MADELEINE
1. Duhamel Trait. Arb. Fr. 2:124, Pl. IV. 1768. 2. Pom. Mag. 2:51, Pl. 1829. 3. Prince Pom. Man. 1:13. 1831. 4. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 341, fig. 138. 1845. 5. Proc. Nat. Con. Fr. Gr. 51. 1848. 6. Elliott Fr. Book 331, fig. 1854. 7. Mas Le Verger 2:59, fig. 28. 1866-73. 8. Guide Prat. 62, 287. 1876.
Sainte Madelaine. 9. Knoop Pomologie 76, Tab. 1, fig. 1771.
Grüne Sommer-Magdalene. 10. Dochnahl Führ. Obstkunde 2:150. 1856. 11. Lucas Tafelbirnen 47, fig. 1894.
Citron des Carmes. 12. Pom. France 3: No. 101, Pl. 101. 1865. 13. Leroy Dict. Pom. 1:563, fig. 1867. 14. Hogg Fruit Man. 548. 1884. 15. Cat. Cong. Pom. France 212, fig. 1906.
Grüne Magdalene. 16. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 228. 1889.
Madeleine has long been a dependable summer variety, the crop of which ripens just before that of Bloodgood. Many consider it the best very early summer pear, and if the product alone were to be considered it might well be called the best, but, unfortunately, the faults of the trees more than offset the virtues of the fruits. The pears are attractive in appearance, and very good in quality; but their season is short, their skins are tender, and the flesh quickly softens at the core. While the trees are productive, they are not resistant to blight, do not hold their crop well, are tender to cold, and are short-lived. The variety is worth planting only for the sake of succession in crop, and in large collections of pears. The variety is recommended on the Pacific slope for local markets.
The Madeleine pear is of ancient and somewhat uncertain origin. It was cultivated by M. Le Lectier in his garden at Orléans in 1628, but previously no other author had made mention of it, though M. Leroy, writing in 1867, deemed it presumable that it had originated in France. Besides its original names this pear has been known by some fifty others in different localities and at different times, but Madeleine is now its recognized name in this country. In England, it is known as the Citron des Carmes. When and by whom it was introduced to America is not clear, but it was a standard variety as early as 1831 when Prince first described it. At the national convention of fruit-growers held in 1848, Madeleine was recommended for general cultivation, and ever since this time the variety has appeared in the fruit-catalog of the American Pomological Society.
Tree large, vigorous, upright, open-topped, tender, productive; trunk shaggy; branches zigzag, light greenish-brown covered with gray scarf-skin; branchlets slender, long, reddish-brown mingled with green, mottled with ash-gray near the tips, smooth, glabrous, with small, raised, conspicuous lenticels.
Leaf-buds small, very short, pointed, appressed. Leaves 3 in. long, 1½ in. wide, thin; apex taper-pointed; margin glandless, finely serrate; petiole 1¾ in. long, glabrous, reddish-green. Flower-buds small, thick, short, conical, plump, free, distributed as lateral buds or on very short spurs; flowers showy, 1⅜ in. across, in dense clusters, average 11 buds in a cluster; pedicels 1¼ in. long, slightly pubescent.
Fruit ripens in early August; inferior in size, 2⅛ in. long, 2 in. wide, roundish-obtuse-pyriform; stem 1½ in. long, thick, curved; cavity very shallow and narrow, or lacking, the flesh folded in a lip on one side of the stem; calyx partly open; lobes separated at the base, short, narrow, acuminate; basin shallow, narrow, obtuse, gently furrowed, symmetrical; skin thin, smooth, very tender; color dull green, occasionally with a faint, dotted, brownish blush; dots numerous, greenish, obscure; flesh slightly tinged yellow, granular at the center, tender and melting, very juicy, sweet, vinous; quality good to very good. Core closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds wide, short, plump, acuminate.
