Rather closely connected with season is use. The uses for which a variety is particularly suited should always be indicated. Thus, a market variety is one suitable for the general market; a local market sort is one which does not stand handling well enough for the general market but is acceptable in local trade. A variety for dessert or table is suitable for eating in the uncooked state; cooking or kitchen varieties are desirable for culinary purposes. _Size and shape of fruit._--Of external characters of pears, size is important if several typical specimens can be examined, but is often misleading because under the stress of environment abnormal specimens may be produced. Gradations in size are expressed by the terms _large_, _medium_, and _small_, modified by _very_, _above_, and _below_. Used in connection with size, _uniform_ signifies that the fruit of a variety runs fairly even in the same size. Shape is the most important character in describing the fruit. It may be used with immature as well as mature specimens. In determining the shape of the fruit, the pear should be held opposite to the eye perpendicular to the diameter from stem to calyx; or the fruit may be cut longitudinally at its widest diameter. The shape of the body of the pear is usually described first, followed by a description of the narrow part bearing the stem, if this neck is prominent enough to be noteworthy. A pear is _pyriform_ when the curve formed by the body and neck is concave; _turbinate_, or top-shaped, when the body is nearly round with a short neck. The neck may be _long_ or _short_, _distinct_ or _obscure_, _obtuse_ or _acute_. Sheldon is typically turbinate; Beurré d'Anjou, Beurré Bose, and Bartlett are all pyriform. A graphic record should accompany a description of the fruit to show size and shape. A simple outline drawing serves the purpose. _The stem._--Varying as little as any other character of the pear, the stem is much used in identification. It may be _long_ and _slender_, as in the Beurré Bose; _short_ and _thick_, as in Doyenné du Comice; _fleshy_, as in Louise Bonne de Jersey; _clubbed_, when enlarged at the end; and _lipped_ when the flesh forms a protuberance under which the stem is inserted. The stems of pears are often set _obliquely_ as in Beurré Clairgeau; or are _crooked_ or _curved_ as in Howell. In a few varieties the stems are _channeled_. The stems of some pears have distinguishing colors, those of others are pubescent. In some pears, as Souvenir d'Espéren, there are bud-like projections on the stem. The length of the stem in pears is a reliable diagnostic character only when it is known from what part of the flower-cluster the fruit was developed. For, as a rule, the nearer the flower to the tip of the raceme in the pear, the shorter the stem on the fruit.