This variety was raised from seed about 1828 by M. Bouvier, Jodoigne, Belgium. It was first named Beurré Curtet in honor of M. Curtet, a physician and professor at Brussels. The London Horticultural Society first obtained the variety under the name Comte de Lamy, by which name it has best been known in England. Lamy was early introduced to America where trees have long been found in collections.
Tree small, spreading, open-topped, hardy, productive; trunk slender, shaggy; branches slender, shaggy, dull brown, overspread with thick scarf-skin, sprinkled with numerous lenticels; branchlets slender, curved, short, with short internodes, brown changing to reddish-brown on the newer growth, glossy, smooth, glabrous, with small, raised, conspicuous lenticels.
Leaf-buds small, short, conical, pointed, plump, free. Leaves 2¾ in. long, 1¾ in. wide, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin finely serrate to nearly entire, tipped with few minute glands; petiole 1⅞ in. long, pinkish. Flower-buds large, thick, long, conical, very plump, free, singly as lateral buds or on very short spurs; flowers late, very showy, 1¾ in. across, in dense clusters, average 9 buds in a cluster; pedicels ⅝ in. long, thick, lightly pubescent.
Fruit matures in late October and early November; medium in size, 2⅛ in. long, 2 in. wide, obovate-obtuse-pyriform, often irregular and with unequal sides; stem 1⅛ in. long, thick; cavity almost lacking, very obtuse and shallow, narrow, russeted, often lipped; calyx open; lobes broad, acute; basin rather deep, obtuse or abrupt, gently furrowed, compressed; skin thin, smooth except for the russet dots, dull; color yellow, with a solid, dark red blush on the exposed cheek; dots numerous, large, brownish-russet, very conspicuous; flesh tinged with yellow, granular at the center, tender and melting, buttery, juicy, sweet, with a faint, vinous flavor, pleasantly aromatic; quality good to very good. Core large, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, very wide, conical; seeds large, wide, plump, acute.
LAWRENCE
1. Kenrick Am. Orch. 169. 1841. 2. Mass. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 4. 1843. 3. Mag. Hort. 10:212. 1844. 4. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 442. 1845. 5. Mag. Hort. 12:432, fig. 29. 1846. 6. Hovey Fr. Am. 2:13, Pl. 1851. 7. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 230. 1854. 8. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 440, fig. 1857. 9. Thomas Am. Fruit Cult. 480. 1897.
There is great diversity of opinion as to the value of Lawrence for a market pear, but no one denies it a place as one of the very best early winter pears for the home orchard. A generation ago it was held in high esteem as a market pear, but the more showy Kieffer, kept in cold storage, has elbowed the less conspicuous Lawrence off the fruit-stands and almost out of the markets. The tree is hardy, moderately vigorous and fruitful, an early, annual, and uniform bearer, and has the reputation of being one of the longest lived of all pear trees. The fruits are of but medium size, but are shapely in form, trim in contour, and are distinctive in shape because of the rounded, truncate stem end. In color, the pear is a bright, clean lemon-yellow marked with patches of russet and faintly blushed on the side to the sun. No yellow pear is more attractive. The fruits come in season in early winter and have the excellent character of keeping well under ordinary care for a full month or longer. The melting flesh abounds with a rich, sugary, perfumed juice, by virtue of which it is justly esteemed as the best-flavored pear of its season. Lawrence finds congenial soils and climates in nearly every part of New York, and should have a place in every home orchard in the State.
Lawrence is a native of Flushing, Long Island, and was first introduced to growers by Wilcomb and King of Flushing, who sent specimens of it in 1843 to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, saying that it appeared to be a cross between the old Saint Germain and White Doyenné, “as it resembles both of them in wood, foliage, and fruit, and there is no other variety in the neighborhood.” The variety rapidly found favor among pear growers and was soon widely disseminated. The American Pomological Society added Lawrence to its fruit-catalog in 1854.