Fruit matures December to January; large, 2-1/2 in. long, 2-3/4 in. wide, roundish-turbinate, irregular; stem 3/4 in. long, thick, woody, obliquely set; cavity obtuse, shallow, narrow, furrowed, often lipped; calyx small, nearly closed; basin narrow, obtuse, furrowed; skin roughened by russet dots and patches; color dull greenish-yellow, with many dots, flecks and patches of russet, often with a faint trace of brownish-red on the sunny side; dots numerous, small, russet, rather conspicuous; flesh white, gritty only near the core, tender, buttery, juicy, sweet, highly aromatic; quality good to very good; core large, with meeting core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide; seeds large, long, plump, acute. [Illustration: FONTENAY] FONTENAY =1.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 38. 1883. _Jalousie de Fontenay Vendée._ =2.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 396, fig. 173. 1845. =3.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 68. 1862. _Belle de Esquermes._ =4.= _Mag. Hort._ =20=:135. 1854. _Jalousie de Fontenay._ =5.= _Pom. France_ =1=: No. 44, Pl. 44. 1863. =6.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 303. 1866. =7.= Mas _Le Verger_ =3=: Pt. 2, 157, fig. 175. 1866-73. =8.= Leroy _Dict. Pom._ =2=:295, fig. 1869. =9.= _Guide Prat._ 64, 281. 1876. _Birn von Fontenay._ =10.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 215. 1889. =11.= Lucas _Tafelbirnen_ 87, fig. 1894. The reader will discover no noteworthy characters in the description of this pear; nor does the accompanying illustration make the variety particularly alluring, although the color-plate scarcely does the fruits justice in either size or color. The variety is to be found in many old orchards in eastern America, but was long since relegated by pear-growers to the limbo of nurserymen's catalogs. The only reason for giving it a place in _The Pears of New York_ is that the variety was once prominent, and references to it and comparisons with it are so common in horticultural literature that pear-growers are certain to want to know something about it. As the following description shows, the variety is but mediocre in tree and fruit. Early in the eighteenth century M. Lévêque, an architect, acquired possession of an estate near Fontenay, France. A number of pear seedlings were growing upon this property, one of which was so good as to attract M. Lévêque's attention and he began propagating it in 1828. Later he distributed cions of the variety to his friends under the name _Poire de Fontenay_. Soon afterward the name was changed to _Jalousie de Fontenay_, Leroy took the variety to the garden of the Horticultural Society of Angers about 1835, from which place it was still more widely disseminated. It soon found its way to America where it gained early popularity. In 1862 the American Pomological Society listed this variety in its fruit-catalog under the name _Jalousie de Fontenay_, but shortened the name, in 1883, to _Fontenay_. In 1899, however, the name disappeared from this catalog and has never been replaced.