ROOSEVELT
1. Gard. Chron. 3rd Ser. 37:243, fig. 92. 1905. 2. Rev. Hort. 454. 1905. 3. Rural N. Y. 54:826, fig. 352. 1905. 4. Bunyard Cat. 43. 1913-14. 5. Bunyard Handb. Hardy Fr. 195. 1920.
This variety is still on probation in America, with the chances strongly against it proving worthy to bear the name of the man after whom it was called. On the grounds of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station, the fruits are too small, too poorly colored, and too poor in quality to compete with those of a score of other sorts of the same season. The core is remarkably small, and the seeds are few and small, but these are insufficient merits to count against the several defects named. The tree is robust and generally satisfactory. The variety may not be at its best on the grounds of this Station, as in Europe it was heralded as a most remarkable sort—one “destined to bring about a revolution in pear-growing.” It may be worth further trial in New York.
This pear was introduced in 1905 by the noted French pomologist Charles Baltet, Troyes, France, after he had tested it for several years. He named it after President Roosevelt. The variety was approved at Horticultural Congresses in Paris, Lyons, and Orléans, as well as by the Royal Horticultural Society of London. It was received in America shortly after its dissemination in France.
Tree medium to large, vigorous, very upright, dense-topped, rapid-growing, productive; trunk slender, smooth; branches slender, smooth, glossy reddish-brown, mottled and overlaid with gray scarf-skin, marked with numerous small, raised lenticels; branchlets characteristically thick, with blunt ends, long, with short internodes, dull reddish-brown mingled with gray scarf-skin, smooth, glabrous, with many large, raised lenticels.
Leaf-buds long, conical, sharply pointed, plump, free; leaf-scars with prominent shoulders. Leaves 3 in. long, 1⅜ in. wide, stiff; apex taper-pointed; margin usually glandless, finely serrate to almost entire; petiole 2 in. long, slender, curved. Flower-buds large, long, conical, pointed, free, singly on short spurs; flowers with a disagreeable odor, early, showy, 1⅝ in. across, in dense clusters, average 7 buds in a cluster; pedicels 1⅛ in. long, thick, pubescent.
Fruit ripens in late September and October; medium in size, about 27⁄16 in. in length and width, roundish-obtuse-pyriform, symmetrical; stem 1 in. long, thick; cavity very shallow, or lacking, faintly lipped; calyx very open, large; lobes separated at the base, narrow, acute; basin shallow, wide, obtuse, smooth, symmetrical; skin unusually thick, tough, smooth, dull; color pale lemon-yellow, mottled and netted with russet, with a faint blush; dots numerous, small, light russet, obscure; flesh light salmon, fine-grained except at the center which is granular, tender and melting, very juicy, mildly sweet, without much character; quality medium. Core small, closed, axile, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube long, very wide, conical; carpels cordate; seeds wide, acute.
