HOWELL
1. Mag. Hort. 15:69, fig. 12. 1849. 2. Hovey Fr. Am. 2:75, Pl. 1851. 3. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 210. 1856. 4. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 510, fig. 1857. 5. Hoffy N. Am. Pom. 1: Pl. 1860. 6. Pom. France 3: No. 105, Pl. 105. 1865.
Howell’s Seedling. 7. Mag. Hort. 14:519. 1848.
Howell is everywhere condemned by faint praise. The variety is a little too good to be discarded and not quite good enough to be generally recommended. Its characters in tree and fruit are faulty by reason of their mediocrity. After having said that the trees are not above the average in vigor, healthfulness, hardiness, and fruitfulness, it remains only to be said that their spreading tops make them desirable orchard inhabitants and handsome dooryard ornamentals. The fruits cannot be praised for attractive appearance or good quality, but they are preëminently meritorious in that they are probably more often uniform in appearance, quality, and freedom from the ravages of the scab fungus than those of almost any other pear. These qualities make Howell a most estimable variety for the home orchard where intensive care cannot be given. The variety further commends itself to amateur growers, because the trees bear early, annually, and abundantly. Howell seems to be better suited to the middle western states than to the eastern states.
In 1829 or 1830, Thomas Howell, New Haven, Connecticut, planted in his garden seeds from a variety of pear known locally as the Jonah, a hard and tough winter sort which seldom matures sufficiently to be regarded as a dessert fruit. One of the trees resulting from these seeds came into bearing in 1842 or 1843. Specimens were exhibited in Faneuil Hall by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 1848 and were considered to be “of the first class and worthy of cultivation in every place where the soil and climate are congenial.” In 1856, the Howell pear was recommended for general cultivation by the American Pomological Society.
Tree large, vigorous, spreading, open-topped; trunk thick; branches stocky, reddish-brown, overspread with gray scarf-skin, with few small lenticels; branchlets thick, short, dull reddish-brown, smooth, glabrous, with a few large, raised lenticels.
Leaf-buds large, long, conical, free. Leaves 2 in. long, 1⅛ in. wide, oval, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin finely serrate, hairy, tipped with very minute glands; petiole 1½ in. long. Flower-buds large, long, conical, rather plump, free; flowers open early, 1⅜ in. across, in dense clusters, from 7 to 15 buds in a cluster; pedicels 11⁄16 in. long, pubescent, greenish.
Fruit ripe in late September and October; medium in size, 2⅜ in. long, 2¼ in. wide, uniform in size and shape, round-obovate, symmetrical; stem 1 in. long, thick, straight; cavity obtuse, very shallow and narrow, often with almost no cavity, smooth, symmetrical; calyx open, small; lobes separated at the base, short, narrow, obtuse; basin obtuse, slightly furrowed, nearly symmetrical; skin smooth, dull; color pale lemon-yellow, marked on the side exposed to the sun with a trace of blush and with patches and tracings of russet; dots many, small, russet, very conspicuous; flesh yellowish-white, firm but tender, granular, melting, very juicy, sweet, with a rich, somewhat brisk, almost vinous flavor, aromatic; quality very good. Core rather large, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds long, plump, acute, frequently abortive.
