Doyenné Boussock

Doyenné Boussock.

Doyenné Boussouck Nouvelle. Beurré Boussock. Beurré de Merode. Albertine. Double Philippe. Beurré de Westerloo. Bossoch. Beurré Magnifique. Doyenné de Merode.

This Belgian Pear proves one of the most vigorous of trees, and profitable as a market sort. Tree vigorous, upright, spreading. Young wood dull reddish brown.

Fruit varying in form, obovate inclining to pyriform, or roundish obtuse obovate. Skin rough, deep yellow, netted and clouded with russet, with a warm cheek. Stalk rather short and stout, inserted in a round cavity. Calyx open. Basin shallow. Flesh buttery, juicy, melting, sweet, aromatic, and excellent. Very good. September and October.

Delpiere, as we have received it, proves identical with the above.

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

DOYENNÉ BOUSSOCK

1. Hovey Fr. Am. 1:31, Pl. 1851. 2. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 210. 1856. 3. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 742, fig. 1869. Doyenné Boussock Nouvelle. 4. Kenrick Am. Orch. 143. 1841. Beurré de Merode. 5. Ann. Pom. Belge 5:81, Pl. 1857. Doyenné de Merode. 6. Pom. France 2: No. 86, Pl. 86. 1864. 8. Guide Prat. 64, 266. 1876. 7. Mas Le Verger 3: Pt. I, 171, fig. 84. 1866-73. Doyenné Boussoch. 9. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:58, fig. 1869. 10. Hogg Fruit Man. 564. 1884. Boussock. 11. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 36. 1883. Doppelte Philippsbirne. 12. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 204. 1889. 13. Gaucher Pom. Prak. Obst. No. 33, Pl. 61. 1894.

This old Belgian pear is a leader in the second rank of commercial pears in this country. If the fruits were better in quality and kept a little longer, the variety would take rank among the best commercial pears, for the fruits are handsome and the trees are nearly flawless. As the color-plate shows, there are few pears more attractive than this one, but the briskly acid flavor is not pleasing to many, and the fruits become soft at the center soon after ripening. The pears are above medium in size and are sometimes large or very large. The seeds are often abortive. The trees are very large and vigorous, as hardy as those of any other pear to cold, less susceptible to blight than most of their orchard associates, and are remarkable for their prominent buds and large, thick, glossy-green leaves, which turn deep red in the autumn. On some soils the trees do not hold their crop well, and it is always best to plant them where there is some protection against heavy winds. The trees are prodigious bearers, and fruit regularly, characters which make the variety desirable for local markets.

This pear is supposed to have been raised by Van Mons at the beginning of the nineteenth century. It was placed on sale at Brussels about 1819. The variety was first given the name Doyenné de Mérode in honor of the Comte de Mérode of Waterloo, Belgium. In 1836, however, the name was changed to Doyenné Boussock. The catalog of the Horticultural Society of London shows that it was received in England in 1842. William Kenrick, on his return from Europe in the spring of 1841, brought the variety to America. In 1856 the American Pomological Society added this pear to its fruit-list.

Tree very large, vigorous, upright-spreading, tall, hardy, productive; trunk thick, shaggy; branches stocky, shaggy, grayish-brown; branchlets long, with long internodes, light brown tinged with red, overspread with ash-gray, smooth, glabrous, with few elongated, raised, inconspicuous lenticels.

Leaf-buds small, short, sharply pointed, plump, free; leaf-scars with prominent shoulders. Leaves 3½ in. long, 1½ in. wide, leathery; apex abruptly pointed; margin very finely serrate; petiole 1½ in. long, slender. Flower-buds small, long and narrow, conical, free, singly on very short spurs; flowers early, showy, 1⅛ in. across, in dense clusters, average 8 buds in a cluster; pedicels 1⅛ in. long, thick, pubescent.

Fruit ripe in September; large, 3 in. long, 2½ in. wide, uniform, obtuse-obovate-pyriform, symmetrical; stem 1 in. long, very thick; cavity obtuse, rather shallow, broad, often russeted, furrowed, lipped; calyx large, open; lobes separated at the base, broad, acute; basin shallow, wide, obtuse, gently furrowed and wrinkled; skin thin, tender, smooth except for the russet nettings; color pale yellow, occasionally with a mottled pinkish-red blush on the exposed cheek, more or less netted with russet; dots numerous, small, russet, conspicuous; flesh white, tender and melting, buttery, very juicy, briskly acid; quality good. Core large, closed, axile, with meeting core-lines; calyx-tube very short, wide, broadly conical; seeds black, narrow, long, flattened, often abortive.

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

THE DOYENNÉ BOUSSOCK PEAR.

Doyenné Boussock. Magazine of Horticulture, vol. xiii. p. 68. Doyenné Boussock Nouvelle, American Orchardist, 3d Ed. Doyenné Broussach, of some French Collections.

It is somewhat remarkable that a pear, possessing the excellent qualities of the Doyenné Boussock, should not have had a more extended reputation, or have been better known to pomologists. Our first knowledge of it was derived from the American Orchardist, where it was briefly noticed, and first made known to American collections, by Mr. Kenrick, on his return from Europe, in the spring of 1841. In a subsequent edition of the Orchardist, it was more fully described as follows:—"New and large; of superior excellence; ripening at Paris in November." (4th Ed. p. 101.) From this favorable notice, we were induced to add the variety to our collection; and our trees having produced fine specimens the last two years, we are enabled to state that it fully equals the character ascribed to it by Mr. Kenrick. It is not only a very large and beautiful fruit, as our plate represents, but in quality it ranks with the best of our autumn pears, having much of the character of that old favorite, the White Doyenné.

The late Mr. Manning received a variety under the name of Doyenné Boussock, (Mag. of Hort., viii. p. 50.) which proved to be the Doyenné gris, but subsequently he obtained and fruited the true one. It is somewhat singular, however, that among trees purchased at auction in Boston, which had been received from France, the true Doyenné Boussock has been discovered in three or four collections; and the beauty and size of the specimens have surprised pomologists, who were quite unacquainted with such a variety.

The Doyenné Boussock is very large, some of the specimens having the obtuse form and irregular surface of the Duchesse d'Angoulême, but generally it is of regular form. The tree grows freely either on the pear or quince, and comes early into bearing, about the third or fourth year.

Tree.—Vigorous, of a somewhat spreading, though generally upright, habit, the branches being horizontal at first, but making a long curve upwards, as our vignette represents.

Wood.—Clear yellowish brown, sparsely dotted with large pale brown specks, very stout, and rather short-jointed; old wood dark yellowish brown; buds large, full, shortly pointed, diverging, with very prominent shoulders: Flower-buds often terminal on the long annual shoots, medium size, obtusely oval.

Leaves.—Large, roundish obovate, somewhat cordate at the base, tapering to the end, thick, deep green, nearly flat, recurved on the midrib, with rather prominent nerves, very slightly and obtusely serrated; petioles rather short and stout. In the autumn, the foliage assumes a deep tinge of red.

Flowers.—Large; petals roundish, cupped; clusters compact.

Fruit.—Large, about three and a half inches long, and three inches in diameter: Form, obtusely obovate, nearly regular, large and full at the crown, and tapering little to the stem, where it is very obtuse: Skin, fair, lemon yellow when mature, shaded with bright crimson in the sun, somewhat traced with russet, and regularly dotted all over with large, prominent, russet specks: Stem, short, about half an inch in length, stout, straight, wrinkled and fleshy at the base, and moderately inserted in a large, shallow cavity: Eye, medium size, open, and little sunk in a moderately deep, open basin; segments of the calyx short, round: Flesh, yellowish white, rather coarse, melting, and very juicy: Flavor, rich, saccharine, sprightly, vinous, perfumed, and excellent: Core, medium size: Seeds, slender, long, almost black, and mostly abortive.

Ripe in October, and keeps well for three or four weeks.

— C.M. Hovey, The Fruits of America (1852)