VICAR OF WINKFIELD
1. Card. Chron. 20, fig. 1843. 2. Mag. Hort. 9:129, 269. 1843. 3. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 448, fig. 208. 1845. 4. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 53. 1852. 5. Elliott Fr. Book 344, fig. 1854. 6. Jour. Hort. N. S. 7:414. 1864. 7. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 875, fig. 1869. 8. Hogg Fruit Man. 660. 1884.
Vicar. 9. Mawe-Abercrombie Univ. Gard. Bot. 1778. 10. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 40. 1883. 11. Ont. Dept. Agr. Fr. Ont. 183. 1914. Clion. 12. Kenrick Am. Orch. 159. 1841.
Le Curé. 13. Hovey Fr. Am. 1:47, Pl. 1851.
Curé. 14. Pom. France 1: No. 18, Pl. 18. 1863. 15. Leroy Dict. Pom. 1:610, fig. 1867. 16. Guide Prat. 61, 261. 1876. 17. Soc. Nat. Hort. France Pom. 396, fig. 1904. 18. Cat. Cong. Pom. France 221, fig. 1906.
Pastorenbirne. 19. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 262. 1889. 20. Gaucher Pom. Prak. Obst. No. 59, Pl. 49. 1894.
Though large and handsome, the pears of this variety vary so much in quality, often being wretchedly poor, that trees of it are now seldom planted in America. The variety is not liked, also, because the trees blight badly. The fruits, besides being large and handsome, keep well, and are excellent for all culinary purposes. They are in season from November to January. The pears have a strong musky smell, and are more or less astringent. The quality depends largely on the soil, and is best when the trees stand in a deep, warm loam. The fruits are long-pyriform, usually one-sided, and are further characterized by the peculiarity that the calyx is not in line with the axis, as in other pears, but is on one side, generally opposite to that in which the stalk is inserted as shown in the accompanying illustration. The trees, barring susceptibility to blight, are about all that could be desired—large, vigorous, handsome, and thrive both as standards and dwarfs. Many old trees of largest size of this variety are still to be found in New York, but young stock is now seldom set.
In 1760, this pear was found as a wilding by a French curate at Villiers-en-Brenne. In due course it was introduced into England by the Rev. W. L. Rahm, Vicar of Winkfield, in Berkshire, and from this circumstance it lost its proper name, Curé or Le Curé, and wrongly acquired that by which it is now known here and in England. The variety was introduced to America early in the nineteenth century. It was placed on the list of recommended fruits by the American Pomological Society in 1852.
Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, dense-topped, hardy, very productive, long-lived; trunk and branches stocky; branches zigzag, greenish-brown overspread with grayish scarf-skin, with lenticels variable in number and size; branchlets curved, thick, long and willowy, with long internodes, light greenish-brown which is mingled with red on the newer growth, smooth, glabrous except near the ends of the new growth, sprinkled with conspicuous, raised lenticels.
Leaf-buds small, short, pointed, free. Leaves 3 in. long, 2¼ in. wide, thick, leathery; apex abruptly pointed; margin tipped with minute scattering glands, finely serrate; petiole variable in length, pinkish-green; stipules short, tinged with pink. Flower-buds small, short, conical, plump, free, singly on very short spurs.
Fruit ripe December to January; large, 4¼ in. long, 3 in. wide, oblong-pyriform, with a long, tapering neck, with unequal sides; stem 1⅛ in. long, slender, curved; cavity lacking, with stem obliquely set without a depression and often with a fleshy fold around the base in the form of a lip; calyx large, open; lobes long, unusually broad, obtusely pointed; basin very shallow, narrow, obtuse, smooth, symmetrical; skin thick, tough, smooth, dull; color pale yellow, often with a faint trace of a brownish-red blush over the exposed cheek, marked with light russet around the calyx, and occasionally with russet flecks scattered over the surface; dots numerous, small, conspicuous, brownish-russet; flesh white, granular only near the center, tender and melting, juicy, somewhat astringent or with a sprightly muskiness, with no pleasant aroma; quality inferior for dessert but good for cooking. Core small, closed, axile, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube long, narrow, funnel-shaped; carpels long-oval; seeds large, long, not very plump, often abortive.
