Kieffer

[NOTE: Source text may be incorrect — the Stark Bros. (1910) entry contains garbled sentences ("A good soil to plant among others, as improves them. Blight is pure absolute to it.") and a stray trailing "N.Y."; the Hedrick Pears of New York (1921) entry breaks off mid-word ("the most vigor-"). What can be salvaged is included below.]

Origin / History

Kieffer was raised by Peter Kieffer near Philadelphia. Downing spells the name "Keiffer" and places him at Roxbury, near Philadelphia. The seed parent was the Chinese Sand pear; the pollen parent is disputed. Downing says the seed was "accidentally crossed with Beurre d'Anjou, or some other kind grown near it." Thomas calls it a cross between Bartlett and the Chinese Sand pear.

Hedrick relates that Kieffer grew Chinese Sand pears as ornamentals, with trees of Bartlett in the same garden. Among chance seedlings he observed one "of peculiar growth" and saved it. Hedrick thinks it "probably" a hybrid between the two. It first bore fruit in 1863 and was the original Kieffer tree. Budd and Hansen call it "a Chinese hybrid."

Hedrick's references record it as "Kieffer's Hybrid" in W. N. Y. Hort. Soc. Rpt. for 1879. Under the present name it appears in Gard. Mon. for 1880 (figured) and in Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. for 1883. Downing gives it as "Keiffer" in the third appendix of 1881. It was planted for trial at the Central Experimental Farm, Agassiz, British Columbia, in spring 1890.

Downing called it "this new and unique pear." He credited the fruit with "good size, good color, good quality," and judged it "a promising variety for the table or market." Thomas writes that "the beauty, vigor, and productiveness of this variety have established it as the most popular market variety of the country." He calls it "wonderfully popular with growers and canners," but "consumers are finding that it generally lacks flavor." Budd and Hansen record it as double starred in many States as a market and kitchen variety.

Hedrick calls it "the most pretentious cheat in the orchard." In 1921 he says it is grown more commonly than any other pear in North America; in 1922 he adds "excepting Bartlett." He says its popularity "can be accounted for only by accepting Barnum's dictum that 'Americans love to be fooled.'" "Pears are grown to eat," yet people, "pleased by a bright cheek and a fair form, regardless of the potato-like flavor," buy and eat Kieffer pears "and persist in doing so." Among his reasons for its wide planting, no pear "has been advertised so widely and so unqualifiedly, growers of trees often supplying virtues to the variety which Nature denies it." Nurserymen like it because "of all pears the trees of Kieffer are most easily grown." By 1922 he judged that "the first flush of popularity is past."

Tree

Remarkably vigorous, a strong grower. Hedrick calls the trees "uniformly the most vigorous" of all pears grown in America, and in the orchard also the most fruitful. Tree of medium size, upright, dense-topped (Hedrick). Hedrick's technical description calls it hardy, yet the same entry calls the trees "tender to cold." Branches slender, nearly smooth, reddish-brown, marked with few small lenticels.

Leaves large, dark green, glossy (Downing). Hedrick gives them as 3¾ inches long and 1¾ inches wide; oval, thick, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin often finely serrate; petiole 1¾ inches long. Flowers open early, 1¾ inches across, fairly well distributed, varying from 7 to 11 buds in a cluster (Hedrick).

An early, regular, very prolific bearer; Stark calls it "a tremendous bearer" and an "enormous producer." Thomas notes that in some sections it "fruits sparingly in large blocks unless another variety is intermingled." Hedrick says the trees "in some soils refuse to set fruit, are often self-sterile, and sometimes with the best of care bear only pears of small size." Stark's garbled line reads "A good soil to plant among others, as improves them."

Hedrick says the trees endure heat best of all pears, are least susceptible to blight, and withstand best the ravages of San José scale. Stark says it is "never known to blight in the extreme north" and writes, garbled, "Blight is pure absolute to it."

Fruit

Size: Medium to very large, most accounts calling it large. Hedrick gives above medium to large, 2¾ inches long and 2¾ inches wide. Thomas extends the range to very large. Downing and the Agassiz station call it medium. Hedrick adds that trees sometimes, "with the best of care," bear only pears of small size.

Form: Oval, narrowing or tapering toward both ends. Downing gives roundish oval, with the largest diameter near the center; some specimens are roundish, inclining to oblong obtuse pyriform. Budd and Hansen call it "variable in shape." Hedrick calls it symmetrical and uniform.

Stem: Short to medium, moderately stout to thick. Hedrick gives ¾ inch long, thick.

Cavity: Medium (Downing); very small, smooth (Hedrick).

Calyx: Open. Lobes separated at the base, short, narrow, acute; calyx tube short, wide, conical (Hedrick).

Basin: Medium, a little uneven (Downing); shallow, narrow, obtuse, nearly smooth (Hedrick).

Skin: Thick, tough, smooth (Hedrick). Yellow, deep or rich yellow, becoming orange yellow or a brighter shade in the sun; bright yellow when fully ripe.

Thomas gives a handsome red cheek in the South, and Stark a red cheek. Hedrick says it is occasionally blushed with dull pinkish-red on the exposed cheek, and elsewhere speaks of "a bright cheek." Downing gives a few patches and nettings of russet. Budd and Hansen say the russet and russet dots often nearly cover the yellow ground.

A handsome, showy fruit; Thomas calls it "beautiful to look at."

Dots: Many, small, brown russet, conspicuous.

Flesh and flavor: Whitish to white or, per Hedrick, yellowish-white; he also calls it "white and inviting" when canned. Coarse: a little or somewhat coarse, "usually somewhat coarse" (Thomas), rather coarse grained, and in Hedrick's words "very granular and coarse." Juicy. Half melting (Downing) against crisp (Hedrick).

Downing calls it sweet. Hedrick calls it "not sweet, often astringent," with a "potato-like flavor" and a "disagreeable natural taste" raw. The Agassiz station finds it "not high flavoured." Thomas says it "generally lacks flavor" and is "insipid," with low quality unless properly ripened; but "if ripened slowly in a dark place it develops a good flavor."

Quality is rated from "very good" down to "poor," and for dessert "worthless." Downing stands alone at the high end. He gives "quality very good, partaking slightly of the Chinese Sand pears," having called it "good quality" in his introduction. The middle verdicts are "good to poor" (Thomas), "only good" (Budd and Hansen), "fair quality" (Stark), and "medium or below medium" (Agassiz). Hedrick gives "poor" and "worthless for dessert," with "dire necessity alone compelling their consumption uncooked."

Core and seeds: Core large, closed, with clasping core lines. Seeds wide, plump, acute (Hedrick).

Season

The recorded season runs from October into late winter. Most authors give October and November: Downing all of October and part of November, Hedrick late October and November. Thomas gives late fall to late winter. Downing advises that "to have it in perfection, it should be gathered when fully grown, and ripened in the house." Thomas advises ripening slowly in a dark place.

Uses

A market, shipping, kitchen, and canning pear. Stark calls it "a splendid fruit for canning and shipping." Thomas calls it excellent for canning and grown largely for that purpose. Hedrick says the fruits are fit to eat only in culinary preparations, but "much can be said for the fruits of Kieffer for culinary preparation." Cooking removes the disagreeable raw taste "and leaves a good product."

Canned, the pears retain their shape, color, and flavor well. For this reason, and because of the white and inviting flesh, commercial canners prefer Kieffers. Hedrick advises growers to raise it chiefly for the cannery, supplying the demand for dessert pears with "worthier varieties."

Subtypes / Variants

Not described in source.

Other

Figured as Fig. 731 in Thomas and Fig. 86 in Hedrick's Cyclopedia. Hedrick's further references include Jour. Hort. 3rd Ser. (1886), Garden (1905, 1906), Cornell Sta. Bul. 332 (1913), Mathieu Nom. Pom. (1889), Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. (1909), and Country Gent. (1919, figured).