OLIVIER DE SERRES
1. Mas Le Verger 1:67, fig. 40. 1866-73. 2. Downing Fr. Trees. Am. 822. 1869. 3. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:477, fig. 1869. 4. Tilton Jour. Hort. 9:377, fig. 1871. 5. Oberdieck Obst-Sort. 316. 1881. 6. Jour. Hort. 3rd Ser. 4:15, fig. 4. 1882. 7. Hogg Fruit Man. 624. 1884. 8. Gaucher Pom. Prak. Obst. No. 58, Pl. 51. 1894. 9. Deut. Obstsorten 5: Pt. 15, Pl. 1909.
This variety is rated in Europe as a delicious late-winter pear, and the pomological writers of the last century give it all of the virtues on this side of the Atlantic ascribed to it by Europeans. A closer study of the variety as grown in America shows that it does not possess the merits in this country given it by the French and English. The quality of the pear as grown in New York is below that of several other sorts of its season. The flesh is coarse and gritty and the flavor is mediocre. The tree-characters are good, but are not sufficiently good to offset the faults of the fruits.
Olivier de Serres was raised from seed of Fortunée about the middle of the nineteenth century by M. Boisbunel, Rouen, France. It fruited a few years later, but did not receive attention until about 1862. At that time it was brought to the notice of the French Society of Horticulture, and was pronounced a fruit of merit. At the suggestion of M. Boisbunel, it was named after the illustrious Frenchman, Olivier de Serres, who in France is called “The Father of Agriculture.” It was brought to America about 1865.
Tree medium in size, vigorous, dense-topped, upright-spreading, productive; trunk and branches marked with numerous lenticels; branchlets slender, short, curved, with short internodes, light reddish-brown, tinged with green, sprinkled with scattering, inconspicuous, very small, raised lenticels. Leaf-buds small, short, sharply pointed, free; leaf-scars with prominent shoulders. Leaves 2¾ in. long, 1¼ in. wide; apex taper-pointed; margin glandular, finely serrate; petiole 2 in. long, slender. Flower-buds small, short, sharply pointed, free, singly on short spurs; flowers with an unpleasant odor, showy, 19⁄16 in. across; pedicels 1 in. long, thinly pubescent.
Fruit ripens January to March; medium in size, 2½ in. long, 2¾ in. wide, roundish-obtuse-pyriform, truncate at both ends, irregular in outline; stem variable in length, averaging ¾ in. long, thick, enlarged at the top, curved; cavity broad, slightly furrowed; calyx large, slightly open; basin variable in depth, furrowed; skin tender; color greenish-yellow, partly overspread with cinnamon-russet and sometimes with a dull blush on the exposed cheek; flesh whitish, variable in texture, juicy, varying from sweet to a brisk, vinous flavor; quality poor unless grown under the most favorable conditions.
