Originated by Van Mons, 1823. Fruit medium, obovate-obtuse-pyriform, light green changing to yellowish-green, blushed with rose on the side next the sun, dotted with gray-green specks; flesh nearly white, slightly veined with yellow, fine, melting, full of sweet juice, delicately perfumed and refreshing; good; early Aug.
Augustine Lelieur. 1. Leroy Dict. Pom. 1:169, fig. 1867. 2. Mas Pom. Gen. 5:43, fig. 310. 1880.
This variety is considered to be of Belgian origin. Leroy received it from the garden of the Society of Van Mons, Louvain, in 1854, and Mas received it at Bourg from a nurseryman at Wetteren, East Flanders, in 1859. Fruit above medium, oblong-obovate-pyriform, a little swelled, bossed, stalk bearing spines and implanted obliquely, greenish-yellow, russet and brown spots, stripes of fawn around the stalk; flesh white, fine, melting, gritty, sufficiently juicy, sugary, acid and delicate in flavor; first; Oct. and Nov.
Augustus Dana. 1. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 663. 1869.
Originated by Francis Dana of Boston, Mass. Fruit medium to rather large, globular-obtuse and varying from acute-pyriform to obtuse-pyriform, yellow, russeted; flesh whitish, juicy, melting, sweet, slightly aromatic; first; Oct.
Aurate. 1. Duhamel Trait. Arb. Fr. 2:122, Pl. III. 1768. 2. Dochnahl Führ. Obstkunde 2:26. 1856.
This ancient French pear appeared under the name Muscat de Nancy in Le Lectier’s Catalogue de son verger et plant in 1628, and was sold in Nancy over 300 years ago. It is extensively grown in Germany in the valleys of the Rhine and in the plains of Coblenz and Mayence under the name of Petit-Muscat rouge, Muscat d’été, Goldbirne, etc. Fruit small, growing in clusters, turbinate, ventriculous, obtuse, regular in contour, dark green at first, dotted with fawn, streaked with brownish-red in the cavity and washed with rose where exposed to the sun; flesh yellowish-white, semi-fine and semi-melting, juicy, generally gritty, saccharine, vinous, delicately musky; first; late Aug.
Auray. 1. Leroy Dict. Pom. 1:171, fig. 1867.
This was a chance seedling which originated in Brittany. Leroy states that he cultivated it in Anjou and first entered it in his catalog in 1851. Fruit rather large, ovoid, often more swelled on one side than on the other, bronze, with some greenish dots and patches, the skin rough to the touch; flesh whitish, semi-fine, semi-melting, gritty around the core; juice very abundant, sugary, vinous, sometimes astringent and sometimes also delicate and perfumed; second only on account of its variability, for in the same season it may produce some exquisite fruit, some only good and some only medium in quality.
Autocrat. 1. Jour. Hort. 3rd Ser. 3:260. 1881.