Tree large, vigorous, spreading, with many drooping branches, dense-topped, hardy, productive, long-lived; trunk stocky; branches thick, shaggy, reddish-brown, overcast with gray scarf-skin, marked by few large lenticels; branchlets thick, with short internodes, grayish-brown, smooth, glabrous, with a few large, raised lenticels. Leaf-buds variable in shape, usually free. Leaves 2-1/2 in. long, 1-1/2 in. wide, oval, medium to thick, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin crenate, tipped with rudimentary glands; petiole 1-1/4 in. long. Flower-buds large, long, conical or pointed, free; flowers 1-3/8 in. across, in dense clusters, 7 to 9 buds in a cluster; pedicels 3/4 in. long, slender, lightly pubescent, pale green, with a faint tinge of red. Fruit ripe in late October and November; medium in size, 2-1/2 in. long, 2-1/8 in. wide, uniform in size, roundish-obtuse-pyriform, irregular, with unequal sides, variable in shape; stem 1 in. long, thick, usually curved; cavity obtuse, very shallow and narrow, russeted, furrowed, often very heavily lipped, so that the stem appears to be inserted under a fleshy enlargement; calyx open; lobes short, narrow, acute to acuminate; basin narrow, obtuse, smooth, usually symmetrical; skin granular, roughened by russet, dull; color light russet overspreading a greenish-yellow ground, with a brownish-red blush on the exposed cheek, dotted and netted with russet; dots numerous, small, russet, obscure; flesh white, with a faint tinge of yellow, often with a green tinge under the skin, granular, tender and melting, juicy, sweet, aromatic, with a vinous tendency; quality good to very good. Core large, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds variable in size, wide, long, plump, acute, many abortive. OLIVIER DE SERRES =1.= Mas _Le Verger_ =1=:67, fig. 40. 1866-73. =2.= Downing _Fr. Trees. Am._ 822. 1869. =3.= Leroy _Dict. Pom._ =2=:477, fig. 1869. =4.= Tilton _Jour. Hort._ =9=:377, fig. 1871. =5.= Oberdieck _Obst-Sort._ 316. 1881. =6.= _Jour. Hort._ 3rd Ser. =4=:15, fig. 4. 1882. =7.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 624. 1884. =8.= Gaucher _Pom. Prak. Obst._ No. 58, Pl. 51. 1894. =9.= _Deut. Obstsorten_ =5=: Pt. 15, Pl. 1909. This variety is rated in Europe as a delicious late-winter pear, and the pomological writers of the last century give it all of the virtues on this side of the Atlantic ascribed to it by Europeans. A closer study of the variety as grown in America shows that it does not possess the merits in this country given it by the French and English. The quality of the pear as grown in New York is below that of several other sorts of its season. The flesh is coarse and gritty and the flavor is mediocre. The tree-characters are good, but are not sufficiently good to offset the faults of the fruits.