Josephine de Malines.

Foreign; not an early bearer or a good grower; best on Pear. Fruit, medium, roundish obovate, yellow blush in sun, traces and specks of russet; calyx, open; core, large: flesh, yellowish white, melting, fine, juicy, vinous; "very good." December, January.

— F.R. Elliott, The Western Fruit Book (1865)

Josephine de Malines.

Raised by Major Esperen, of Malines, and proves one among the best of winter varieties. Tree moderately vigorous and productive. Young wood olive yellow brown, very short-jointed. Buds round, projecting.

Fruit medium, roundish oblate, slightly pyriform, pale greenish yellow, netted and patched with russet, especially around the stalk, and with many minute brown dots, particularly around the calyx. Stalk enlarged at both ends, curved, sometimes set in a small cavity. Calyx small, open. Segments short, stiff, nearly erect. Flesh pinkish white, juicy, melting, sweet, with a delicate aroma. Very good. January, February.

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

Josephine de Malines.* Size medium, conic-oblate; yellowish with small dots; stalk very long, cavity slight, basin large; flesh of a light salmon color toward the centre, buttery, of a sweet and peculiar flavor. The tree forms a handsome pyramid on quince. This is one of the best early winter pears, often keeping till midwinter and later. Belgian. Fig. 729.

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

JOSEPHINE DE MALINES. Her. Pom., II., 70. Dessert, December to January, rather small, short conical. Skin, smooth. Colour, pale green, fading to pale yellow, with a russet patch round stem. Flesh, slightly pinkish, very melting, sweet and deliciously perfumed. Eye, open in a slight basin, upright segments. Stem, rather short and woody. Growth, moderate, rather weeping; fertility good. Leaf, small, very long petiole, very finely crenate, narrow oval, sharply pointed, held flat, down hanging, turns pale yellow. Origin, raised by Major Esperen in 1830, and named after his wife. Quite the most reliable fruit of its season, ripening successively in the fruit room. If one winter pear only can be grown this should be selected.

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

JOSÉPHINE DE MALINES

1. McIntosh Bk. Gard. 2:461. 1855. 2. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 68. 1862. 3. Pom. France 2: No. 50, Pl. 50. 1864. 4. Jour. Hort. N. S. 14:67. 1868. 5. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 793, fig. 1869. 6. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:310, fig. 1869. 7. Guide Prat. 61, 282. 1876. 8. Jour. Hort. 3rd Ser. 5:565, fig. 96. 1882. 9. Hogg Fruit Man. 599. 1884. 10. Bunyard Handb. Hardy Fr. 182. 1920.

Joséphine von Mecheln. 11. Dochnahl Führ. Obstkunde 2:93. 1856. 12. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 239. 1889. 13. Gaucher Pom. Prak. Obst. No. 50, Pl. 31. 1894.

Malines. 14. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 24. 1897.

This is another of the few good winter pears. The fruit-characters are so distinctive and meritorious that the variety should be grown in every home orchard, and it possesses much merit for commercial plantations. The fruits have a marked peculiarity. Cut through the shaded yellow-russet skin, flesh with a faint, rosy tint is displayed. Several red or rosy-fleshed pears are grown in Europe, but this is the only one described by American pomologists. The tree also, has a marked peculiarity; it thrives amazingly well on the white-thorn as well as on pear and quince stocks. But it is the quality of the fruits that commends the variety most highly. The flesh is buttery, juicy, sweet, and perfumed — pleasing in every character that gratifies the palate. The season is exceedingly variable, and is given by different pomologists from December to March and January to May. The fruits are not very pleasing in appearance, but the accompanying illustration scarcely does them justice in either size or color. In the orchard, the trees are satisfactory, but the nurserymen find them rather difficult to grow, this, no doubt, being the chief reason for the apparent neglect of this splendid pear. The trees thrive in almost any soil or situation suitable to pears, and are everywhere prodigiously fruitful, hardy, and resistant to blight. The variety deserves wider recognition than it now receives.

This pear originated about 1830 in the seed beds of Major Espéren, the well-known pomologist of Mechlin (Malines), Belgium, who named it Joséphine de Malines in honor of his wife. It was introduced in America prior to 1850, and in 1862 was added to the fruit-list of the American Pomological Society, a place it has since retained.

Tree large, vigorous, spreading, tall, dense-topped, rapid-growing, hardy, very productive; trunk stocky; branches thick, shaggy, reddish-brown overlaid with gray scarf-skin, marked with few lenticels; branchlets thick, dull reddish-brown, smooth, glabrous, with small, raised, inconspicuous lenticels.

Leaf-buds short, obtuse, plump, appressed. Leaves 2½ in. long, 1½ in. wide, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin finely serrate; petiole 1⅝ in. long. Flower-buds short, plump, free; flowers early, 1½ in. across, white, occasionally tinged with pink, well distributed, average 7 buds in a cluster; pedicels ⅝ in. long, slender, thinly pubescent.

Fruit ripe December to February; medium in size, 2⅝ in. long, 2⅛ in. wide, turbinate, inclined to truncate; stem long, very thick; cavity obtuse, shallow, narrow, slightly furrowed; calyx large, open; lobes short, broad, obtuse; basin narrow, obtuse, smooth; skin thick, tough, dull; color pale greenish-yellow, netted and patched more or less with russet; dots numerous, small, brown or russet, conspicuous; flesh light salmon, granular, melting, buttery, very juicy, sweet, slightly aromatic; quality good. Core large, closed, axile, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide; carpels pyriform; seeds large, wide, long, plump, acuminate.

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

JOSE'PHINE DE MALINES.

Fig. 85. Malines. This is one of the few good winter pears. Its fruit-characters are so distinctive and meritorious that the variety should be grown in every home orchard. The fruits have a marked peculiarity; cut through the shaded yellow-russet skin, flesh with a faint, rosy tint is displayed. But it is the quality of the fruits that commends the variety most. The flesh is buttery, juicy, sweet, and perfumed pleasing in every character that gratifies the palate. The season is exceedingly variable, being given variously by pomologists from December to March and January to May. In the orchard, the trees are satisfactory, but nurserymen find them difficult to grow; this, no doubt, is the chief reason for the neglect of this excellent pear. The trees thrive in almost any soil or situation suitable to pears, and are fruitful, hardy, and resistant to blight. The variety deserves wider recognition than it now receives.

This pear originated about 1830 in the seed-beds of Major Esperen, the well-known pomologist of Mechlin, Belgium.

Tree large, vigorous, spreading, tall, dense-topped, rapid-growing, hardy, very productive; trunk stocky; branches thick, shaggy, reddish-brown, marked with few lenticels. Leaves 2¼ inches long, 1¼ inches wide, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin finely serrate; petiole 1¾ inches long. Flowers early, 1¾ inches across, white, occasionally tinged with pink, well distributed, average buds in a cluster. Fruit ripe December-February; medium in size, turbinate, inclined to truncate; stem long, very thick; cavity obtuse, shallow, narrow, slightly furrowed; calyx large, open; lobes short, broad, obtuse; basin narrow, obtuse, smooth; skin thick, tough, dull; color pale greenish-yellow, netted and patched more or less with russet; dots numerous, small, brown or russet, conspicuous; flesh pinkish-white, firm, granular, melting, buttery, very juicy, sweet, slightly aromatic; quality good; core large, closed, axile, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide; carpels pyriform; seeds large, wide, long, plump, acuminate.

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

Planted Spring 1892. Tree a medium grower. Fruit of medium size, roundish, oblate. Skin greenish yellow, with a little russet and many brown dots. Flesh white, juicy, melting, sweet, quality very good. Season January.

— Central Experimental Farm, Central Experimental Farm, Agassiz BC — Catalogue of Fruit Trees under Test (Bulletin No. 3, 1900) (1900)

medium, melting, juicy and richly flavoured. Excellent pear for late use Nov. & Dec.

— James Veitch & Sons, Veitch's Fruit Trees (1911) (1911)

medium, a very late pear; of good flavour, and is a most precious flavour; most popular on the pome excellent, in a fruit or vigorous in

— Thomas Rivers & Son, Thomas Rivers Catalogue of Fruits (1914) (1914)