1. Horticulturist 21:172, 245, fig. 80. 1866. 2. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 53. 1869. 3. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 811. 1869. 4. Mo. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 35, 36. 1890. 5. Guide Prat. 68, 279. 1895.
Mary. 6. Horticulturist 21:78, figs. 43 and 44. 1866.
The fruits of Margaret are early and attractive in color and shape. This is about all that can be said for them, as they run small in size, and in neither flesh nor flavor can they compete with the product of several other varieties of the same season. The trees are hardly more desirable than the fruits, since they are tender to cold, blight badly, and are short-lived, seldom attaining full size. Despite these defects of fruit and tree, the variety is a one-time favorite still rather commonly planted. Better summer pears can be found for New York, and for almost every part of the country.
In the middle of the nineteenth century, Christopher Wiegel, a German nurseryman of Cleveland, Ohio, planted some seeds which he believed to have been from a Seckel pear. Out of the trees grown from these he selected two for further trial “because of their early coming into bearing, their upright, vigorous habits of growth, profuse bearing, and good quality of fruit.” In 1866, Mr. Wiegel named one of these Mary but later changed the name to Margaret.
Tree medium in size, vigorous, spreading, somewhat drooping, open-topped, productive; trunk shaggy; branches brown mingled with much red, overspread with thin gray scarf-skin, marked by numerous lenticels; branchlets slender, long, with long internodes, light reddish-brown, streaked with ash-gray scarf-skin, glossy, smooth, glabrous except on the newer growth, with numerous small, roundish, raised, conspicuous lenticels.
Leaf-buds small, very short, pointed, appressed. Leaves 3 in. long, 1¾ in. wide, thin; margin tipped with few pinkish glands, finely serrate; petiole 1¾ in. long, green; stipules of medium size. Flower-buds small, short, conical, pointed, free, singly on short spurs; flowers showy, 1¾ in. long, large, in dense clusters, 6 or 8 buds in a cluster; pedicels 1⅛ in. long, thick, pubescent.
Fruit matures in late August and early September; medium in size, 3 in. long, 2¾ in. wide, oblong-obovate-pyriform, irregular; stem 1¼ in. long, thick, curved; cavity acuminate, deep, narrow, russeted, furrowed and compressed, often with a pronounced lip; calyx open, large; lobes separated at the base, broad, acute, reflexed; basin deep, abrupt, furrowed, often compressed; skin thin, tender, smooth; color dull greenish-yellow, often with a deep but dull reddish-brown blush and occasional patches of russet; dots numerous, small, green or russet, obscure; flesh fine under the skin but granular and gritty near the center; tender, buttery, very juicy, faintly vinous, slightly aromatic; quality good. Core large, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube long, wide, funnel-shaped; seeds large, wide, plump, obtuse or acute.
