REEDER
1. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 40. 1883. 2. Budd-Hansen Am. Hort. Man. 2:260. 1903.
Reeder’s Seedling. 3. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 150. 1867.
Doctor Reeder. 4. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 739, fig. 1869. 5. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 20. 1871.
Docteur Rhéder. 6. Rev. Hort. 87. 1889.
Reeder is another of the pears too good to discard, and not quite good enough to give an ardent recommendation. In quality, the fruits rank but little below those of Seckel; are about the same size as grown under average conditions; but are even duller and less attractive in color than the modest fruits of Seckel, which is probably one of its parents. The fruits have a place in the home and markets as a pear to follow Seckel, the crop coming in season just after that of Seckel passes out. The trees do poorly in the nursery, as they make but a short, slender growth until well established in the orchard, after which they become of medium size but very vigorous. The branches droop as do those of Winter Nelis, the other parent, although not so markedly. The variety is as nearly blight-proof as either of its parents.
Reeder is a seedling raised about 1855 by Dr. Henry Reeder, Varick, New York, from seed of Winter Nelis. The parent tree stood near a Seckel and it is considered that Reeder is a cross between the two varieties. The American Pomological Society added the variety to its fruit-catalog in 1871 under the name Doctor Reeder, but in 1883 changed the name to Reeder.
Tree medium in size, vigorous, spreading, drooping, open-topped, productive; branches zigzag, reddish-brown partly overspread with gray scarf-skin, sprinkled with numerous lenticels; branchlets slender, willowy, long, reddish-brown mingled with gray, the new growth reddish-green, dull, smooth, glabrous except near the tips of the new growth, with few very small, inconspicuous lenticels.
Leaf-buds small, short, pointed, appressed. Leaves 2¾ in. long, 1¼ in. wide, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin crenate to nearly entire; petiole 2 in. long, tinged with red; stipules few, very small, reddish-green. Flower-buds small, short, conical, free, singly on short spurs; flowers 1¼ in. across, in dense clusters, average 9 buds in a cluster; pedicels ¾ in. long, slender.
Fruit ripe in October and November; small, 1¾ in. long, 1⅞ in. wide, globular-obtuse-pyriform, slightly ribbed and irregular; stem 1¼ in. long, slender, curved; cavity a very small depression in which is inserted the base of the stem, symmetrical; calyx large, open; lobes separated at the base, long, narrow, reflexed, acuminate; basin very shallow and narrow, smooth; skin thick, smooth, tender; color dull greenish-yellow, mottled and streaked with russet, blushed faintly on the exposed cheek with brownish-red; dots few, small, obscure, greenish or russet; flesh white, granular toward the center but fine-grained near the skin, tender, somewhat stringy, very juicy, aromatic; quality good. Core large, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube long, narrow, funnel-shaped; seeds unusually large, wide, long, plump, acute.
