Tree large and very vigorous, upright-spreading, dense-topped, hardy, very productive, long-lived; trunk very stocky; branches thick, reddish-brown mingled with dull gray scarf-skin, covered with small lenticels; branchlets thick, long, dark reddish-brown, dull, smooth, glabrous, with small, slightly raised lenticels.
Leaf-buds small, short, obtuse or pointed, appressed; leaf-scars prominent. Leaves 2½ in. long, 1½ in. wide, oval, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin finely serrate; petiole 1½ in. long; stipules very long when present. Flower-buds small, short, conical, free; flowers 1¼ in. across, in dense clusters, 7 or 8 buds in a cluster; pedicels ⅝ in. long, slender, lightly pubescent, light green, slightly streaked with red.
Fruit ripe in October; small, 2¼ in. long, 2 in. wide, uniform in size and shape, obovate, symmetrical; stem ½ in. long, short, thick, often curved; cavity obtuse, with a very shallow, narrow depression, symmetrical; calyx small, partly open; lobes separated at the base, short, variable in width, acute; basin very shallow and narrow, strongly obtuse, symmetrical; skin smooth, dull; color yellowish-brown, lightly marked with pale russet and often with a lively russet-red cheek; dots numerous, very small, russet or grayish; flesh white, with a faint tinge of yellow, slightly granular, melting, buttery, very juicy; sweet, with an exceedingly rich, aromatic, spicy flavor; quality very good to best. Core small, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, conical; seeds small, short, not very plump, obtuse.
SHELDON
1. Mag. Hort. 17:252, fig. 25. 1851. 2. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 151. 1854. 3. Ibid. 210. 1856. 4. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 444, fig. 1857. 5. Elliott Fr. Book 347. 1859. 6. Hoffy N. Am. Pom. 1: Pl. 1860. 7. Mas Le Verger 3: Pt. 2, 119, fig. 156. 1866-73. 8. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 855, fig. 1869. 9. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:662, fig. 1869.
Were the fruits alone to be considered, Sheldon would take rank as one of the best of all pears. The fruits please both the eye and the palate. Those of no rival in season surpass them either in appearance or in characters that satisfy taste. While not large, the fruits are of sufficient size to meet the demands of a good dessert pear. The shape is a perfect turbinate, truncated at the base of the fruit, usually very symmetrical, and the fruits run uniform in shape. In color, the pears are distinctive in their russeted skin, with a handsome ruddy cheek. The accompanying color-plate does not do justice to the fruit in illustrating size, shape, or color. The flesh is melting and juicy, and deserves, more than that of almost any other pear, the adjective luscious. The flavor is sweet, vinous, and highly perfumed. The fruits keep well, ship well, and sell well during their season, and are esteemed both for dessert and for culinary purposes. The list of faults in the trees is as long as the list of virtues in the fruits. The trees, while large, vigorous, and hardy, blight as badly as any pear-tree in the orchard, are reluctant in coming in bearing, niggardly in production, and seldom hold their crop well. With these faults of the tree, Sheldon is not a commercial variety of high rank, but the splendid fruits make it worth growing by the pear-fancier, in the home orchard, or for the markets where the faults of the trees are not too marked. The variety grows better in New York, possibly, than in any other part of the United States.
This pear is a native of the town of Huron, New York. The original tree stood on the premises of Major Sheldon, having sprung from seed brought by his father from Washington, New York, about 1815. The fruit was first exhibited at the Pomological Convention in Syracuse in the autumn of 1849. In 1854, Sheldon was mentioned by the American Pomological Society as promising well, and in 1856 it was given a place in the Society’s fruit-catalog.