Clapp's Favorite

Clapp's Favorite.

This extremely fine and valuable Pear was raised from seed by the late Thaddeus Clapp, of Dorchester, Mass. The tree is an upright spreading, vigorous grower, forming an open, well-shaped head, on which the fruit is evenly distributed and almost uniform in size. Very productive. Young shoots dark reddish brown.

Fruit large, obovate ovate, slightly obtuse pyriform. Surface uneven. Skin thin, pale lemon yellow, marbled and faintly splashed with crimson and fawn when fully exposed to the sun, thickly sprinkled with brown dots, and sometimes patches and traces of russet. Stalk nearly an inch long, a little inclined, stout, and somewhat fleshy, inserted in a slight depression. Calyx partially closed. Segments stiff, erect. Basin shallow, slightly corrugated. Flesh white, fine-grained, juicy, buttery, melting, rich, sweet, vinous, a little perfumed. Very good. Last of August or early September.

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

CLAPP FAVORITE

1. Mass. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 50. 1860. 2. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 20. 1867. 3. Pom. France 4: No. 170, Pl. 170. 1867. 4. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 720, fig. 1869. 5. Thomas Am. Fruit Cult. 452. 1897.

Favorite de Clapp. 6. Mas Le Verger 2:207, fig. 102. 1866-73.

Clapp's Favourite. 7. Hogg Fruit Man. 548. 1884. 8. Bunyard-Thomas Fr. Gard. 134, 462, fig. 1904.

Clapp's Liebling. 9. Gaucher Pom. Prak. Obst. No. 31, Pl. 46. 1894.

Clapp Favorite is by universal consent the standard late summer pear to precede Bartlett, which it much resembles in size, shape, color, and flavor. In most regions in the United States and Canada where pears are largely grown for the market, Clapp Favorite is the first pear to be put on the market. The season is usually a week or sometimes ten days before that of Bartlett. The chief fault of the fruits is that they soon soften at the center after ripening, to obviate which they should be picked at least ten days before they would ripen on the tree. This softening at the core debars the fruit from distant markets, and makes it suitable only for local trade. The illustration of the whole fruit in the accompanying plate is so foreshortened by the camera that size and shape are not shown correctly, but the half-fruit illustrates the size and shape very well. The fruits are usually a little larger than those of Bartlett. Except in one particular, the trees of Clapp Favorite are as nearly perfect as those of any variety in American orchards. The weak character, unfortunately, is a most important one, and all but debars the variety from some regions in which pear-growing is a large industry. The weakness is susceptibility to blight. No standard pear goes down so quickly as this one when blight is epidemic. Two good characters of the trees redeem the variety from failure because of blight.

After those of Flemish Beauty and Tyson, the trees of this variety show greater hardihood to cold than those of any other standard sort; and of all pears grown in America, Kieffer not excepted, the trees of Clapp Favorite are most fruitful. Other merits of the tree are large size, great vigor, longevity, and earliness and regularity in bearing. The variety shows a predilection for heavy soils, and the trees may be set on the heaviest clays. Clapp Favorite is grown satisfactorily on dwarf as well as standard stocks. The variety is a desirable one wherever pears are grown, and is one of the half-dozen leading sorts in New York.

Clapp Favorite was raised by Thaddeus Clapp, Dorchester, Massachusetts, but the date of its origin is uncertain. It was favorably mentioned as a promising new fruit at the meeting of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 1860. By some writers this pear is supposed to be a cross between Flemish Beauty and Bartlett, but this supposition cannot be proved. The variety was early introduced into England and France where it almost immediately received favorable commendation. The American Pomological Society first listed Clapp Favorite in its fruit-catalog in 1867.

Tree large, upright-spreading, round-topped, very productive; trunk stocky, rough; branches characteristically shaggy, zigzag, reddish-brown overspread with gray scarfskin, marked by few small, roundish, raised lenticels; branchlets short, dull reddish-brown, tinged with green, smooth, glabrous, with few small, inconspicuous lenticels.

Leaf-buds medium in size, short, conical, pointed; leaf-scars prominent. Leaves 2½ in. long, 1½ in. wide, oval, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin glandular, finely serrate; petiole ¾ in. long. Flower-buds large, conical, pointed, plump, free, arranged singly on short spurs and branches; flowers very showy, 1½ in. across, large, well distributed, averaging 7 buds in a cluster; pedicels 1-1¼ in. long, lightly pubescent.

Fruit ripe in late August and early September; large, 4 in. long, 3½ in. wide, obovate-obtuse-pyriform, tapering slightly toward the apex, symmetrical; stem 1½ in. long, very thick, curved, fleshy; cavity very shallow, narrow, lipped, with a fleshy ring around the stem; calyx large, open; lobes separated at the base, narrow, acuminate, usually erect and very stiff; basin shallow, wide, obtuse, corrugated and wrinkled; skin thick, tough, smooth, glossy; color pale lemon-yellow, mottled and dotted with bright red, deepening in highly colored specimens to a crimson blush, with occasional faint traces of russet; dots numerous, small, russet, conspicuous; flesh tinged with yellow, very granular and gritty at the center, tender and melting, buttery, juicy, sweet, rich, vinous, aromatic; quality very good. Core large, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube long, narrow, funnel-shaped; seeds medium in size and width, plump.

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

Clapp's Favorite.* Large, pyriform, body large tapering to the crown, neck rather small; skin smooth, yellowish-green becoming yellow, dotted and shaded with red to the sun; stalk rather short, stout; calyx partly closed, basin small-wrinkled; flesh greenish or yellowish white, juicy, melting, perfumed, of very good quality. Ripens just before the Bartlett. Young shoots dark purple, growth strong and vigorous, resembling that of the Flemish Beauty, with which and the Bartlett it is supposed to be a cross. The fruit should be picked before it is fully ripe, or it will decay at the centre. Popular everywhere. Massachusetts.

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