Sheldon

The Sheldon Pear.—We received from Mr. W. S. Verplanck, of Geneva, N. Y., a box containing some samples of new seedling pears under this name. They were, as we learn, the product of several trees, all seedlings, bearing the strongest resemblance to each other, and all raised from seeds brought by Mr. Sheldon to Wayne co., from the farm of Judge Johnson, of Dutchess county, N. Y. The form and size is much like that of the Doyenne or Virgalieu, (which was probably the parent,) but with more of the flavor of the Brown Beurre, and a good deal of the russety greenish yellow skin of the latter pear. The flavor is something between the two first—and so far as we could judge from the product of a single season, is likely to take rank as a "very good" pear. The tree is said to resemble the Virgalieu in its growth. We shall hope to examine this variety next year, and report more fully upon it.

— B. Desportes, The Horticulturist (1856)

Sheldon.

Wayne. Bland. Huron. Wisner.

An accidental seedling on the farm of Norman Sheldon, in the town of Huron, Wayne Co., N. Y. Tree vigorous, erect, hardy, and a good bearer. Young wood yellow brown.

Fruit medium, roundish obtuse obovate. Skin greenish yellow mostly covered with thin light russet, a little brownish crimson in the sun, dotted with russet. Stalk short, stout. Cavity deep. Calyx open. Segments partly recurved. Basin broad, large. Flesh whitish, very juicy, melting, sweet, vinous, rich aromatic. Very good. October.

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

SHELDON

1. Mag. Hort. 17:252, fig. 25. 1851. 2. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 151. 1854. 3. Ibid. 210. 1856. 4. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 444, fig. 1857. 5. Elliott Fr. Book 347. 1859. 6. Hoffy N. Am. Pom. 1: Pl. 1860. 7. Mas Le Verger 3: Pt. 2, 119, fig. 156. 1866-73. 8. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 855, fig. 1869. 9. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:662, fig. 1869.

Were the fruits alone to be considered, Sheldon would take rank as one of the best of all pears. The fruits please both the eye and the palate. Those of no rival in season surpass them either in appearance or in characters that satisfy taste. While not large, the fruits are of sufficient size to meet the demands of a good dessert pear. The shape is a perfect turbinate, truncated at the base of the fruit, usually very symmetrical, and the fruits run uniform in shape. In color, the pears are distinctive in their russeted skin, with a handsome ruddy cheek. The accompanying color-plate does not do justice to the fruit in illustrating size, shape, or color. The flesh is melting and juicy, and deserves, more than that of almost any other pear, the adjective luscious. The flavor is sweet, vinous, and highly perfumed. The fruits keep well, ship well, and sell well during their season, and are esteemed both for dessert and for culinary purposes. The list of faults in the trees is as long as the list of virtues in the fruits. The trees, while large, vigorous, and hardy, blight as badly as any pear-tree in the orchard, are reluctant in coming in bearing, niggardly in production, and seldom hold their crop well. With these faults of the tree, Sheldon is not a commercial variety of high rank, but the splendid fruits make it worth growing by the pear-fancier, in the home orchard, or for the markets where the faults of the trees are not too marked. The variety grows better in New York, possibly, than in any other part of the United States.

This pear is a native of the town of Huron, New York. The original tree stood on the premises of Major Sheldon, having sprung from seed brought by his father from Washington, New York, about 1815. The fruit was first exhibited at the Pomological Convention in Syracuse in the autumn of 1849. In 1854, Sheldon was mentioned by the American Pomological Society as promising well, and in 1856 it was given a place in the Society's fruit-catalog.

Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, rapid-growing, hardy, moderately productive; trunk stocky; branches thick, reddish-brown, overlaid with dull gray scarf-skin, marked with large lenticels; branchlets thick, dull brown, glabrous, with numerous slightly raised, conspicuous lenticels.

Leaf-buds large, above medium in length, obtuse or somewhat pointed, appressed.

Leaves 2½ in. long, 1¼ in. wide, oval, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin finely serrate; petiole 1½ in. long. Flower-buds conical or pointed, free; flowers 1⅛ in. across, in dense clusters, 13 or 14 buds in a cluster; pedicels ⅝ in. long, thick, pubescent, greenish.

Fruit matures in October; large, 2⅝ in. long, 2⅜ in. wide, uniform in size and shape, turbinate, often with a tendency to oblateness, symmetrical; stem ⅝ in. long, thick, nearly straight; cavity obtuse, deep, slightly furrowed, occasionally lipped; calyx large, open; lobes very broad, obtuse; basin wide, obtuse, symmetrical; skin thick, granular, tender, roughish; color dull greenish-yellow, with a brownish-red blush, overspread with russet nettings and streaks; dots numerous, small, russet; flesh whitish, somewhat granular, tender and melting, very juicy, sweet, and vinous, with a rich and pleasantly aromatic flavor; quality very good to best. Core large, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds acute.

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

THE SHELDON PEAR.

Sheldon. Magazine of Horticulture, vol. xvii. 1851.

Among all the American pears that have been introduced to notice, during the last twenty years, few, if any, will take a higher rank than the Sheldon. It possesses all the characteristics of a fine variety; the fruit is of large size, frequently weighing nearly a pound each, and is prepossessing in its appearance, having a handsome russety skin, with a ruddy cheek: its flesh is exceedingly melting and juicy, and its flavor rich, highly aromatized, and luscious: the tree is a vigorous grower, with an erect and symmetrical habit, and produces regular and abundant crops. Altogether it, must be considered one of the very finest of our native pears.

The Sheldon was first brought to the notice of cultivators by Mr. E. L. Leavenworth, of Wolcott, Wayne Co., N. Y., who first exhibited specimens of the fruit at the Pomological Convention in Buffalo, in 1849; and to that gentleman the public are indebted for a full history of its origin, which appeared in the Magazine of Horticulture, the substance of which is as follows:—

Major Sheldon's father brought pear seeds from Washington, Dutchess Co., New York, between thirty and forty years since, and planted them on the place where Maj. Sheldon now lives, in the town of Huron, (then Wolcott), N. Y.; from these seeds the trees were raised which bear the pears known as the Sheldon. The seeds brought from Dutchess County were from pears which grew on a grafted tree, (name not known,) but were introduced there by an Englishman of the name of Johnson, and Maj. Sheldon thinks he brought them with him from England; but Norman Sheldon, an older brother, thinks they were procured in Boston. The trees, of which there are several, were in 1850, when Mr. Leavenworth sent us this statement, of large size, and bore several bushels of fruit. Through the kindness of Mr. Leavenworth, we obtained scions from the original tree, and our beautiful drawing is made from specimens the produce of these scions, inserted in 1851.

The Sheldon is a moderately vigorous tree, with an erect habit, branching rather symmetrically, somewhat resembling the White Doyenne. It bears freely on trees not more than four or five years old. We believe it does not succeed well upon the quince, though there has not been sufficient time to give it a trial.

Tree. — Vigorous, upright, erect, symmetrical in shape, with regular diverging branches; annual growth rather slender, and nearly straight.

Wood. — Yellowish, dotted with small whitish specks, short-jointed, rather slender; old wood, yellowish olive; buds, medium size, ovate, regularly pointed, slightly diverging, with prominent shoulders: Flower-buds, medium size, long, sharply pointed.

Leaves. — Medium size, ovate, long, narrow, tapering to each end, thin, light yellowish green, glossy, nearly flat, slightly recurved on the midrib, somewhat wavy, and finely and sharply serrated; petioles, long, one and a half to two inches in length, moderately stout.

Flowers. — Small; petals, small, roundish, cupped; clusters compact.

Fruit. — Large, about three inches long, and three inches in diameter: Form, roundish obovate, regular, full at the crown, tapering little to the stem end, which is very obtuse: Skin, fair, nearly smooth, of a pale greenish russet, becoming yellowish when mature, bronzy red on the sunny side, and regularly dotted with small dark russet specks: Stem, short, about half an inch long, stout, curved, and inserted, with scarcely any depression, on the obtuse end: Eye, medium size, open, and moderately sunk in a smooth, round, not very deep basin; segments of the calyx, broad, short, projecting: Flesh, yellowish, rather coarse, melting, and very juicy: Flavor, exceedingly rich, sprightly, and sugary, with a delicious aroma: Core, rather large: Seeds, medium size, flat, dark.

Ripe in October, and keeps three or four weeks.

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

Sheldon.

Penfield, | Wayne.

American. Native of western Central New York. Tree, vigorous, erect, hardy, good bearer on pear, young shoots short-jointed, light yellowish. Fruit, medium or above, roundish, a little angular, sometimes obovate, pale greenish russet, light red or bronzed in sun, little specked with dark russet; stem, short, rather stout, slightly curved; calyx, medium, open, broad short segments; core, rather large; seeds, dark brown: flesh, a little coarse, and gritty, at core, otherwise melting, juicy, sugary, sprightly, aromatic; nearly "best." October.

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

Sheldon.* Medium or large, roundish, sometimes approaching broad obovate; greenish-russet becoming cinnamon brown; stalk short, cavity narrow; basin smooth, rather deep; flesh a little coarse, very melting, juicy, with a very brisk, vinous, excellent flavor. October. Tree vigorous, shoots ascending, yellowish-brown. It requires double working on the quince. New York. Fig. 721.

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