BUFFUM
1. Kenrick Am. Orch. 166. 1832. 2. Mag. Hort. 10:300, fig. 15. 1844. 3. Ibid. 16:297. 1850. 4. Hovey Fr. Am. 2:19, Pl. 1851. 5. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 53. 1852. 6. Horticulturist N. S. 6:300, Pl. 1856. 7. Ibid. 25:104, fig. 1870. 8. Mas Le Verger 3: Pt. 1, 81, fig. 39. 1866-73.
Buffam. 9. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 356, fig. 150. 1845.
Without deserving a high place among pears, Buffum has several meritorious characters which should keep it in the list of standard varieties. The variety must depend chiefly on its tree-characters for approbation, and in these it excels nearly all of its orchard associates. The trees are remarkably vigorous, nearly free from blight, very productive, although they have a tendency to bear biennially; and by virtue of great size, symmetrical, pyramidal form, dark green, glossy foliage, and sturdy, ruddy wood in winter, they are among the most ornamental of all fruit trees. In full leaf, a Buffum tree might easily be taken for a Lombardy poplar. The quality of the fruits is very variable. At times the flesh is rich, aromatic, melting, and very good; again, the pears may be insipid or even illy flavored, devoid of perfume, coarse in texture, and poor. The fruits are never large and often run small. To attain good quality, the pears must be picked early and ripened in a moderately cool fruit-room. The culture of Buffum is on the wane, chiefly for the reason that its fruits ripen with those of Seckel and fail in competition, as the Seckels are nearly as large and much better in quality. But because of its admirable tree-characters the variety should not be lost.
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 3¼ in. long, 2 in. wide, oval, thin, leathery; apex abruptly pointed; margin glandular, finely serrate; petiole 2¼ in. long. Flower-buds large, conical, pointed, plump, free, arranged singly on short spurs and branchlets; flowers 1½ in. across, showy, in dense clusters, 6 to 8 buds in a cluster; pedicels ⅞ in. long, slender, pubescent, greenish.
Fruit ripe in late September and October; medium in size, 2¼ in. long, 2 in. wide, uniform in size and shape, oblong-obovate-pyriform, with unequal sides; stem ¾ 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.
