2. DOYENNE DU COMICE.

[Syn : Comice.]

This valuable pear was raised in the garden of the Comice Horticole, at Angers, and the original tree first bore fruit in 1849.

Description.—Fruit, large, three inches wide, and three inches and a half high ; pyramidal or obovate, sometimes rather uneven in its outline. Skin, lemon yellow, with a greenish tinge, considerably covered with speckles and patches of pale brown russet, and particularly so round the eye and the stalk. Eye, small and open, with short pointed segments, set in a considerable depression. Stalk, half an inch to an inch long, fleshy at the base ; sometimes curved, and inserted in a round narrow cavity ; sometimes very short and stout, and obliquely inserted almost at right angles with the fruit. Flesh, yellowish white, very tender, buttery and melting, very juicy, rich, sweet, and delicately perfumed, with a sort of cinnamon flavour.

A most delicious pear, in season from the end of October to the middle of December. Its season is prolonged if it is gathered at intervals before it is ripe, and handled very gently.

The tree grows well, and bears pretty freely. It forms handsome pyramids on the quince. In this form it can be a little protected when in bloom, and its merits richly deserve it.

The specimen represented on the plate was grown on a cordon tree against the wall at Holme Lacy, and is larger than if it had been grown on a pyramid.

— Woolhope Naturalists Field Club, The Herefordshire Pomona (1885)

Doyenne du Comice.

A French Pear, of comparatively recent introduction, which promises to be of much value. Tree moderately vigorous, upright. Young wood rich warm reddish yellow brown.

Fruit large, varying, roundish pyriform or broad obtuse pyriform, sometimes obtuse. Skin greenish yellow, becoming fine yellow at maturity, often lightly shaded with crimson and fawn in the sun, slight nettings and patches of russet, and thickly sprinkled with russet dots. Stalk short, stout, inclined and set in a shallow cavity, often russeted. Calyx small, open. Basin large, deep, and uneven. Flesh white, fine, melting, a little buttery, juicy, sweet, rich, slightly aromatic. Very good or best. Core small. October, November.

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

Comice.* Large, roundish-pyriform, somewhat pyramidal; greenish-yellow, becoming fine yellow at maturity, often with a faint crimson blush, slightly russeted, thickly dotted; stalk short, stout, set obliquely in a small cavity; calyx small, in a deep, uneven basin; flesh white, fine, melting, with a sweet, rich, slightly aromatic flavor. Keeps long after fully ripe. October and November. Young wood apt to be injured. France. Fig. 699.

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

Comice, Doyenne du Comice. — Large, roundish pyriform, nearly pyramidal; color greenish yellow, and bright yellow when fully mature; in interior climates it has a fine blush in the sun; stalk short, stout, and inserted in a small cavity. Flesh white, fine-grained, melting, sweet, very good to best. A good shipper even after it gets mellow. France.

— J.L. Budd & N.E. Hansen, American Horticultural Manual, Part II: Systematic Pomology (1914)

DOYENNE DU COMICE. Her. Pom., I., 13. G. Vereins Dechants Birn. Dessert, November, large, 3½ by 4, oval pyriform, nearly even. Skin, slightly rough. Colour, pale yellow, with very fine russet over most of fruit and occasional red flush. Flesh, pale yellow, extremely melting and delicate, most deliciously flavoured. Eye, closed in a deep round basin. Stem, medium, stout, little fleshy, on level. Growth moderate, upright spreading; fertility irregular. Leaf, medium, long oval, upfolded, down curved, regularly shallow serrate. Origin, raised at Angers, France, by the Hort. Soc. of Maine et Loire. First fruited in 1849. Introduced into England by Sir Thomas Dyke Acland in 1858. This delicious fruit can hardly be too highly praised and should be grown in different forms and positions so that its season may be extended. On rich brick earth I have seen it doing well as a standard.

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

DOYENNÉ DU COMICE

1. Mag. Hort. 18:168, fig. 16. 1852. 2. Ann. Pom. Belge 8:47, Pl. 1860. 3. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 68. 1862. 4. Pom. France 2: No. 58, Pl. 58. 1864. 5. Mas Le Verger 3: Pt. 1, 7, fig. 2. 1866-73. 6. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 744, fig. 1869. 7. Jour. Hort. N. S. 17:440, fig. 1869. 8. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:60, fig. 1869. 9. Hogg Fruit Man. 565. 1884. 10. Rev. Hort. 447, Pl. 1908.

Beurré Robert. 11. Leroy Dict. Pom. 1:418, fig. 1867. 12. Ibid. 2:775. 1869. Comice. 13. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 36. 1883. Vereins Dechantsbirne. 14. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 293. 1889. 15. Gaucher Pom. Prak. Obst. No. 68, Pl. 36. 1894. 16. Deut. Obstsorten 5: Pt. 14, Pl. 1909.

This pear has been esteemed long and justly for the beauty and high quality of its fruits. If its tree-characters were better the variety would take high place in commercial orcharding as well as for the home orchard, to which it is now almost wholly confined. The fruits are very large, smooth except for russet markings, clear handsome yellow at maturity, sometimes brightened by a delicate blush, with yellow, fine-grained flesh which is tender, melting, very juicy, sweet, piquant, perfumed. The quality is so good that the fruits of this variety are called by many the best of all pears. The list of faults for the trees is as long as the list of merits for the fruits. The young trees make a poor growth in the nursery; young or old, the trees must be humored in soil, climate, and care; they are subject to blight; while usually productive, they are not always so even where vigorous, healthy, and hardy; lastly, they are a little below the average in hardihood to cold. The variety is seldom at home in New York, but where it thrives, as on the Pacific slope, it is a valuable commercial pear, and is always worthy a place in the home orchard or in the collection of the pear-fancier. In Europe, it is reported as doing especially well on the quince.

The parent tree of Doyenné du Comice was taken from the first seed bed made in the fruit-garden of the Comice Horticole, Angers, Department of Maine-et-Loire, France. In November, 1849, it produced its first fruit, which was at once so highly esteemed that it was named Doyenné du Comice. It was placed on the market with unusual promptitude and rapidly distributed in foreign lands, reaching America about 1850. The variety was recommended for general cultivation by the American Pomological Society in 1862.

Tree vigorous, characteristically upright, dense, usually productive; branches smooth, dull gray mingled with greenish-brown, marked with large lenticels; branchlets long, brown tinged with red, glabrous, with many small, slightly raised, conspicuous lenticels.

Leaf-buds large, medium to long, conical, pointed, nearly free; leaf-scars prominent. Leaves 3½ in. long, 1½ in. wide, oval, leathery; margin finely serrate; petiole ¾ in. long.

Flower-buds short, conical, free; blossoms open late; flowers 1½ in. across, in dense clusters, about 8 buds in a cluster; pedicels ¾ in. long, slender, pubescent, light green.

Fruit ripe in late October and November; large, 3 in. long, 2½ in. wide, obovate-obtuse-pyriform or roundish, with unequal sides; stem 1½ in. long, very thick, usually curved; cavity obtuse, shallow, narrow, russeted and wrinkled, often with a fleshy ring around the base of the stem; calyx open; lobes separated at the base, long, narrow, acuminate; basin medium to wide, obtuse, often furrowed; skin tough and granular, smooth except for the russet markings, dull; color clear yellow, often with a very faint russet-red blush on the exposed cheek, the surface heavily covered with large patches and nettings of attractive russet; dots many, very small, dark brown, obscure; flesh tinged strongly with yellow, fine-grained near the outside but granular toward the core, melting, tender, buttery, very juicy, sweet and vinous, aromatic; quality very good to best. Core closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds large, wide, long, rather plump, acute, often abortive.

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

DOYENNE DU COMICE. Fig. 81. Comice.

This pear has been esteemed long and justly for the beauty and high quality of its fruits, and, if its tree-characters were better, the variety would take high place in commercial orcharding as well as for the home orchard to which it is now almost wholly confined. The fruits are very large, smooth, except for russet markings, clear handsome yellow, sometimes brightened by a delicate blush, with yellow, fine-grained flesh, which is tender, melting, very juicy, sweet, piquant, perfumed. The quality is so good that the fruits of this variety are called by many the best of all pears. The list of faults for the trees is as long as the list of merits for the fruits. The trees make a poor growth in the nursery; must be humored in soil, climate, and care; they are subject to blight; while usually productive, they are not always so; lastly, they are a little below the average in hardihood to cold. The variety thrives on the Pacific slope where it is a valuable commercial pear. The parent tree of Doyenne du Comice was taken from the first seed-bed made in the fruit-garden of the Comice Horticole, Angers, France.

Tree vigorous, characteristically upright, dense, usually productive; branches smooth, marked with large lenticels. Leaves 3¼ inches long, 1½ inches wide, oval, leathery; margin finely serrate; petiole inches long. Blossoms open late; flowers 1½ inches across, in dense clusters, about buds in a cluster. Fruit ripe in late October and November; large, inches long, 2½ inches wide, obovate-obtuse-pyriform, with unequal sides; stem 1½ inches long, very thick, curved; cavity obtuse, shallow, narrow, russeted and wrinkled, often with a fleshy ring around the base of the stem; calyx open; lobes separated at the base, long, narrow, acuminate; basin wide, obtuse, furrowed; skin tough and granular, smooth except for the russet markings, dull; color clear yellow, often with a faint russet-red blush on the exposed cheek, the surface heavily covered with large patches and nettings of russet; dots many, small, dark brown; flesh yellow, fine-grained near the outside but granular toward the core, melting, tender, buttery, very juicy, sweet and vinous, aromatic; quality very good to best; core closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds large, wide, long, rather plump, acute, often abortive.

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

a magnificent fruity and juicy pear; working, very juicy, rich, highly perfumed, and excellent

— Kelway & Son, Kelways Manual (1897) (1897)