LAMY
1. Ragan Nom. Pear, B. P. I. Bul. 126:161. 1908.
Comte de Lamy. 2. Kenrick Am. Orch. 141. 1841. 3. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 371, fig. 158. 1845. 4. Gard. Chron. 20, fig. 1846. 5. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 727. 1869. 6. Jour. Hort. N. S. 38:359, fig. 52. 1880. 7. Hogg Fruit Man. 553. 1884.
Poire Dingler. 8. Ann. Pom. Belge 2:69, Pl. 1854.
Beurré Curtet. 9. Pom. France 2: No. 77, Pl. 77. 1864. 10. Leroy Dict. Pom. 1:341, figs. 1867. 11. Guide Prat. 65, 243. 1876.
Curtet’s Butterbirne. 12. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 200. 1889.
As the history shows, this is an old European pear which had its probationary period in America many years ago, and which never got out of the limbo of nurserymen’s catalogs and collections. On the grounds of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station, however, the pears are so handsome and so delectable in quality that the variety seems quite worth while describing and illustrating among the major sorts. It is a splendid pear for the home orchard, but the tree is not large nor robust enough for a commercial plantation. A few nurserymen still list it.
This variety was raised from seed about 1828 by M. Bouvier, Jodoigne, Belgium. It was first named Beurré Curtet in honor of M. Curtet, a physician and professor at Brussels. The London Horticultural Society first obtained the variety under the name Comte de Lamy, by which name it has best been known in England. Lamy was early introduced to America where trees have long been found in collections.
Tree small, spreading, open-topped, hardy, productive; trunk slender, shaggy; branches slender, shaggy, dull brown, overspread with thick scarf-skin, sprinkled with numerous lenticels; branchlets slender, curved, short, with short internodes, brown changing to reddish-brown on the newer growth, glossy, smooth, glabrous, with small, raised, conspicuous lenticels.
Leaf-buds small, short, conical, pointed, plump, free. Leaves 2¾ in. long, 1¾ in. wide, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin finely serrate to nearly entire, tipped with few minute glands; petiole 1⅞ in. long, pinkish. Flower-buds large, thick, long, conical, very plump, free, singly as lateral buds or on very short spurs; flowers late, very showy, 1¾ in. across, in dense clusters, average 9 buds in a cluster; pedicels ⅝ in. long, thick, lightly pubescent.
Fruit matures in late October and early November; medium in size, 2⅛ in. long, 2 in. wide, obovate-obtuse-pyriform, often irregular and with unequal sides; stem 1⅛ in. long, thick; cavity almost lacking, very obtuse and shallow, narrow, russeted, often lipped; calyx open; lobes broad, acute; basin rather deep, obtuse or abrupt, gently furrowed, compressed; skin thin, smooth except for the russet dots, dull; color yellow, with a solid, dark red blush on the exposed cheek; dots numerous, large, brownish-russet, very conspicuous; flesh tinged with yellow, granular at the center, tender and melting, buttery, juicy, sweet, with a faint, vinous flavor, pleasantly aromatic; quality good to very good. Core large, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, very wide, conical; seeds large, wide, plump, acute.
