiarity Mr. Morse may have more especial reference when
he pronounces it poor.
It is possible, however, to remedy this fault to a very considerable
extent by gathering the fruit before it is fully ripe. The exact time
when to gather it can only be ascertained by experiment. In the case of
the writer’s soil and exposure, it will not do to let the fruit remain
on the tree so long as to change color to any great degree; and after it
has been gathered, it should be eaten before the skin has put on all its
beauty in crimson and gold, else it will be found to be only the glow of
internal decay. We trust that Mr. Morse will have the patience to
experiment with this pear yet a little longer, and give the readers of
the HORTICULTURIST the results of his further experience. The character
given by Mr. Downing, who is acknowledged on all hands to be the best
American authority on fruits, is that this is an extremely fine and
valuable pear, ranking in quality as “very good,” which means next to
“best.” The very hardy character of the tree makes it well worthy of
trial in all the colder parts of the Province, where many of our very
choice pear trees succumb to the rigor of the climate.
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