Gansell's Bergamot Pear

THE GANSELL'S BERGAMOT PEAR.

Gansell's Bergamot. Pomological Magazine, vol. i. pl. 35.

Brocas Bergamot, Ives's Bergamot, Staunton, Gurle's Beurré, Bonne Rouge, Diamant, } According to London Hort. Soc. Catalogue, 3d Ed.

This fine old pear has been greatly neglected in the rapid introduction of new varieties; and it is not uncommon to find large and choice collections without a single specimen of this kind: indeed, some cultivators, well acquainted with the principal pears that we now possess, scarcely know the Gansell's Bergamot. How it happens that a variety of such excellence, and holding the highest rank in English collections, should have been so much neglected, we are at a loss to imagine; but probably the fact that it is an old pear,—introduced along with the White Doyenne, Brown Beurré, St. Germain, &c., which have long ceased to be generally cultivated on account of the uncertainty of the crop,—is the main reason why its merits have been overlooked.

The Gansell's Bergamot is a pear of English origin, and was obtained from the seed of the Autumn Bergamot, by Lieut. Gen. Gansell, at his seat at Donellan Hall, near Colchester, in 1768. It has consequently been in cultivation nearly a century, and is justly esteemed by British pomologists a superior fruit. At what period it was introduced into American collections, we have been unable to ascertain. Mr. Lowell mentions, among the few sorts cultivated in Massachusetts in 1815, the Brockholst Bergamot, which was undoubtedly this pear. Coxe cultivated it in his collection in New Jersey, and described it in his work (1818) as a "very fine pear." Probably it was introduced many years previous, or about the commencement of the present century.

It has the reputation of being a small bearer, but this does not accord with our experience. True, it is not as prolific as the Bartlett or Buffum, but produces what may be termed a good crop, just enough to keep the tree in fine condition, without the troublesome labor of thinning. The tree has a wild habit, with small bluish green leaves, but by judicious pruning makes a good head. It is rather late in coming into bearing, and does not succeed very well on the quince.

Tree.—Rather irregular and spreading in its growth, the branches horizontal at first, with the ends curved upwards; annual growth, short and rather slender.

Wood.—Grayish olive, dotted with whitish specks, rather slender, and short-jointed; old wood, olive gray; buds, small, short, obtusely ovate, diverging, with rather prominent shoulders: Flower-buds, small, obtusely pointed.

Leaves.—Small, thick, dark bluish green, obovate, cordate at the base, narrowing to the point, wavy, and very slightly serrated; young leaves covered with a kind of mealiness; petioles, stout, one inch long, and rather slender.

Flowers.—Small; petals, roundish obovate, crimped, much cupped; clusters, compact.

Fruit.—Large, about three inches long, and three and a half in diameter: Form, regular, roundish, considerably flattened at each end, and narrowing little towards the stem: Skin, fair, smooth, yellowish brown, little russeted on the sunny side, and regularly covered with green and russety specks: Stem, short, about half an inch long, moderately stout, straight, and deeply inserted in a small round cavity: Eye, medium size, open, and sunk in a large, round, smooth, open basin; segments of the calyx, short and narrow: Flesh, yellowish white, coarse, melting, and very juicy: Flavor, rich, sugary, and delicious, with a fine bergamot perfume: Core, large: Seeds, small, roundish, pale brown.

Ripe in October, and keeps two or three weeks.

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