Beurre Easter
Pear
USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection
Beurre Easter
[NOTE: Source text may be incorrect — the Stark Bros. Year Book (1910) entry is garbled. It calls the pear "of recent origin," originated "in this country," and "especially adapted to cold sections." This conflicts with Bunyard and Hedrick, who give a nineteenth-century Belgian origin, and with Thomas and Budd and Hansen, who give Europe. It also conflicts with Downing and Hedrick, who say the variety needs a warm climate. The entry likely describes a different variety. Its salvageable wording is placed under Other.]
Origin / History
Beurre Easter is a European pear. Thomas and Budd and Hansen give its origin simply as "Europe."
Bunyard says it was raised by M. Vilain, a solicitor of Mons, about 1804. Hedrick (1921) gives a different origin. About 1823 an old pear tree stood in the gardens of the Capucin Monastery at Louvain, Belgium, known to the monks as the Pastorale de Louvain. It attracted the attention of Van Mons, who propagated it and in due course distributed it. By 1853 it was to be found pretty generally in the gardens of Belgium under the name of Pastorale. His 1922 summary says instead that it "originated at a monastery in Louvain, Belgium, about 1823." Hedrick's references begin with the Pomological Magazine of 1829.
The variety has since been very widely disseminated under a confusing variety of names: Leroy mentions twenty-four and Mathieu fifty-five. The leading authorities of England and America, Hedrick says, "have uniformly adopted the name Easter Beurré." It reached England soon after its first dissemination and was brought to America not later than 1837. Since 1862 it has appeared in the American Pomological Society's list of pears recommended for general cultivation.
Hedrick says the fruit-books of Europe have so much to say in its praise that it has been tried time and again in America, "but nearly always with unfavorable results." He places it at home for the most part only on the Pacific slope, with occasional places in eastern America where it can be well grown. He judges it "well worth planting in soils and climates where the crop matures properly."
Downing finds that it seems to require a rather warmer climate than that of the Eastern States to arrive at full perfection. He says it "has disappointed the expectations of many cultivators," though it is "said to succeed well at the South." Thomas says it "does not often mature well in the Northern States." Budd and Hansen record it as grown in the eastern States and on the Pacific coast. Bunyard calls it "one of the best of late pears."
Tree
The tree grows upright to upright-spreading and open-topped; Bunyard alone calls it a wide spreading tree. Hedrick gives it as medium in size and hardy.
Growth is thrifty, strong, or vigorous for most authors; Thomas calls it moderate. Hedrick, while calling the tree vigorous, also calls it slow-growing.
Shoots are reddish yellow. Hedrick (1922) gives the trunk and branches as medium in thickness and smoothness. Branches are reddish brown, overspread with gray scarf-skin and sprinkled with inconspicuous lenticels. Branchlets are variable in length, with short internodes; they are greenish brown mingled with red, rough, and glabrous, with small, round, raised lenticels. Leaf-buds are small, very short, obtuse, and free.
Leaves are narrow, folded, and recurved (Thomas). Hedrick gives them as 2¼ in. long and 1¼ in. wide, thin, with an abruptly pointed apex. The margin is finely serrate, the teeth very short and tipped with red. The petiole is slender, 2 in. long in his 1921 text and ¾ in. in 1922. Bunyard calls the leaf very small, oval, upfolded, very faintly crenate, and held out; it turns yellow with faintest brown.
Flower-buds are small, short, conical, plump, and free, borne singly on short spurs. Flowers are occasionally tinged with pink in the bud, becoming white when open, and well distributed. Pedicels are ¾ in. long, slender, and pubescent. Hedrick gives the flowers as 1⅜ in. across with an average of 9 buds in a cluster (1921), and as 1¼ in. with 6 buds (1922). He says the trees bloom a little earlier than other sorts.
Downing says it "bears well here," and Hedrick calls the trees productive, though his 1922 text also calls the tree variable in yield. Bunyard gives fertility as moderate. At the Central Experimental Farm, Agassiz, B.C., a tree planted in spring 1890 was "a strong grower, but not productive."
Thomas says it grows best on the quince. Bunyard finds it "often a little feeble on Quince."
Bunyard calls it rather subject to scab. Hedrick finds it somewhat more susceptible to the scab fungus, in both fruit and foliage, than a commercial variety should be. He also finds it a little too susceptible to blight, though above the average in immunity. Apart from early bloom and scab he calls the trees "in every way satisfactory."
Downing says it requires a warm exposure and a rich soil to give fine fruit as an open standard tree. Hedrick says it grows well only in comparatively warm climates and on light, warm, limy soils, and refuses to ripen its crop on any others.
Fruit
Size: Large; Bunyard alone calls it medium. Hedrick gives 3 in. long by 2¾ in. wide (1921) and 3¾ in. long by 2¾ in. wide (1922).
Form: Obovate and obtuse. Downing calls it roundish obovate, often rather square in figure; Thomas, obovate approaching oval; Bunyard, round oval and even. Hedrick calls it obovate-pyriform, with a short, thick neck.
Stem: Short and stout or thick. It runs from rather short to very short (Bunyard), and is given as an inch long by Thomas and as ¾ in. long and woody by Hedrick.
Cavity: Abrupt and narrow, quite deep to very deep. Downing calls it abruptly sunken and obtuse, and Thomas deep, "sometimes obtuse." Hedrick calls it acute, very deep, furrowed, uneven, and compressed.
Calyx: Small. It is closed for Downing and Thomas, and for Bunyard closed with the fleshy segments folded over each other; Hedrick calls it open, with narrow, acute lobes. Calyx-tube short, wide, conical (Hedrick).
Basin: Plaited, angular, furrowed. Downing has the calyx but little sunk among the plaited folds of the angular basin, and Thomas calls the basin moderate or rather shallow. Hedrick calls it deep, narrow, abrupt, furrowed, and wrinkled.
Skin: Thick, tough, and rough, the surface uneven and roughened by the dots. Ground color is yellowish green to yellow; Bunyard describes it as pea green fading to yellow green. The skin carries some russet in patches and veinings, a few patches in Hedrick's 1922 text. There is often a dull cheek, brown and russety or a dull brownish-red to dull reddish blush, broad in Thomas's description. Downing says the russet gives a brownish cheek in some specimens.
Dots: Many, small, russet; very conspicuous (Hedrick).
Flesh and flavor: Flesh white, or tinged with yellow (Hedrick). It is fine-grained, though Hedrick finds it granular near the center and toward the calyx ("quite granular" in 1922). Very buttery, melting, tender, and juicy. Flavor sweet and rich: "rich sweet musky" (Bunyard); "rich, pleasant," "very aromatic" (Hedrick), and in his 1922 text "neither vinous nor sprightly."
Quality is "very good" (Budd and Hansen, Hedrick). Hedrick adds that the fruits are "of first rate excellence when at their best," and Thomas finds it "of excellent flavor" when well grown and ripened. Downing alone calls it "rather variable in quality," though "in good seasons" it is "a delicious, melting, buttery fruit."
Core and seeds: Core large, closed, axile, with meeting core-lines. Seeds large, wide, long, plump, acute (Hedrick).
Season
One of the "winter or spring Pears" (Downing). The recorded season runs from late December into April. Most authors place it in mid-winter, late December or January through February or March, and Thomas says it keeps through winter. Bunyard alone carries it from February to April.
Downing says that in good seasons it should be packed away in boxes and ripened off in a warm room. Hedrick says it keeps well in common or cold storage. Where it does well, he adds, the product of few other winter pears surpasses it from January to March.
Uses
A dessert pear (Bunyard). Hedrick says it adds much to the winter supply of pears. He calls the fruit an excellent shipper, valuable where the variety succeeds for home, distant, and foreign markets.
Subtypes / Variants
Not described in source.
Other
The Stark Bros. Year Book (1910), in a garbled entry, describes "the pear of recent origin," yellow and russet. It is "especially recommended—says one—as 'one of the most valuable pears that has been originated in this country, and especially adapted to cold sections; flavor fine and spicy between the largest and smallest sizes.'"
Book Sources
Described in 6 period pomological works
- Hedrick, The Pears of New York (1921) — listed as EASTER BEURRÉ
- Budd & Hansen, Systematic Pomology (1914) — listed as Easter Beurre
- Bunyard, A Handbook of Hardy Fruits (1920) — listed as EASTER BEURRE
- Downing, Fruits and Fruit Trees of America (1900) — listed as Easter Beurré
- Hedrick, Cyclopedia of Hardy Fruits (1922) — listed as EASTER BEURRÉ
- Thomas, The American Fruit Culturist (1903) — listed as Easter Beurré
Nursery Catalog Sources
Found in 46 catalogs (1845–1925) from Alabama, California, England, Massachusetts, Missouri, Oregon, Washington
- Winship's Nursery (Brighton Nurseries , operated by the Winship family), Brighton (Boston) , Massachusetts — 1845
- Hovey & Co. , Cambridge , Massachusetts — 1849 — listed as Easter Beurre
- Joseph Breck & Co. , Boston , Massachusetts — 1855 — listed as Easter Beurre
- St. Helena Nursery , Howell Prairie, Marion County, OR (Marion Co., Ogn.) — 1864 — listed as Beurre d'Easter
- Felix Gillet , Barren Hill Nursery, Nevada City , California — 1884
- Fancher Creek Nursery , Fresno , California — 1886
- W.R. Strong & Co. , Capital and Orange Hill Nurseries (Robert Williamson, prop.), Sacramento , California — 1886
- Huntsville Wholesale Nurseries (Jessie S. Moss , Proprietor; W.F. Heikes, Manager), Huntsville , Alabama — 1886
- Felix Gillet , Barren Hill Nursery, Nevada City , California — 1888
- California Nursery Co. , Niles , California — 1889
- Felix Gillet , Barren Hill Nursery, Nevada City , California — 1889
- Felix Gillet , Barren Hill Nursery, Nevada City , California — 1890
- Felix Gillet , Barren Hill Nursery, Nevada City , California — 1891
- Puyallup & Yakima Nurseries , Puyallup, Washington (Lock Box 191) and North Yakima , Washington — 1892
- Oregon Wholesale Nurseries , Salem , Oregon — 1893 — listed as Easter Beurre
- Sherwood Hall Nursery Co. , Timothy Hopkins (Menlo Park Nurseries), San Francisco / Menlo Park , California — 1893
- The Vineland Nurseries (Kelsey & Co. , Proprietors), St. Joseph, Missouri (Office: 13th and Atchison Sts., 2 Blocks East of the Citizens St. Car Line) — 1894
- Woodburn Nurseries , Woodburn, Marion Co. , Oregon — 1894
- Felix Gillet , Barren Hill Nursery, Nevada City , California — 1895
- Felix Gillet , Barren Hill Nursery, Nevada City , California — 1897
- George Bunyard & Co. , Royal Nurseries, Maidstone, Kent , England — 1900
- Central Experimental Farm , Dominion Department of Agriculture, Agassiz, British Columbia (under test; Bulletin No. 3, Second Series) — 1900
- The Dalles Nurseries , The Dalles , Oregon — 1901
- Washington Nursery Co. , Toppenish , Washington — 1901
- Pacific Nursery Company (W. O. Hudson & A. D. Hudson) , Tangent , Oregon — 1903
- Russellville Nursery Co. , Russellville, OR (three miles east of Portland, one mile from Montavilla car line) — 1903
- Stark Bros. Nurseries & Orchards Co. , Louisiana , Missouri — 1906
- J.B. Pilkington , Portland , Oregon — 1907
- Russellville Nursery Co. , Montavilla Station, Portland, OR (three miles east of Portland, one mile from Montavilla car line) — 1907
- Carlton Nursery Co. , Carlton , Oregon — 1909
- Milton Nursery Co. (A. Miller & Sons , Proprietors), Milton , Oregon — 1909
- Washington Nursery Company , Toppenish , Washington — 1909
- C.F. Lansing , Salem , Oregon — 1910
- Stark Bros. Nurseries & Orchards Co. , Louisiana , Missouri — 1910
- Stark Bros. Nurseries & Orchards Co. , Louisiana , Missouri — 1911
- James Veitch & Sons , Ltd., Royal Exotic Nursery, Chelsea, London (also Coombe Wood, Langley, and Feltham) , England — 1911
- Ballygreen Nurseries , Hanford , Washington — 1912
- Pacific Nursery Company , Portland , Oregon — 1912
- Stark Bros. Nurseries & Orchards Co. , Louisiana , Missouri — 1912
- Vineland Nurseries Company , Clarkston , Washington — 1912
- Washington Nursery Company , Toppenish , Washington — 1912
- Van Holderbeke Nursery Co. , Incorporated, Spokane, Washington (nurseries at Otis Orchards WA, Pasadena WA, Kennewick WA) — 1913
- Fancher Creek Nurseries , George C. Roeding, Fresno , California — 1918
- Oregon Nursery Co. , Orenco , Oregon — 1920
- Columbia & Okanogan Nursery Co. , Wenatchee , Washington — 1925
- North-Western Nurseries , Walla Walla , Washington
View original book sources (8)
— A.J. Downing, The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America (1900)Easter Beurré.
winter or spring Pears. It seems to require a rather warmer climate than that of the Eastern States to arrive at full perfection, and has disappointed the expectations of many cultivators. It bears well here, but is rather variable in quality. In good seasons, if packed away in boxes and ripened off in a warm room, it is a delicious, melting, buttery fruit.
The tree grows upright, and thriftily, with reddish yellow shoots. It requires a warm exposure and a rich soil to give fine fruit as an open standard tree. It is said to succeed well at the South.
Fruit large, roundish obovate obtuse, often rather square in figure. Skin yellowish green, sprinkled with many russety dots, and some russet, which give it a brownish cheek in some specimens. Stalk rather short, stout, planted in an abruptly sunken obtuse cavity. Calyx small, closed, but little sunk among the plaited folds of the angular basin. Flesh white, fine-grained, very buttery, melting and juicy, with a sweet and rich flavor. January to March.
— John J. Thomas, The American Fruit Culturist (1903)Easter Beurré.* (Doyenné d'Hiver, Bergamotte de la Pentacôte, Beurré de la Pentacôte, Beurré de Pâques, Chaumontel très gros, Canning Seigneur d'Hiver.) Large, obovate, approaching oval; surface yellowish-green, with some russet; often a broad, dull reddish cheek; stalk stout, an inch long; cavity deep, sometimes obtuse, abrupt; calyx small, closed in a moderate or rather shallow, plaited basin; flesh fine-grained, very buttery, melting, and juicy, and when well grown and ripened, of excellent flavor. It does not often mature well in the Northern States. Keeps through winter. Growth moderate, rather upright, shoots reddish-yellow; leaves narrow, folded, recurved. Grows best on the quince. Europe. Fig. 735.
— J.L. Budd & N.E. Hansen, American Horticultural Manual, Part II: Systematic Pomology (1914)Easter Beurre. — Large, roundish obovate, obtuse; color yellowish green, with many russet dots, and often with brown russety cheek; stalk short, stout, inserted in quite deep obtuse cavity. Flesh white, fine-grained, buttery, juicy, melting, very good. Grown in the eastern States and on the Pacific coast. Europe.
— E.A. Bunyard, A Handbook of Hardy Fruits (1920)EASTER BEURRE. Her. Pom., II., 70. F. Doyenné d'Hiver, G. Winter Deschants Birne. (Bergamotte de Paques, Poire de Pentecote, Doyenné d'Hiver.) Dessert, February to April, medium, round oval, even. Skin, rough. Colour, pea green fading to yellow green with russet dots and patches. Flesh, white, melting, with a rich sweet musky flavour. Eye, closed, fleshy segments folded over each other. Stem, very short and stout in a narrow cavity. Growth, strong, making a wide spreading tree; fertility, moderate. Leaf, very small, oval, upfolded, very faintly crenate, held out, turns yellow with faintest brown. Origin, raised by M. Vilain, a solicitor of Mons, about 1804. One of the best of late pears, often a little feeble on Quince and rather subject to scab.
— U.P. Hedrick, The Pears of New York (1921)EASTER BEURRÉ
- Pom. Mag. 2:78, Pl. 1829. 2. Lindley Guide Orch. Gard. 397. 1831. 3. Kenrick Am. Orch. 160. 1841. 4. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 425, fig. 196. 1845. 5. Gard. Chron. 168, fig. 1845. 6. Mag. Hort. 16:73. 1857. 7. Am. P. Soc. Rpt. 157. 1854. 8. Ibid. 66. 1862. 9. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 751, fig. 1869. 10. Hogg Fruit Man. 572. 1884. 11. Ont. Dept. Agr. Fr. Ont. 159, figs. 1914.
Bergamote de la Pentecôte. 12. Ann. Pom. Belge 4:41, Pl. 1856.
Doyenné d'Hiver. 13. Mas Le Verger 1:43, fig. 28. 1866-73. 14. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:72, fig. 1869. 15. Guide Prat. 61, 265. 1876.
Beurré Rouppe. 16. Mas Pom. Gen. 4:87, fig. 236. 1879.
Winter Dechantsbirne. 17. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 300. 1889. 18. Gaucher Pom. Prak. Obst. No. 71, Pl. 34. 1894.
The fruit-books of Europe have so much to say in praise of Easter Beurré that the variety has been tried time and time again in America, but nearly always with unfavorable results. The variety grows well only in comparatively warm climates and on light, warm, limy soils, and refuses to ripen its crop in any others. There are occasional places in eastern America where Easter Beurré can be well grown, but for most part it is at home only on the Pacific slope. The fruits are of first rate excellence when at their best, and add much to the winter supply of pears, the product of few other winter pears surpassing that of this sort from January to March in regions where it does well. The pears are excellent shippers, keep well in common or cold storage, so that where the variety succeeds it is valuable for home, and distant and foreign markets. The trees are in every way satisfactory except that they bloom a little earlier than other sorts, and are somewhat more susceptible to the scab fungus in both fruit and foliage than a commercial variety should be. Although a little too susceptible to blight, the trees are above the average in immunity, and are hardy, vigorous, and productive. The variety is well worth planting in soils and climates where the crop matures properly.
In the gardens of the Capucin Monastery at Louvain, Belgium, there was, about 1823, an old pear tree known to the monks as the Pastorale de Louvain, which attracted the attention of Van Mons. He propagated the pear and in due course distributed it. By the year 1853, it was to be found pretty generally in the gardens of Belgium under the name of Pastorale. Since that time it has been very widely disseminated, but unfortunately has received a confusing variety of names, Leroy mentioning twenty-four and Mathieu fifty-five. The leading authorities, however, of England and this country have uniformly adopted the name Easter Beurré. It was received in the former country soon after its first dissemination, and it was brought to this country not later than 1837. Since 1862, Easter Beurré has appeared in the list of pears recommended for general cultivation by the American Pomological Society.
Tree medium in size, vigorous, upright-spreading, open-topped, slow-growing, hardy; branches reddish-brown overspread with gray scarf-skin, sprinkled with inconspicuous lenticels; branchlets variable in length, with short internodes, greenish-brown mingled with red, rough, glabrous, with small, round, raised lenticels. Leaf-buds small, very short, obtuse, free. Leaves 2¼ in. long, 1¼ in. wide, thin; apex abruptly pointed; margin finely serrate, the teeth very short, tipped with red; petiole 2 in. long, slender. Flower-buds small, short, conical, plump, free, singly on short spurs; flowers 1⅜ in. across, occasionally tinged with pink in the bud, becoming white when open, well distributed, average 9 buds in a cluster; pedicels ¾ in. long, slender, pubescent.
Fruit in season late December to February; 3 in. long, 2¾ in. wide, obovate-pyriform, with a short, thick neck; stem ¾ in. long, thick, woody; cavity acute, very deep, narrow, furrowed, uneven, compressed; calyx open; lobes narrow, acute; basin deep, narrow, abrupt, furrowed and wrinkled; skin thick, tough, roughened by the dots, the surface uneven; color yellow, marked with many russet dots and with patches and veinings of russet, often with a dull brownish-red blush; dots numerous, small, very conspicuous, russet; flesh tinged with yellow, granular near the center and toward the calyx, tender and melting, juicy, buttery, sweet, with a rich, pleasant flavor, very aromatic; quality very good. Core large, closed, axile, with meeting core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds large, wide, long, plump, acute.
— U.P. Hedrick, Cyclopedia of Hardy Fruits (1922)EASTER BEURRÉ. Doyenné d'Hiver.
The fruit-books of Europe have so much to say in praise of Easter Beurré that the variety has been tried time and again in America, but nearly always with unfavorable results. It grows well only in warm climates and on light, warm soils, and refuses to ripen its crop on any others. There are occasional places in eastern America where Easter Beurré can be well grown, but for most part it is at home only on the Pacific slope. The fruits are of first rate excellence when at their best, and add much to the winter supply of pears. They are excellent shippers and keep well in common or cold storage, so that where the variety succeeds it is valuable for home, distant and foreign markets. The trees are in every way satisfactory except that they bloom earlier than other sorts, and are susceptible to the scab-fungus in both fruit and foliage; they are hardy, vigorous, and productive. Easter Beurré originated at a monastery in Louvain, Belgium, about 1823.
Tree vigorous, upright-spreading, open-topped, slow-growing, hardy, variable in yield; trunk and branches medium in thickness and smoothness; branches reddish-brown sprinkled with inconspicuous lenticels. Leaves 2¼ inches long, 1¼ inches wide, thin; apex abruptly pointed; margin finely serrate, the teeth very short, tipped with red; petiole ¾ inches long, slender. Flowers 1¼ inches across, occasionally tinged with pink in the bud, average 6 buds in a cluster. Fruit in season late December to February; 3¾ inches long, 2¾ inches wide, obovate-pyriform, with a short, thick neck; stem ¾ inch long, thick, woody; cavity acute, very deep, narrow, furrowed, uneven, compressed; calyx open; lobes narrow, acute; basin deep, narrow, abrupt, furrowed and wrinkled; skin thick, tough, roughened by the dots, the surface uneven; color yellow, marked with many russet dots and with a few patches and veinings of russet and often with a dull brownish-red blush; dots numerous, small, very conspicuous, russet; flesh tinged with yellow, quite granular especially near the center and toward the calyx, tender and melting, juicy, buttery, sweet, with a rich, pleasant flavor which is neither vinous nor sprightly, very aromatic; quality very good; core large, closed, axile, with meeting core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds large, wide, long, plump, acute.
— Central Experimental Farm, Central Experimental Farm, Agassiz BC — Catalogue of Fruit Trees under Test (Bulletin No. 3, 1900) (1900)Planted Spring 1890. Tree a strong grower, but not productive.
— Stark Bros. Nurseries & Orchards Co., Stark Bros. Year Book (1910) (1910)The pear of recent origin; above named other yellow and russet—especially recommended—says one—as "one of the most valuable pears that has been originated in this country, and especially adapted to cold sections; flavor fine and spicy between the largest and smallest sizes." NCS