Pound Pear
Pear
Origin/History
The variety now known as Pound in America is more generally known in Europe as Belle Angevine or Uvedale's St. Germain. This sort appears to have been raised by a Dr. Uvedale, who was a schoolmaster at Eltham, England, in 1690. Miller in his Dictionary, in 1724, speaks of him as a Dr. Udal of Enfield, "a curious collector and introducer of many rare exotics, plants and flowers," and Bradley, in 1733, speaks of the pear as "Dr. Udale's great pear, called by some the Union pear." William Robert Prince mentions the Pound pear in 1831 saying that "it often weighs from twenty-five to thirty ounces, and one was exhibited in New Jersey about four years since, weighing forty and a half ounces." In 1870, according to Wickson, a Pound pear sent from Sacramento to the late Marshall P. Wilder, President of the American Pomological Society, weighed four pounds and nine ounces. In 1862, the American Pomological Society added this variety to its fruit-catalog under the name Uvedale's St. Germain, but in 1871 changed the name to Pound. The name continued to appear in the Society's catalogs until 1909 when it was dropped. Thomas (1903) gives the origin simply as Europe.
The name "Pound" has been applied to a number of varieties, notably Black Worcester, Angora, Verulam, and others.
Tree
Tree medium in size, upright, dense-topped, hardy, very productive. Trunk stocky, shaggy. Branches thick, shaggy, zigzag, dull reddish-brown, heavily covered with gray scarf-skin, marked with many large lenticels. Branchlets short, with short internodes, brownish-red, mottled with gray scarf-skin, smooth, glabrous, with few small, elongated lenticels. Shoots stout, upright, dark. Coxe (1817) describes the tree as growing large and very hardy. Downing (1900) notes strong and healthy trees with very stout, upright, dark-colored wood. Hedrick (1921) notes the trees are unusually satisfactory, because of which the variety should make a good parent from which to breed.
Leaf-buds large, long, conical or pointed, plump, free; leaf-scars prominent. Leaves 4½ in. long, 3½ in. wide, ovate, thin, stiff; apex taper-pointed; margin glandular, finely serrate; petiole 1½ in. long, slender.
Flower-buds large, long, conical or pointed, very plump, free, usually singly on short spurs. Flowers open early, 1½ in. across, large, well distributed, average 7 buds in a cluster; pedicels 1½ in. long, pubescent, pale green.
Fruit
Size: One of the largest pears. Coxe (1817) reports it sometimes weighs from twenty-six to twenty-eight ounces. Hedrick (1921) gives dimensions of 4 in. long, 3½ in. wide, uniform in size and shape, and notes the pears not infrequently weigh three pounds, with one specimen recorded at four pounds, nine ounces.
Form: Pyriform, swollen at the crown, and narrowing gradually to a point at the insertion of the stalk. Coxe (1817) describes the form as regular, full and round at the crown, lessening gradually towards the stem. Hedrick (1921) specifies obovate-acute-pyriform, with unequal sides. Thomas (1903) notes the crown is wide.
Stem: Two inches or more long, stout, bent (Downing). Hedrick (1921) describes the stem as long, thick, curved. Coxe (1817) describes it as long and large.
Cavity: Obtuse, very shallow, narrow, russeted, furrowed, drawn up in a fleshy ring about the stem (Hedrick).
Calyx: Crumpled, set in a narrow, slight basin (Downing). Hedrick (1921) describes the calyx as large, open; lobes separated at the base, obtuse.
Basin: Downing (1900) describes a narrow, slight basin. Hedrick (1921) describes it as shallow, narrow, obtuse, slightly furrowed, symmetrical.
Skin: Thick, tough, with patches of russet, dull, roughened by the dots and by the russet markings (Hedrick). Color yellowish green, with a brown cheek, sprinkled with numerous brown russet dots (Downing). Hedrick (1921) gives the color as golden-yellow, often marked on the exposed cheek with a bronze or pinkish blush; dots numerous, russet, very conspicuous. Coxe (1817) notes the skin is green with a brown cheek, becoming yellow, and the cheek takes a lively red when kept from the air towards the spring.
Flesh/Flavor: Firm and solid. Downing (1900) says the flesh stews red and is excellent baked or preserved. Hedrick (1921) describes the flesh as yellowish, firm, granular, very tough, subacid, inferior in flavor; quality very poor — and characterizes the pears as coarse in texture and flavor, "but one degree better in flavor than the potato-like fruits of Kieffer and even more sappy." Thomas (1903) describes the flesh as solid, hard, poor, stewing a reddish color. Coxe (1817) notes a firm flesh which becomes red like a quince when cooked.
Core/Seeds: Core large, closed, axile, with meeting core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; carpels pear-shaped; seeds very large, brownish-black, wide, long, acuminate (Hedrick).
Season
Hedrick (1921) gives maturity in February. Coxe (1817) describes it as a winter pear, advising the pears should be suffered to hang on the tree as late as possible, and may be kept in bran, chaff or paper, excluded from the air, which preserves their fullness, renders them more juicy and tender, and gives them a fine colour. Hedrick (1921) notes the pears keep well.
Uses
Valued only for cooking. Downing (1900) calls it an abundant bearer and a profitable orchard crop, noting it is excellent baked or preserved. Hedrick (1921) says the pears are said to be fairly good for culinary purposes. Coxe (1817) states it is preserved through the winter for cooking purposes only, and that excluding from air renders them more juicy and tender.
Subtypes/Variants
Not described in source.
Other
Hedrick (1921) provides an extensive bibliography: Coxe Cult. Fr. Trees 209, fig. 63 (1817); Prince Pom. Man. 1:149 (1831); Kenrick Am. Orch. 151 (1832); Downing Fr. Trees Am. 445 (1845) and 835 (1869); Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 22 (1871); Wickson Cat. Fruits 326, 338, 344 (1889); Langley Pomona 133, Pl. 71, fig. 1 (1729) under "Pickering"; Miller Gard. Kal. 31, 54 (1734) and Miller Gard. Dict. 2: Pt. 1 (1807) under "Union"; Lindley Guide Orch. Gard. 413 (1831), Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 70 (1862), Hogg Fruit Man. 657 (1884), Jour. Hort. 3rd Ser. 13:465 (1886), and Bunyard Handb. Hardy Fr. 202 (1920) under "Uvedale's St. Germain"; Dochnahl Führ. Obstkunde 2:148 (1856) under "Bruderbirne"; Watson Am. Home Gard. 404, fig. 264 (1859) under "Winter Bell"; Gard. Chron. 979 (1860), Mas Le Verger 1:31 bis, fig. 22 (1866-73), Gard. Chron. 138 (1869), and Guide Prat. 61, 233 (1876) under "Belle Angevine"; Mathieu Nom. Pom. 279 (1889) under "Schöne Angevine." Thomas (1903) references Fig. 651.
An abundant bearer across all sources. Coxe (1817) calls it a great bearer; Downing (1900) an abundant bearer; Hedrick (1921) very productive; Thomas (1903) productive.
Book Sources
Described in 4 period pomological works
Nursery Catalog Sources
Found in 28 catalogs (1864–1936) from Alabama, California, Oregon, Washington
- St. Helena Nursery , Howell's Prairie, Marion County , Oregon — 1864
- Felix Gillet , Barren Hill Nursery, Nevada City , California — 1884
- Huntsville Wholesale Nurseries (Jessie S. Moss , Proprietor; W.F. Heikes, Manager), Huntsville , Alabama — 1886
- Fancher Creek Nursery , Fresno , California — 1886
- Felix Gillet , Barren Hill Nursery, Nevada City , California — 1888
- California Nursery Co. , Niles , California — 1889
- Felix Gillet , Barren Hill Nursery, Nevada City , California — 1889
- Felix Gillet , Barren Hill Nursery, Nevada City , California — 1890
- Felix Gillet , Barren Hill Nursery, Nevada City , California — 1891
- Puyallup & Yakima Nurseries , Puyallup, Washington (Lock Box 191) and North Yakima , Washington — 1892
- Milwaukie-Canby Nurseries , Canby, OR (and Milwaukie, OR) — 1893
- Sherwood Hall Nursery Co. , Timothy Hopkins (Menlo Park Nurseries), San Francisco / Menlo Park , California — 1893
- Woodburn Nurseries , Woodburn, Marion Co. , Oregon — 1894
- Multnomah Nurseries , Russellville , Oregon — 1894
- Woodburn Nurseries , Woodburn, Marion Co. , Oregon — 1894
- Felix Gillet , Barren Hill Nursery, Nevada City , California — 1895
- Felix Gillet , Barren Hill Nursery, Nevada City , California — 1897
- Washington Nursery Co. , Toppenish , Washington — 1901
- Russellville Nursery Co. , Russellville, OR (three miles east of Portland, one mile from Montavilla car line) — 1903
- Henderson Luelling / Traveling Nursery (historical recall) , Oregon — 1904
- The Dalles Nurseries , The Dalles , Oregon — 1906
- Russellville Nursery Co. , Montavilla Station, Portland, OR (three miles east of Portland, one mile from Montavilla car line) — 1907
- Washington Nursery Company , Toppenish , Washington — 1909
- Carlton Nursery Co. , Carlton , Oregon — 1909
- Pacific Nursery Company , Portland , Oregon — 1912
- Washington Nursery Company , Toppenish , Washington — 1912
- Fancher Creek Nurseries , George C. Roeding, Fresno , California — 1918
- Hudson's Wholesale Nurseries , Tangent , Oregon — 1936
View original book sources (4)
— William Coxe, A View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees (1817)
- POUND PEAR.
This is one of the largest winter pears, it sometimes weighs from twenty-six to twenty-eight ounces ; the form is regular, full and round at the crown, lessening gradually towards the stem, which is long and large ; the skin is green, with a brown cheek ; it becomes yellow, and the cheek takes a lively red when kept from the air towards the spring ; it has a firm flesh, which becomes red like a quince when cooked, for which purpose only, it is preserved through the winter ; it is a great bearer ; the tree grows large, and is very hardy ; these pears should be suffered to hang on the tree as late as possible, they may be kept in bran, chaff or paper, excluded from the air, which preserves their fullness, renders them more juicy and tender, and gives them a fine colour.
— A.J. Downing, The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America (1900)Pound.
Uvedale's St. Germain. Bolivar d'Hiver. Winter Bell. Comtesse de Terweuren. Bretagne le Coux. Duchesse de Berry d'Hiver. Belle Angevine. Gros fin or long d'Hiver. Belle de Jersey. Union. Du Tonneau. Grosse de Bruxelles. Royal d'Angleterre. La Quintinye. Beaute de Tervueren. Grosse Dame Jeanne. Pickering Pear. Louise Bonne d'Hiver. Lent St. Germain. Bellissime d'Hiver, du Bur. Cordelier. Abbe Mongein. Anderson. Chamber's Large. Angora? Dr. Udales Warden. D'Horticulture. German Baker. Berthebirn. Pickering's Warden. Bolivar. Piper. Faux-Bolivar.
The Pound, or Winter Bell Pear, valued only for cooking, is an abundant bearer, and a profitable orchard crop. The trees are strong and healthy, with very stout, upright, dark-colored wood.
Fruit large, pyriform, swollen at the crown, and narrowing gradually to a point at the insertion of the stalk. Skin yellowish green, with a brown cheek (yellow and red when long kept), and sprinkled with numerous brown russet dots. Stalk two inches or more long, stout, bent. Calyx crumpled, set in a narrow, slight basin. Flesh firm and solid, stews red, and is excellent baked or preserved.
— U.P. Hedrick, The Pears of New York (1921)POUND
- Coxe Cult. Fr. Trees 209, fig. 63. 1817.
- Prince Pom. Man. 1:149. 1831.
- Kenrick Am. Orch. 151. 1832.
- Downing Fr. Trees Am. 445. 1845.
- Ib. 835. 1869.
- Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 22. 1871.
- Wickson Cat. Fruits 326, 338, 344. 1889. Pickering. 8. Langley Pomona 133, Pl. 71, fig. 1. 1729. Union. 9. Miller Gard. Kal. 31, 54. 1734.
- Miller Gard. Dict. 2: Pt. 1. 1807. Uvedale's St. Germain. 11. Lindley Guide Orch. Gard. 413. 1831.
- Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 70. 1862.
- Hogg Fruit Man. 657. 1884.
- Jour. Hort. 3rd Ser. 13:465. 1886.
- Bunyard Handb. Hardy Fr. 202. 1920. Bruderbirne. 16. Dochnahl Führ. Obstkunde 2:148. 1856. Winter Bell. 17. Watson Am. Home Gard. 404, fig. 264. 1859. Belle Angevine. 18. Gard. Chron. 979. 1860.
- Mas Le Verger 1:31 bis, fig. 22. 1866-73.
- Gard. Chron. 138. 1869.
- Guide Prat. 61, 233. 1876. Schöne Angevine. 22. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 279. 1889.
Pound is grown in collections for its monstrous fruits, which have few virtues other than large size. The pears not infrequently weigh three pounds, and one is noted in the next paragraph weighing four pounds, nine ounces. The pears are coarse in form, texture and flavor but one degree better in flavor than the potato-like fruits of Kieffer and even more sappy. The pears keep well and are said to be fairly good for culinary purposes.
The trees are unusually satisfactory, because of which the variety should make a good parent from which to breed.
The name "Pound" has been applied to a number of varieties, notably Black Worcester, Angora, Verulam, and others. The variety now known as Pound in America is more generally known in Europe as Belle Angevine or Uvedale's St. Germain. This sort appears to have been raised by a Dr. Uvedale, who was a schoolmaster at Eltham, England, in 1690. Miller in his Dictionary, in 1724, speaks of him as a Dr. Udal of Enfield, "a curious collector and introducer of many rare exotics, plants and flowers," and Bradley, in 1733, speaks of the pear as "Dr. Udale's great pear, called by some the Union pear." William Robert Prince mentions the Pound pear in 1831 saying that "it often weighs from twenty-five to thirty ounces, and one was exhibited in New Jersey about four years since, weighing forty and a half ounces." In 1870, according to Wickson, a Pound pear sent from Sacramento to the late Marshall P. Wilder, President of the American Pomological Society, weighed four pounds and nine ounces. In 1862, the American Pomological Society added this variety to its fruit-catalog under the name Uvedale's St. Germain, but in 1871 changed the name to Pound. The name continued to appear in the Society's catalogs until 1909 when it was dropped.
Tree medium in size, upright, dense-topped, hardy, very productive; trunk stocky, shaggy; branches thick, shaggy, zigzag, dull reddish-brown, heavily covered with gray scarf-skin, marked with many large lenticels; branchlets short, with short internodes, brownish-red, mottled with gray scarf-skin, smooth, glabrous, with few small, elongated lenticels.
Leaf-buds large, long, conical or pointed, plump, free; leaf-scars prominent. Leaves 4½ in. long, 3½ in. wide, ovate, thin, stiff; apex taper-pointed; margin glandular, finely serrate; petiole 1½ in. long, slender.
Flower-buds large, long, conical or pointed, very plump, free, usually singly on short spurs; flowers open early, 1½ in. across, large, well distributed, average 7 buds in a cluster; pedicels 1½ in. long, pubescent, pale green.
Fruit matures in February; large, 4 in. long, 3½ in. wide, uniform in size and shape, obovate-acute-pyriform, with unequal sides; stem long, thick, curved; cavity obtuse, very shallow, narrow, russeted, furrowed, drawn up in a fleshy ring about the stem; calyx large, open; lobes separated at the base, obtuse; basin shallow, narrow, obtuse, slightly furrowed, symmetrical; skin thick, tough, with patches of russet, dull, roughened by the dots and by the russet markings; color golden-yellow, often marked on the exposed cheek with a bronze or pinkish blush; dots numerous, russet, very conspicuous; flesh yellowish, firm, granular, very tough, subacid, inferior in flavor; quality very poor.
Core large, closed, axile, with meeting core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; carpels pear-shaped; seeds very large, brownish-black, wide, long, acuminate.
— John J. Thomas, The American Fruit Culturist (1903)Pound. (Winter Bell, Uvedale's St. Germain, Angora.) Very large, pyriform, crown wide; skin yellowish-green, with a brown cheek; stalk two inches long, calyx crumpled, basin narrow; flesh solid, hard, poor, stems reddish color; a good culinary pear. Tree strong, healthy, productive. Shoots stout, upright, dark. Europe. Fig. 651.