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PARSONAGE Well established in the 19th century, but with no known history. Often found in Gloucestershire. An early to middle season perry pear, usually ripe in September. It doesn’t store for long. Small and round/oval fruit which is sweet with medium acid and low tannin. Large trees and good bearers. Poll A |
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PASSE CRASSANE A French dessert pear bred in 1845, roundish and dumpy in shape, with green yellow skin often entirely covered with russet. Hogg describes it as half melting, somewhat gritty, brisk, vinous and aromatic. It often needs a good summer to ripen fully. Pick in October, store to February before eating. Bunyard said it was not ripe until March. Poll B |
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PITMASTON
DUCHESS A large dessert and culinary fruit, raised by Mr Williams
at Pitmaston in 1841, from Duchesse D’Angoulême x Glou Morceau.
The fruit is pale yellow when ripe and with russet patches. The flesh
is juicy, sweet and full of flavour. Ripe in mid-September to mid-October.
It can also be used for cooking. The hardy trees have a tall upright growth,
with good autumn colour. A good cropper, but triploid and not to be relied
upon for good pollination of diploids. Best in a warm spot. Poll D |
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PRINCESS
Given to us by Deborah Van Der Beek of Lacock, Chippenham. She has a labelled
old tree in her garden. Princess was formerly very popular, but is now
very rare. Raised from a seed of Louise Bonne around 1875 by Thomas Rivers’
nursery at Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, it is a late ripening dessert
pear, picked in late September, but reaching its peak from October to
November. Medium sized, longish and regular with pale yellow skin, blushed
reddish brown. The flesh is fine, melting, very juicy and sweet. ‘A
good and free cropping pear’ according to Bunyard. Poll B |
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PUDDLEDOCK
PEAR An old unknown pear variety sent to us by Mrs Susan Samter
of Frome, Somerset. The Samters owned one of the farm cottages, built
for the poor, the records going back to the 1770s. Derelict since the
1960s, before renovation, they named their cottage ‘Puddledock’,
after the hamlet on the farm estate at Chartwell, Kent, owned by Winston
Churchill, where they had lived before. The pear tree in their garden
at Puddledock Cottage is very old. Local memory records that it has looked
old for a generation. It bears very small, round or dumpy fruit, the golden
skin covered with warm russet patches and specks. Very sweet even when
under-ripe. It is a very pleasant mouthful, even if a small one. Poll
C |
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ROBIN
Said to be an old Norfolk pear, but it has also been long known in Lincolnshire,
Rutland and Nottinghamshire, as revealed by the account of Thomas Hitt
in 1755. He says it is also known as August, Muscat, Averat, Hanvelle,
Royal and ‘The French King’s Favourite Pear’. It ripens
in the middle of September, and is roundish but narrow towards the stalk
and full at the eye. He adds “Tis less than the common Orange Bergamy,
but its flesh is breaking, like them, and its juice is very highly perfumed,
it bears in large clusters, and in great plenty, either against a wall
or on dwarfs”. Small in size and bright red cheeked, hence the name.
Though ripe in the middle of September, it can be stored. Sweet, juicy
and tasty. Poll B |
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ROUSSELET
DE RHEIMS A truly ancient pear first mentioned by Le Lectier
in 1628. It has also been known in Britain since the 17th century. It
was recorded by Worlidge, Langley, Miller, Lindley, Scott, Hogg and Bunyard,
from 1691 to 1920, but has not been noted in Britain since. Scott (1872)
said “no pear has been more sought after or esteemed in times gone
by” and other accounts also rate it very highly. We found it in
the collection of the late Nick Botner, in Oregon, and he kindly sent
us scions in 2010. It was acknowledged to be a good dessert pear and an
excellent culinary pear, if a little on the small side. Ripe in August
to September, oval/conical, with skin of green/yellow flushed brown red
and covered with darker dots. Half-melting, sweet flesh with a rich flavour
and perfume. An abundant cropper. Poll B |
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ROUSSELET
DE STUTTGARDT Scott (as Chevriers de Stuttgardt) suggests this
is of German origin, from about 1780. By 1826 it was in the collection
of the London Horticultural Society at Chiswick and was still known in
Britain towards the end of the 19th century. It has since passed from
knowledge here. As with Rousselet de Rheims, above, we re-discovered it
in the late Nick Botner’s collection and returned it here in 2010.
A medium sized, pear shaped fruit with greenish yellow skin, dotted with
greyish white, and with a blood red flush. The flesh is white, fine, juicy,
perfumed, sweet and refreshing. A dessert pear, ripe in August. Abundant
cropper. Poll B |
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SAINT
NICHOLAS Also from the collection of the late Nick Botner in
Oregon, who sent scions in 2010. This pear has variously been known as
Duchesse D’Orléans, Beurré St. Nicholas and other
names, and there is some confusion as to whether they are all the same.
Saint Nicholas was first noted in Britain in 1826, in the LHS collection
at Chiswick. All these pears are now missing. Scott says Beurré
St. Nicolas was a wilding discovered at St. Nicolas, Angers, France, first
fruiting in 1839. Hogg gives no origin, calling it Duchesse D’Orléans,
while giving the other names as synonyms. Scott’s and Hogg’s
descriptions vary in the season of ripening Scott says ‘one of the
best of early pears’, ripening in September, while Hogg says it
ripens in October. They agree that it is a large, dessert pear, with sweet,
juicy, melting flesh. We find it ripens in early October and it has a
very sweet, rich caramel taste and melting texture. The flesh can be a
little granular, but is quite juicy and would be perfect for those liking
their pears crisp, as the sweetness is there before ripeness. Poll B |
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SANGUINOLE
A very ancient, small dessert pear, perhaps once used for perry, and recommended
for cooking by Bunyard, though the size is a setback. With a very long
history in Europe, it was first mentioned in Britain by John Rea in 1676,
though it is likely to be the Blood Red pear of Parkinson in 1629. The
name comes from the red stained flesh. Though ageing trees are still,
possibly, to be found in old orchards here, it seems not to have been
mentioned for nearly 100 years. It still exists in Europe and America
and we were sent scions by the late Nick Botner, from his collection in
Oregon, in 2010. The fruit is small, russeted and red blushed and spotted.
The flesh is red stained, juicy and with a sweet musky flavour. Ripe from
August to September. Scott says it should be picked before ripe and adds
that it makes a nice ornament for the dessert. A fascinating historical
relic and, though not a first class dessert pear, it is perfectly pleasant
to eat and decorative. Poll B |
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SECKLE
An old American pear, sometimes called Seckel, dating from before 1817,
when described by Coxe. It was found wild in a wood by a trapper called
‘Dutch Jacob’, on land owned by Mr Seckle, near Philadelphia,
who was the first to multiply it. It came to England before 1819 and was
in the LHS collection in 1826. It has been a popular small dessert pear
ever since, though barely planted in the 20th century. Ripe in September
to October, rounded, oval and regular, Scott said “no pear is of
more honeyed sweetness”. It is very juicy and vinous and having
modest vigour is recommended for small gardens. It has been said to be
incompatible for pollination with Fondante d’Automne, Louise Bonne
of Jersey and Williams’ Bon Chrêtien although the 1885 National
Pear Conference, held at RHS Chiswick, had declared that no varieties
of pears were found to be intersterile – i.e. they would all pollinate
others, if flowering at the same time. Poll C |
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