LE CURÉ PEAR.

Le Curé. Bon Jardinier, 1836. Vicar of Winkfield, } Monsieur le Curé, } Hort. Soc. Catalogue, 3d Ed. 1842. Dumas, } Clion, Kenrick's New Am. Orchardist. Monsieur, } Belle Heloise, (incorrectly,) } of some French Collections. Belle de Berry } Pater Notte, } Burgermeester, (incorrectly.) Book of Fruits, 1838, No. 67.

Much confusion exists in regard to the correct name of this pear. Poiteau, and other eminent French pomologists, have pronounced it identical with the Saint Lezain, an old and well known variety in France, where it has been cultivated for more than half a century; but, in all the principal collections, it is now known as Le Curé, or Mons. Le Curé, from its having been found in the woods by M. Clion, a French curate. Recently, the London Horticultural Society, in their Catalogue for 1842, have called it the Vicar of Winkfield, from the circumstance of a tree growing in his garden, received from France, having first produced fruit in England. We have been induced to adopt the Society's catalogue as authority in nomenclature; but, in this and some other instances where there are gross errors, we cannot consent to perpetuate them. After a careful investigation of the subject, and the examination of many trees, we believe that the venerable Poiteau was right in considering it identical with the Saint Lezain; but, as time is required to render this positive, we adopt the name, every where known in France, of Le Curé.

No pear is more variable in its form than this, and this has given rise to the numerous synonymes. In favorable soils and seasons, it is a very excellent pear. Its great merits are the vigor of the tree, — its broad and deep green foliage, — its immense productiveness, — the large size of the fruit, — its long keeping, — and, at all times, its excellence as a baking pear. It bears early, and succeeds admirably upon the quince.

Tree. — Very vigorous, generally upright in habit, the annual shoots often irregular and spreading, and occasionally drooping.

Wood. — Brownish olive, with large, prominent, grayish specks, stout, and rather short-jointed; old wood dull grayish olive; buds medium size, obtuse, and little flattened : Flower-buds, large, obovate.

Leaves. — Large, roundish, shortly pointed, thick, deep glossy green, incurved at the edges, and rather deeply and irregularly serrated; petioles medium length, about one and a half inches long, stout.

Flowers. — Large; petals large, roundish, cupped.

Fruit. — Very large, about five inches long, and two and three quarters in diameter : Form, oblong pyramidal, angular at the crown, largest above the middle, tapering little towards the eye, and slightly contracted near the stem : Skin, fair, nearly smooth, dull green, becoming, when mature, of a pale lemon yellow, considerably suffused with red on the sunny side, somewhat traced with russet, and regularly covered with rather large russet specks : Stem, medium length, about one inch long, moderately stout, curved and twisted, wrinkled, swollen, and fleshy at the base, and set upon an obtuse point on one side of a slight projection : Eye, large, open, slightly depressed in a very shallow basin; segments of the calyx rather short, rounded, and quite reflexed : Flesh, yellowish white, melting and juicy : Flavor, sprightly, rich, and saccharine, with a little perfume : Core, small : Seeds, medium size, long and pointed.

Ripe in December, and often keeps till February.

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