An old French pear of which Merlet wrote in 1675, calling it Bergamote de Pasques or the La Grillière. This variety was early known in England according to Switzer who saw trees of it at Hampton Court growing against a wall said to have been erected by Queen Elizabeth and which had every appearance of having stood there since that time. Fruit medium, globular-turbinate, narrowing toward the stalk, grayish-green, dull, changing to pale yellow, thickly dotted with brown; flesh white, semi-fine, gritty, breaking; juice sweet, acid, with not much perfume or flavor; second only, on account of its extreme lateness; Mar. to May.
Eastern Belle. 1. Mass. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 32. 1870. 2. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 1st App., 126, fig. 1872.
This pear originated with Henry McLaughlin, Bangor, Me. Tree hardy, vigorous, productive; fruit of medium size, obovate-pyriform; skin pale yellow, with nettings and patches of russet and many russet dots, occasionally blushed with bright red; flesh whitish-yellow, coarse at center, juicy, half-melting, sweet, rich, with a peculiar piquant aroma; good; Sept.
Echasserie. 1. Duhamel Trait. Arb. Fr. 2:187, Pl. XXXII. 1768. 2. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 753. 1869.
Walnut. 3. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 90. 1856.
Besi de l’Echasserie. 4. Leroy Dict. Pom. 1:269, fig. 1867.
The wilding from which this variety was derived was probably noticed about 1660 and La Quintinye before 1690 spoke of it as having been in French gardens for twenty years. It appears to have been a native of Anjou, where there are three places bearing the name given to it. Probably it had been locally cultivated under other names for a long time previous to its official recognition. Fruit medium to small, globular-oval but variable, always obtuse and bossed; skin rough to the touch, lemon-yellow dotted with fawn and with some patches of grayish-brown russet; flesh white, fine, melting, with very small grits around the core; juice extremely abundant, acidulous, saccharine, with an after-taste of musk, very agreeable; first; Nov. through Jan.
Edle Sommerbirne. 1. Oberdieck Obst-Sort. 327. 1881.
Germany and Holland. Fruit small, pyriform and somewhat long-gourd-shaped, smooth yellowish-green changing to yellow at maturity, with reddish-brown on the side next the sun, dotted and speckled with gray; flesh fine, semi-melting, with a sweet, agreeable, aromatic flavor of rose; good for dessert and first for kitchen use; Aug.