Early Harvest
Pear
USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection
Early Harvest
Origin/History
This variety was brought to Middletown, Kentucky, from Maryland by Captain William Chambers about 1800, along with several other pear varieties. Originally designated as Chambers, the pear was renamed Early Harvest by Kentucky growers because of its extreme earliness, and this name became so strongly associated with the variety that it remains the primary common name. In 1875, the variety was added to the fruit catalog-list of the American Pomological Society under the name Chambers. The variety is more popular in the Middle West than in any other part of the country.
Tree
Large, very vigorous, upright-spreading, dense-topped, very hardy, productive with age, and long-lived. Trunk very stocky and shaggy. Branches thick, shaggy, and zigzag, dull reddish-brown mingled with green and heavily covered with grayish scarf-skin, marked with numerous large, elongated lenticels. Branchlets very thick, straight, and long, with long internodes; dull olive-green mingled with light brown, smooth and glabrous, with numerous very conspicuous raised lenticels variable in size.
Leaf-buds small, short, obtuse, and appressed; leaf-scars prominent. Leaves 3½ inches long, 2¼ inches wide; apex very abruptly pointed; margin glandless, varying from finely serrate to entire; petiole 1¼ inches long and slender. Flowers open early and are showy, 1¼ inches across, well distributed, averaging 7 buds in a cluster; pedicels 1 inch long, thinly pubescent.
Nurserymen report the tree is difficult to propagate. Fruit-growers find that it is slow in coming into bearing, with growth usually straggling and difficult to manage in nursery or orchard.
Fruit
Size and Form: Large, 3½ inches long, 3 inches wide, obovate-obtuse-pyriform, symmetrical.
Stem: Very thick, fleshy at its juncture with the cavity.
Cavity: Obtuse, shallow, narrow, often slightly wrinkled and drawn up in fleshy folds around the base of the stem.
Calyx: Small and open; lobes short and obtuse.
Basin: Shallow, narrow, obtuse, slightly wrinkled.
Skin: Thin and smooth; color pale yellow, more or less overspread on the exposed cheek with a pinkish blush, with stripes of carmine; dots numerous, small, greenish-russet, and obscure.
Flesh and Flavor: Yellowish, firm, granular, crisp, and somewhat tough; variable in juiciness; quality poor. The fruits rot at the core soon after ripening.
Core and Seeds: Core large, closed, axile, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube very long and narrow; seeds wide, short, plump, and obtuse.
Season
Ripens in August.
Uses
The variety is characterized by defects that limit its desirability: poor quality and tendency to rot at the core soon after ripening make it hardly worth growing in New York, where many better pears of its season are available. However, the pears are large and handsome for early fruits, and the trees are healthy, regular, and heavy bearers, which partially offset these drawbacks.
Other
Not described in source.
Book Sources
Described in 1 period pomological work
Nursery Catalog Sources
Found in 5 catalogs (1894–1907) from Illinois, Oregon
- The Vineland Nurseries (Kelsey & Co. , Proprietors), St. Joseph, Missouri (Office: 13th and Atchison Sts., 2 Blocks East of the Citizens St. Car Line) — 1894
- The Dalles Nurseries , The Dalles , Oregon — 1901
- Benjamin Buckman (personal inventory) , Farmingdale , Illinois — 1901
- Phoenix Nursery Company (W. E. Rossney , President; Sidney Tuttle, Vice-President), Bloomington , Illinois — 1904
- Russellville Nursery Co. , Montavilla Station, Portland, OR (three miles east of Portland, one mile from Montavilla car line) — 1907
View original book sources (1)
— U.P. Hedrick, The Pears of New York (1921)EARLY HARVEST
- Neb. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 129. 1890. 2. Budd-Hansen Am. Hort. Man. 2:243. 1903. Chambers. 3. Horticulturist 25:263, fig. 1870. 4. Tilton Jour. Hort. 8:293. 1870. 5. Mass. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 157. 1874. 6. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 32. 1875. 7. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 3rd App. 174. 1881. 8. Can. Hort. 26:130. 1903. 9. Ont. Dept. Agr. Fr. Ont. 151, fig. 1914.
The fruits of Early Harvest are so poor in quality and rot at the core so soon after ripening, that the variety is hardly worth growing in New York, where there are many better pears of its season. To offset these defects, the pears are large and handsome for early fruits, and the trees are healthy and regular and heavy bearers. The pear is characterized by a thick, fleshy stem and a large closed core. Nurserymen report that the tree is difficult to propagate, and fruit-growers find that it is slow in coming in bearing; the growth is usually straggling and difficult to manage in nursery or orchard. The variety is more popular in the Middle West than in any other part of the country.
This variety appears to have been brought to Middletown, Kentucky, from Maryland by Captain William Chambers about 1800, with several other varieties. According to the rules of pomological nomenclature, this pear should be called Chambers as it was first known. The name Early Harvest was given the variety by Kentucky growers because of its extreme earliness, and became so closely associated with the variety that to-day it is the only one with which the public is familiar. In 1875 this variety was added to the fruit catalog-list of the American Pomological Society under the name Chambers.
Tree large, very vigorous, upright-spreading, dense-topped, very hardy, productive with age, long-lived; trunk very stocky, shaggy; branches thick, shaggy, zigzag, dull reddish-brown mingled with green and heavily covered with grayish scarf-skin, marked with numerous, large, elongated lenticels; branchlets very thick, straight, long, with long internodes, dull olive-green mingled with light brown, smooth, glabrous, with numerous very conspicuous, raised lenticels, variable in size.
Leaf-buds small, short, obtuse, appressed; leaf-scars prominent. Leaves 3½ in. long, 2¼ in. wide; apex very abruptly pointed; margin glandless, varying from finely serrate to entire; petiole 1¼ in. long, slender. Flowers open early, showy, 1¼ in. across, well distributed, average 7 buds in a cluster; pedicels 1 in. long, thinly pubescent.
Fruit ripens in August; large, 3½ in. long, 3 in. wide, obovate-obtuse-pyriform, symmetrical; stem very thick, fleshy at its juncture with the cavity; cavity obtuse, shallow, narrow, often slightly wrinkled and drawn up in fleshy folds around the base of the stem; calyx small, open; lobes short, obtuse; basin shallow, narrow, obtuse, slightly wrinkled; skin thin, smooth; color pale yellow, more or less overspread on the exposed cheek with a pinkish blush, with stripes of carmine; dots numerous, small, greenish-russet, obscure; flesh yellowish, firm, granular, crisp, somewhat tough, variable in juiciness; quality poor. Core large, closed, axile, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube very long, narrow; seeds wide, short, plump, obtuse.