BEURRE DE JONGHE. Le Verger, I., 43. G. Jonghes Butterbirne. Dessert, December to January, medium, 2½ by 2½, oval tapering most to stem, a little uneven. Skin, a little rough. Colour, pale green fading to pale yellow, covered with patches of dull brown russet. Flesh, yellowish, melting, transparent, with pleasant flavour rather like Marie Louise. Eye, open in a shallow slightly ribbed basin. Stem, short, woody, continued, often inserted under a fleshy lip. Growth upright, a little spreading and rather weak; fertility good. Leaf, medium, oval, nearly flat, held out, nearly entire. Origin, raised by M. Gambier, of Rhode St. Genèse, near Brussels, before 1865, and dedicated to M. de Jonghe, the Belgian pomologist. It makes a moderate tree on the quince. Dr. Hogg considered this pear as "equal if not superior to Marie Louise," but though good I hardly rate it so high.

— E.A. Bunyard, A Handbook of Hardy Fruits (1920)

BEURRÉ DE JONGHE

1. Mag. Hort. 28:258. 1857. 2. Gard. Chron. 147, fig. 1866. 3. Mas Le Verger 1:73, fig. 43. 1866-73. 4. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 683. 1869. 5. Jour. Hort. N. S. 32:408. 1877. 6. Hogg Fruit Man. 522. 1884. 7. Guide Prat. 64, 232. 1895. 8. Garden 49:225. 1896.

De Jonghe's Butterbirne. 9. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 201. 1889.

A prime requisite in any pear of best quality is that there be no disagreeable after-taste in the flesh. The fruits of almost none of the winter pears meet this requirement. Almost all have more or less astringency in the after-taste. But the fruits of this variety are wholly free from this astringency and are, moreover, so sweet and rich that they are nearly as delectable as those of Seckel, the standard of excellence in quality. The pears ripen at Geneva in January and may be kept for a month or six weeks at a season when there are few other sweet, rich pears, the fruits of nearly all other pears of this season being vinous and piquant. The trees are hardy and productive, but are slow in coming in bearing, rather small, and not at all self-assertive and must be coddled somewhat. They are reported by many to do better on quince than on pear stocks. The variety is desirable only for the amateur.

According to Mas, the French pomologist, M. de Jonghe mentioned this pear in a pamphlet on new varieties published in 1865. It was described in the Magazine of Horticulture in 1857 as a new variety. In Gardener's Chronicle, 1866, M. de Jonghe said that he saw this pear first in 1852 at Uccle, Belgium. The seedling had been planted there two years before.

Tree medium in size and vigor, spreading, slow-growing, hardy, very productive; trunk slender, shaggy; branches reddish-brown overspread with thick scarf-skin; branchlets thick, curved, short, with very short internodes, smooth except for the raised, conspicuous lenticels. Leaf-buds small, short; leaf-scars with prominent shoulders. Leaves 2½ in. long, 1½ in. wide, thick; apex abruptly pointed; margin glandular, finely serrate; petiole 1½ in. long, reddish-green. Flower-buds large, long, very plump, free; flowers 1½ in. across, 7 or 8 buds in a cluster; pedicels ⅝ in. long, thick.

Fruit ripe December to January; medium in size, 3 in. long, 2¼ in. wide, obovate-obtuse-pyriform, very regular; stem short, thick, inserted obliquely; cavity very shallow or none, the flesh often drawn up in a lip on one side of the stem; calyx small, open; basin shallow; skin thin; color dull yellow, thickly overspread with a pale, brownish-russet, often with traces of a russet-red blush; dots numerous, small, dull russet; flesh nearly white, fine-grained, melting, buttery, pleasant flavored, aromatic, sweet; quality very good.

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

BEURRÉ DE JONGHE. A prime requisite in any pear of best quality is that there be no disagreeable aftertaste in the flesh. The fruits of almost none of the winter pears meet this requirement, but those of this variety are wholly free from this astringency and are, moreover, sweet, rich, and delectable. The pears ripen in January and may be kept for a month or six weeks at a season when there are few other sweet, rich pears, the fruits of nearly all other pears at this season being vinous and piquant. The trees are hardy and productive, but are slow in coming in bearing, rather small, not at all self-assertive, and must be coddled somewhat. They do better on quince than on pear stocks. The variety is desirable only for the amateur. M. J. de Jonghe found this pear in 1852 at Uccle, Belgium.

Tree medium in size and vigor, spreading, slow-growing, hardy, very productive; trunk slender, shaggy; branches reddish-brown. Leaves 2¾ inches long, 1½ inches wide, thick; apex abruptly pointed; margin glandular, finely serrate; petiole 1½ inches long, reddish-green. Flowers 1¼ inches across, 7 or 8 buds in a cluster. Fruit ripens December-January; medium in size, 3 inches long, 2½ inches wide, obovate-obtuse-pyriform, very regular; stem short, thick, inserted obliquely; cavity very shallow or none, the flesh often drawn up in a lip on one side of the stem; calyx small, open; basin shallow; skin thin; color dull greenish-yellow becoming yellower at maturity, thickly overspread with a pale, brownish-russet, often with traces of a russet-red blush; dots numerous, small, dull russet; flesh nearly white, fine-grained, melting, buttery, pleasantly flavored, aromatic, sweet; quality very good.

— U.P. Hedrick, Cyclopedia of Hardy Fruits (1922)