Some confusion exists as to the origin of Buffum. Some writers state that the original tree stood on the grounds of Prescott Hall, Newport, Rhode Island. Hovey, however, in his _Fruits of America_, 1851, says that the variety originated in the garden of David Buffum, Warren, Rhode Island, shortly after the advent of the nineteenth century. In the opinion of Downing the variety came from seed of White Doyenné. Soon after the founding of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 1828, Robert Manning exhibited specimens of the Buffum pear, and through him the variety became known in the vicinity of Boston from which place it was disseminated throughout the country. Buffum was added to the fruit-list of the American Pomological Society in 1852. Tree vigorous, very upright, dense, hardy, almost immune to blight, very productive; branches shaggy, zigzag, reddish-brown, overspread with grayish scarf-skin, with numerous small lenticels; branchlets short, reddish-brown, tinged with green and streaked with grayish scarf-skin, smooth, glabrous, with conspicuous, small, raised lenticels. Leaf-buds small, short, conical, pointed, appressed; leaf-scars prominent. Leaves 3-1/4 in. long, 2 in. wide, oval, thin, leathery; apex abruptly pointed; margin glandular, finely serrate; petiole 2-1/4 in. long. Flower-buds large, conical, pointed, plump, free, arranged singly on short spurs and branchlets; flowers 1-1/2 in. across, showy, in dense clusters, 6 to 8 buds in a cluster; pedicels 7/8 in. long, slender, pubescent, greenish. Fruit ripe in late September and October; medium in size, 2-1/4 in. long, 2 in. wide, uniform in size and shape, oblong-obovate-pyriform, with unequal sides; stem 3/4 in. long, very thick; cavity obtuse, very shallow, narrow, russeted, gently furrowed, often lipped; calyx open; lobes separated at the base, short, narrow, obtuse; basin shallow, obtuse, gently furrowed; skin thick, very tough and granular, smooth except for the russet markings, dull; color deep brownish-yellow, with a bright reddish blush on the exposed cheek toward the basin; dots many, small, brownish or russet, conspicuous; flesh white, tinged with yellow, firm, granular, stringy toward the center, juicy, sweet, aromatic; quality good. Core large, closed; core-lines clasping; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds large, wide, plump, acute. [Illustration: CLAPP FAVORITE] CLAPP FAVORITE =1.= _Mass. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 50. 1860. =2.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 20. 1867. =3.= _Pom. France_ =4=: No. 170, Pl. 170. 1867. =4.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 720, fig. 1869. =5.= Thomas _Am. Fruit Cult._ 452. 1897. _Favorite de Clapp._ =6.= Mas _Le Verger_ =2=:207, fig. 102. 1866-73. _Clapp's Favourite._ =7.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 548. 1884. =8.= Bunyard-Thomas _Fr. Gard._ 134, 462, fig. 1904. _Clapp's Liebling._ =9.= Gaucher _Pom. Prak. Obst._ No. 31, Pl. 46. 1894.