FLEMISH BEAUTY
1. Pom. Mag. 3:128, Pl. 1830. 2. Lindley Guide Orch. Gard. 373. 1831. 3. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 386, fig. 167. 1845. 4. Proc. Nat. Con. Fr. Gr. 51. 1848. 5. Hovey Fr. Am. 1:51, Pl. 1851. 6. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 760, fig. 1869. 7. Hogg Fruit Man. 578. 1884.
Belle de Flanders. 8. Kenrick Am. Orch. 172. 1832.
Fondante des Bois. 9. Ann. Pom. Belge 6:41, Pl. 1858. 10. Pom. France 1: No. 25, Pl. 25, 1863. 11. Mas Le Verger 3: Pt. 2, 55, fig. 124. 1866-73. 12. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:166, fig. 1869. 13. Guide Prat. 58, 272. 1876. 14. Soc. Nat. Hort. France Pom. 412, fig. 1904.
Holzfarbige Butterbirne. 15. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 235. 1889. 16. Gaucher Pom. Prak. Obst. No. 49, Pl. 38. 1894.
At one time Flemish Beauty was a leading commercial variety in the pear regions of eastern America, but it has been supplanted by other varieties because the toll of blighted trees is too great, and the fruits are too often disfigured by the scab fungus. Perhaps the latter is the greater fault as in some seasons no applications of spray give the pears a clean cheek, and they are blackened, scabbed, cracked and malformed with this fungus. Not infrequently the scab-infected foliage drops before the crop matures. To offset these defects, the trees have to their credit great vigor, unusual fruitfulness and as great hardihood to cold as those of any other variety. The trees do not come in bearing early, and are not suitable for dwarfing as they overgrow the quince stock. The fruits are nearly perfect if scab-free and properly matured. To make sure of perfect maturity, the pears must be picked as soon as they attain full size and be permitted to ripen under cover. So treated, a bright-cheeked Flemish Beauty is as handsome as any pear, and is almost unapproachable in quality; the flavor is nicely balanced between sweetness and sourness, very rich, and has a pleasing muskiness. Blight and scab condemn tree and fruit for commercial orchards, but a lover of good pears should combat these troubles for the sake of the choice fruits.
The parent tree of this variety is said to have been a wilding found in a wood near Alost, East Flanders, Belgium, about the beginning of the nineteenth century. It was cultivated under the Flemish name of Bosc Peêr or Pear of the Woods. About 1810, the propagation of the variety was taken up by Van Mons who introduced it a few years later under the name Fondante des Bois by which name it was known in Europe for many years. Lindley, writing in 1831, described this variety under the name Flemish Beauty, and it appeared then to be in pretty general cultivation in England. Styling it Barnard, Hovey wrote, in 1851, that Flemish Beauty “had been known in Dorchester, Massachusetts, for nearly twenty years,” so that it is to be inferred that the variety was introduced to this country prior to 1830 and possibly by some one by the name of Barnard. The rapid distribution of this pear was promoted by Van Mons who gave numerous grafts of it to his friends and correspondents. The fact that the variety has over sixty synonyms may be taken as some testimony to its popularity and excellence. At the first meeting of the American Pomological Society held in 1848, Flemish Beauty was placed in the list of pears recommended for general cultivation, a place it has since retained.
Tree medium in size, vigorous, spreading, with drooping branches, hardy, productive; trunk smooth; branches thick, shaggy, bright reddish-brown, with dull gray scarf-skin, large lenticels; branchlets thick, short, with short internodes, reddish-brown, smooth, glabrous, with many large, raised lenticels.
Leaf-buds large, long, obtuse, pointed, nearly free; leaf-scars prominent. Leaves 3½ in. long, 1¾ in. wide, oval, thick, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin finely serrate; petiole 2 in. long, usually slender. Flower-buds very large, long, conical or pointed, very plump, free; flowers 1¼ in. across, in dense clusters, usually 7 buds in a cluster; pedicels 1¼ in. long, slender, slightly pubescent, light green.
Fruit ripe in late September and early October; large, nearly 2¾ in. long, 2½ in. wide, uniform in size and shape, roundish or obovate-obtuse-pyriform, symmetrical, with nearly equal sides; stem 1⅛ in. long, thick; cavity acute, shallow to deep, narrow, slightly russeted, a little furrowed; calyx open; lobes partly separated at the base, short, obtuse; basin shallow, narrow, abrupt, symmetrical; skin thick, tough, roughish, dull; color clear yellow, overspread on the exposed cheek with a dotted and marbled red blush; dots numerous, russet, small, conspicuous; flesh yellowish-white, firm, becoming melting and tender, granular, juicy, sweet, aromatic, with a slight musky flavor; quality very good. Core closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds rather long, plump, acute.