3. SUMMER DOYENNÉ.

[Syn : Doyenné d'Été ; Doyenné de Juillet ; Jolimont ; Roi Jolimont ; Jolivet ; Duchesse de Berri d'Été ; St. Michel d'Été ; Brüsseler Sommer Dechantsbirne ; Julius Dechantsbirne.]

The origin of this Pear has caused much discussion among pomologists, but there seems little doubt about it. In Van Mons' Catalogue at p. 28, we find "Doyenné d'Été ; par nous." In the preface this expression "par nous" is stated to signify "que ce fruit est un resultat de nos essais." This being the case, we cannot suppose that Van Mons would have claimed a fruit he did not raise.

Diel acknowledges having received it from Van Mons in his "Kernobstsorten," Vol. xix. ; and in his "Systematisches Verzeichniss," 2 Fort. p. 90, he describes it under the name Brüsseler Sommer Dechantsbirne with the synonyme "Doyenné d'Été V. M." This distinction of placing Van Mons' initials in conjunction with it, was, no doubt, to distinguish it from that other Doyenné d'Été, which he had described in the "Kernobstsorten" Vol. iii., p. 39, and which is a totally different fruit, of medium size, with no red on the sunny side, and which ripens in the end of August. This pear must have been raised by Van Mons at an early period, for Diel mentions it among his best pears in 1812.

An excellent coloured representation has been given of this pear in the "Florist and Pomologist," July, 1862, p. 104.

Description.—Fruit : small, two inches wide and one and three quarters high ; roundish, or roundish turbinate. Skin : smooth, and wherever shaded of a clear greenish yellow, changing as it ripens to a fine lemon yellow, and on the side next the sun covered with a red blush, and strewed with grey dots. Eye : small, half open, set in a shallow plaited basin. Stalk : three quarters of an inch long, not depressed. Flesh : yellowish white, half melting, and very juicy, sweet and pleasantly flavoured.

This is the earliest Pear known, and the best of the early Pears. It is ripe by the middle or end of July, but it should be gathered before it is ripe, or it will soon become mealy and quite insipid.

The tree is very hardy and bears abundantly. It succeeds well on the Quince, forms a handsome pyramid, and this is the best mode of growing it.

— Woolhope Naturalists Field Club, The Herefordshire Pomona (1885)

Doyenné d'Été.

Summer Doyenné. Jolliemont. Doyenné de Juillet. Roi Jolimont. St. Michael d'Été. Jolimont. Jolivet.

One of Van Mons' seedlings, obtained in 1823. Tree vigorous, upright, an early and abundant bearer. Young shoots reddish yellow brown.

Fruit small, roundish obovate, slightly pyriform. Skin smooth, fine yellow, often shaded with bright red, and covered with numerous gray or russet dots. Stalk rather short and thick, fleshy at its junction with the fruit, almost without depression. Calyx small and open, in a very shallow, slightly corrugated basin. Flesh white, melting, juicy, with a sweet, pleasant flavor. Good to very good. Last of July.

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

SUMMER DOYENNÉ

1. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 40. 1883. 2. Hogg Fruit Man. 651. 1884. 3. Ont. Dept. Agr. Fr. Ont. 180, fig. 1914.

Doyenné d'Été. 4. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 336. 1845. 5. Gard. Chron. 508, fig. 1847. 6. Mag. Hort. 13:66, fig. 8. 1847. 7. Hovey Fr. Am. 1:59, Pl. 1851. 8. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 53. 1852. 9. Horticulturist N. S. 3:491, fig. 1853. 10. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 742, fig. 1869.

Sommerdechantsbirne. 11. Dochnahl Führ. Obstkunde 2:20. 1856.

Doyenné de Juillet. 12. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:77, fig. 1869. 13. Guide Prat. 57, 266. 1876.

Juli Dechantsbirne. 14. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 239. 1889. 15. Gaucher Pom. Prak. Obst. No. 51, Pl. 108. 1894.

The extremely early and highly flavored fruits, which are borne in prodigious quantities, make this a very desirable pear for the home garden. The fruits have no value for the markets, as they are small, do not keep well, and are unattractive. The tree, while never large, is of medium size, comes in bearing early, is hardy, and is as free as most of its orchard associates from blight. Both fruit and foliage suffer badly from pear-scab, and no amount of spraying can give the fruits a fair cheek in seasons when this fungus is epidemic.

Van Mons is supposed to have originated this variety about 1800 as Diel mentioned it among his best pears in 1812. Summer Doyenné was first brought to the notice of American pomologists by William Kenrick, who compiled a description of it as early as 1836. It does not, however, appear to have been introduced until 1843. It was recommended for general culture in the United States by the American Pomological Society in 1852.

Tree variable in size, upright, vigorous, very productive; trunk slender; branches slender, slightly zigzag, brownish, overlaid with gray scarf-skin, marked with numerous conspicuous lenticels; branchlets slender, long, light brown mingled with green, the new growth tinged with red, smooth, glabrous except near the ends of the new growth, with numerous raised lenticels.

Leaf-buds small, short, sharply pointed, plump, free; leaf-scars with prominent shoulders. Leaves 2½ in. long, 1½ in. wide, thin, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin finely serrate; petiole 1½ in. long, tinged with pink. Flower-buds small, short, plump, free, singly on very short spurs; flowers showy, 1¼ in. across, in dense clusters, 7 to 9 buds in a cluster; pedicels 1¼ in. long, slender, pubescent.

Fruit ripe in early August; small, 1¾ in. long, 1¾ in. wide, obovate-obtuse-pyriform, symmetrical; stem 1½ in. long, slender; cavity obtuse, shallow, narrow, slightly furrowed, often lipped; calyx small, closed; lobes separated at the base, short, narrow, acuminate; basin shallow, obtuse, furrowed; skin thin, smooth, tender, waxen yellow, washed or blushed with bright red, deepening on the exposed cheek to crimson; dots numerous, small, russet, obscure; flesh tinged with yellow, fine-grained, tender and melting, juicy, variable in flavor and quality, pleasantly sprightly under favorable conditions; quality variable, good under the best conditions. Core closed, axile, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, narrow, urn-shaped; carpels roundish-ovate; seeds small, narrow, flat, acute.

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

Doyenne d'Ete. Summer Virgalieu, Summer Doyenné, Duchess de Berry d'Eté of Bivort, Doyenné de Juillet. Foreign. Trees, moderately vigorous, dull brownish red wood, early and abundant bearers, unsuccessful on Quince. Fruit, rather small, roundish obtuse pyriform ; color, yellowish green, nearly yellow when fully mature, side exposed to sun with a bright marbled red cheek ; stem, rather long, fleshy at base, inserted without depression ; calyx, small, closed : basin, shallow : core, medium ; seeds, small, dark brown ; flesh, yellowish white, rather coarse, buttery, juicy, sugary, sprightly. Last of July.

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

Summer Doyenné.* (Doyenné d'Été.) Small; round obovate, or short Buffum-shaped; stalk an inch or an inch and a fourth long, rather stout, slightly oblique, not sunk; basin very shallow; skin a fine yellow, with a warm cheek brightly reddened at the crown, and with radiating stripes of greenish-yellow from the calyx; flesh melting, juicy, sweet, with a pleasant, very good flavor. Skin thin; core small; seeds small, white. Ripens very early. Tree bears very young. Shoots slender, reddish-brown. Belgium.

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

Summer Doyenne (Doyenne d'Ete). — Small, roundish, or roundish turbinate; color greenish yellow, changing when ripe to lemon yellow, with red cheek and many gray dots; stem one to one and one-quarter inches long, quite stout, somewhat oblique, and set in very shallow cavity; basin shallow and corrugated. Flesh white, melting, juicy, sweet, good to very good. Specially popular in New York and Massachusetts. Belgium.

— J.L. Budd & N.E. Hansen, American Horticultural Manual, Part II: Systematic Pomology (1914)

DOYENNE D'ETE. Her. Pom., I., 26. F. Doyenné de Juillet. G. Juli Dechants Birn. (Summer Doyenné, Jolimont Precoce, Poire de Juillet.) Dessert, mid July to August, small 1⅞ by 1½, round, conical, tapering to stem, even. Skin, thin, smooth. Colour pale yellow with brownish-red flush. Flesh, melting, very juicy, white, sweet. Eye, closed almost on surface. Stem, 1 in., thick, inserted straight on level. Growth, weak, upright spreading; fertility excellent. Leaf, pointed oval, small, flat, down hanging, very coarsely serrate. Origin, raised by the Capucin Monks at Mons about 1700. Hogg attributes this wrongly. The words "par nous" used by Van Mons are by no means always applied to his own seedlings. Beurré Diel, for example is thus noted, meaning that it was named by him. For its earliness and fertility it should be included in every garden. It does well as a standard, but is apt to die out on the Quince on light soils, and is not too vigorous on the Pear.

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

SUMMER DOYENNE. The extremely early and highly flavored fruits, which are borne in prodigious quantities, make this a very desirable pear for the home garden. The fruits have no value for the markets as they are small, do not keep well, and are unattractive. The tree is of medium size, comes in bearing early, is hardy, and is as free as most of its orchard associates from blight. Both fruit and foliage suffer badly from pear-scab, and no amount of spraying can give the fruits a fair cheek in season when this fungus is epidemic. Van Mons, the great Belgian pearbreeder, is supposed to have originated this variety; Diel mentioned it among his best pears in 1812.

Tree variable in size, upright, vigorous, productive; trunk slender; branches slender, zigzag, brownish, marked with numerous conspicuous lenticels. Leaves 2¼ inches long, 1¼ inches wide, thin, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin finely serrate; petiole 1½ inches long, tinged with pink. Flowers showy, 1⅛ inches across, in dense clusters, 7 or 9 buds in a cluster. Fruit ripe in early August; small, 1¾ inches long, 1¾ inches wide, obovate-obtuse-pyriform, symmetrical; stem 1½ inches long, slender; cavity obtuse, shallow, narrow, slightly furrowed, often lipped; calyx small, closed; lobes separated at the base, short, narrow, acuminate; basin shallow, obtuse, furrowed; skin thin, smooth, tender, waxen, yellow, blushed with bright red, deepening on the exposed cheek to crimson; dots numerous, small, russet, obscure; flesh tinged with yellow, fine-grained, tender and melting, juicy, variable in flavor and quality, pleasantly sprightly under favorable conditions; quality variable, good under the best conditions; core closed, axile, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, narrow, urn-shaped; carpels roundish-ovate; seeds small, narrow, flat, acute.

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