Aston Town

Pear

Origin/History

An old English variety raised at Aston in Cheshire, and largely cultivated there and in the neighboring counties, especially that of Hereford (Hedrick).

Tree

A peculiarity of its growth is a tendency of the branches to twist (Hedrick).

Fruit

Size: Hedrick describes the fruit as medium sized; Downing, Elliott, and Thomas all describe it as small.

Form: Roundish turbinate (Downing). Globular-turbinate, pyriform (Hedrick). Roundish (Elliott, Thomas).

Stem: Not described in source.

Cavity: Not described in source.

Calyx: Not described in source.

Basin: Not described in source.

Skin: Pale yellowish, with brown specks (Downing). Pale green but changing on ripening to pale yellow, covered with numerous gray-russety specks (Hedrick). Greenish yellow (Elliott). Yellow (Thomas).

Flesh/Flavor: Soft, buttery, moderately sweet, perfumed; hardly good (Downing). Yellowish-white, tender, buttery, and full of a most excellent saccharine, perfumed juice; a rich highly-flavored pear of the first rank (Hedrick). Rather sweet (Thomas). The quality assessments conflict sharply: Downing rates it "hardly good," while Hedrick calls it "a rich highly-flavored pear of the first rank."

Core/Seeds: Not described in source.

Season

Downing gives middle and last of September. Hedrick gives October and November. Elliott gives October. Thomas gives September.

Uses

Not described in source.

Book Sources

Described in 4 period pomological works

Nursery Catalog Sources

Found in 1 catalog (1900) from England

George Bunyard & Co. , Royal Nurseries, Maidstone, Kent , England — 1900

View original book sources (4)

Aston Town

Fruit small, roundish turbinate. Skin pale yellowish, with brown specks. Flesh soft, buttery, moderately sweet, perfumed. Hardly good. Middle and last of September.

— A.J. Downing, The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America (1900)

Aston Town.

Lindley Guide Orch. Card. 352. 1831.

Hogg Fruit Man. 485. 1884.

An old English variety raised at Aston in Cheshire, and largely cultivated there and in the neighboring counties, especially that of Hereford. Fruit medium sized, globular-turbinate, pyriform, pale green but changing on ripening to pale yellow, covered with numerous gray-russety specks; flesh yellowish-white, tender, buttery, and full of a most excellent saccharine, perfumed juice; it is a rich highly-flavored pear of the first rank; Oct. and Nov. A peculiarity of its growth is a tendency of the branches to twist.

— U.P. Hedrick, The Pears of New York (1921)

Aston Town. Foreign. Small, roundish, greenish yellow. October.

— F.R. Elliott, The Western Fruit Book (1865)

Aston Town. Small, roundish, yellow; rather sweet. September.

— John J. Thomas, The American Fruit Culturist (1903)

Summer Cresan