In 1829 or 1830, Thomas Howell, New Haven, Connecticut, planted in his garden seeds from a variety of pear known locally as the Jonah, a hard and tough winter sort which seldom matures sufficiently to be regarded as a dessert fruit. One of the trees resulting from these seeds came into bearing in 1842 or 1843. Specimens were exhibited in Faneuil Hall by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 1848 and were considered to be “of the first class and worthy of cultivation in every place where the soil and climate are congenial.” In 1856, the Howell pear was recommended for general cultivation by the American Pomological Society.
Tree large, vigorous, spreading, open-topped; trunk thick; branches stocky, reddish-brown, overspread with gray scarf-skin, with few small lenticels; branchlets thick, short, dull reddish-brown, smooth, glabrous, with a few large, raised lenticels.
Leaf-buds large, long, conical, free. Leaves 2 in. long, 1⅛ in. wide, oval, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin finely serrate, hairy, tipped with very minute glands; petiole 1½ in. long. Flower-buds large, long, conical, rather plump, free; flowers open early, 1⅜ in. across, in dense clusters, from 7 to 15 buds in a cluster; pedicels 11⁄16 in. long, pubescent, greenish.
Fruit ripe in late September and October; medium in size, 2⅜ in. long, 2¼ in. wide, uniform in size and shape, round-obovate, symmetrical; stem 1 in. long, thick, straight; cavity obtuse, very shallow and narrow, often with almost no cavity, smooth, symmetrical; calyx open, small; lobes separated at the base, short, narrow, obtuse; basin obtuse, slightly furrowed, nearly symmetrical; skin smooth, dull; color pale lemon-yellow, marked on the side exposed to the sun with a trace of blush and with patches and tracings of russet; dots many, small, russet, very conspicuous; flesh yellowish-white, firm but tender, granular, melting, very juicy, sweet, with a rich, somewhat brisk, almost vinous flavor, aromatic; quality very good. Core rather large, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds long, plump, acute, frequently abortive.
IDAHO
1. U. S. D. A. Rpt. 572, Pl. II. 1888. 2. Can. Hort. 12:2, fig. 1, Pl. 1889. 3. Wickson Cal. Fruits 341. 1889. 4. Thomas Am. Fruit Cult. 477, fig. 691. 1897. 5. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 36. 1899. 6. Rev. Hort. 60. 1901. 7. Budd-Hansen Am. Hort. Man. 2:249. 1903.
There is much difference of opinion as to the value of Idaho in America. Without question, the variety is of considerable worth in parts of the Pacific Northwest, and especially in regions where hardihood is a prime requisite. There, presumably, the fruits are larger and better flavored than in the East. As the accompanying plate shows, the pears are only medium in size on the grounds of this Station, but they are attractive in color and of excellent taste. The core is small, and the seeds are often abortive and sometimes wanting. The flesh is tender, buttery and almost free from granulation, with a rich, sweet, vinous flavor which make the rating for this fruit “good to very good.” In many regions the pears are large, rough, and gross—sometimes a facsimile of Duchesse d’Angoulême. The trees are dwarf and fruitful to a fault so that the pears often run small; they are hardier than those of almost any other pear and bear annually. To offset these good characters, however, the trees have the fatal fault of blighting, so that the variety is of value only in regions where blight is not an annual scourge of this fruit.
Idaho was raised from seed of an unknown variety about the year 1867 by a Mrs. Mulkey, Lewiston, Idaho, and, having been propagated by the Idaho Pear Company, was first brought to public notice in the autumn of 1886 by John H. Evans of Lewiston. In 1888 it was introduced to Europe and was shown at the congress of fruit growers held at Geneva, Switzerland, in 1899. Idaho is included in the American Pomological Society’s list of fruits recommended for general cultivation, having been added to this list in 1899.