Beurré Superfin was raised from a bed of pear seeds made at Angers, France, by M. Goubault, a well-known pomologist, in 1837. The parent tree so produced bore fruit in 1844 and the Committee of the Horticultural Society of Maine-et-Loire was requested to report on its merits, which it did in that year, and M. Millet, president of the society, named it Beurré Superfin. It was introduced in America about 1850. The variety was placed on the fruit catalog-list of the American Pomological Society in 1858. Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, dense-topped, hardy, very productive; trunk stocky, rough; branches thick, rough and shaggy, zigzag, dull brownish-red, overspread with gray scarf-skin, sprinkled with numerous elongated lenticels; branchlets slender, light brown, glossy, smooth, glabrous, with small, raised, inconspicuous lenticels. Leaf-buds small, short, conical, pointed, plump, appressed or free; leaf-scars prominent. Leaves 3-1/4 in. long, 1-7/8 in. wide, stiff; apex abruptly pointed; margin tipped with small glands, coarsely serrate; petiole 1-3/4 in. long. Flower-buds conical, pointed, plump, free, singly on short branches and short spurs. Fruit matures in October; large, 3-1/4 in. long, 2-3/4 in. wide, roundish-oblate, with a short, thick, rounded neck, symmetrical; stem 1-1/8 in. long, very thick, curved; cavity very shallow and narrow or lacking, the flesh tapering into the stem or wrinkled in a fleshy fold about the base of the stem, often lipped; calyx open; lobes separated at the base, broad, narrow; basin narrow, obtuse, gently furrowed, symmetrical; skin very granular, tender, smooth; color yellow, netted and streaked with light russet, often with a slight brownish-russet cheek; dots numerous, small, russet, conspicuous; flesh tinged with yellow, granular, melting, buttery, very juicy, sweet yet with a rich, brisk, vinous flavor, aromatic; quality very good. Core large, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds large, wide, long, plump, acute. [Illustration: BLOODGOOD] BLOODGOOD =1.= _Mag. Hort._ =3=:14. 1837. =2.= Manning _Book of Fruits_ 65. 1838. =3.= _Mag. Hort._ =9=:366, fig. 31. 1843. =4.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 332, fig. 132. 1845. =5.= _Proc. Nat. Con. Fr. Gr._ 51. 1848. =6.= Mas _Le Verger_ =2=:181, fig. 89. 1866-73. =7.= Leroy _Dict. Pom._ =1=:449, fig. 1867. =8.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 532. 1884. _Bloodgood's Sommerbirne._ =9.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 186. 1889.