Sparbirne. 15. Dochnahl Führ. Obstkunde 2:131. 1856. 16. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 286. 1889.
Wälsche Birne. 17. Dochnahl Führ. Obstkunde 2:144. 1856.
At one time the best second early pear, Jargonelle is now little grown in America, native varieties having crowded it out. The crop ripens two or three weeks before that of Bartlett, so that the pears come on the market with those of Bloodgood and Dearborn, which, for most situations, are better sorts. The fruits are as attractive as any of their season and are unique in shape and in having a long, curved stem. The quality leaves much to be desired. The flesh is coarse, rather gritty, and the flavor lacks the rich sugary taste on the one hand, or the refreshing piquancy on the other hand, of good pears. The fruits rot at the core and the season is short. The crop should be picked early and ripened in the house. The trees are large, vigorous and sometimes very productive, but are coarse, untidy bearers, especially when young, and are often uncertain in bearing. After setting the faults against the merits of this variety, one must conclude that is it too worthy to discard, but hardly good enough for a recommendation for other than the home orchard or in the plantings of collectors.
Jargonelle is a patriarch among pears, being one of the oldest of all varieties. Its name appears to be derived from Jargon, anciently Gergon, a corruption of Groecum; whence Merlet, writing in 1675, infers that the Jargonelle was the Pyrum Tarentinum of Cato and Columella, the Numidianum Groecum of Pliny, and the Groeculum of Macrobius. So far as we know the earliest mention of the Jargonelle in England is by John Parkinson, who, writing in 1629, mentions sixty-five varieties of pears, among them being the Peare Gergonell. Stephen Switser, who wrote in 1731, also names it. The vitality of the English Jargonelle is remarkable; the trees, it is said, often live for 200 years. In Scotland the variety is cultivated as far north as pears will grow. William Coxe, Burlington, New Jersey, writing in 1817 of the Jargonelle, said, “This pear has not been much cultivated in America, and almost always under false names.”
Tree large, vigorous, spreading, open-topped, rapid-growing, hardy, very productive, long-lived; trunk shaggy; branches reddish-brown overlaid with heavy gray scarf-skin, with large lenticels; branchlets slender, short, reddish-brown overlaid with gray, new growth brownish, dull, smooth, with numerous small, raised, very conspicuous lenticels.
Leaf-buds small, short, pointed, plump, appressed or free. Leaves 3¼ in. long, 2 in. wide, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin tipped with few small, black glands, finely serrate; petiole 3 in. long, slender, tinged with red, glabrous; flower-buds small, very short, conical, plump, singly on short spurs; flowers late, showy, 1½ in. across, in dense clusters, from 8 to 14 buds in a cluster; pedicels 1⅜ in, long, pubescent.
Fruit ripe in late August; large, 3⅜ in. long, 23⁄16 in. wide, oblong-obovate-pyriform, with an acute neck; stem characteristically long and curved, 1⅝ in. long; cavity lacking, the flesh folding up around the base of the stem, russeted, lipped; calyx open; lobes separated at the base, long, broad, acute; basin very shallow and narrow, obtuse, gently furrowed, compressed; skin smooth; color yellow, with a bright blush laid thinly over the exposed cheek in streaks and splashes; dots numerous, greenish-russet, very small, obscure; flesh yellowish-white, granular under the skin, gritty at the center, melting, very juicy, subacid, aromatic, vinous; quality very good. Core large, open, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube long, narrow, conical; seeds large, wide, long, plump, acute.
JARGONELLE (FRENCH)
1. Duhamel Trait. Arb. Fr. 2:123. 1768. 2. Prince Pom. Man. 1:154. 1831. 3. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 339. 1845. 4. Ibid. 767. 1869. 5. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:303, fig. 1869. 6. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 237. 1889.