Petit-Hâtiveau. 1. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:520, fig. 1869.
A variety of ancient and unknown origin, but cultivated among a group of pears termed Hâtiveau for over the last five centuries. It was called by the name Petit-Hâtiveau by Claude Saint-Étienne in 1670 to distinguish it from the Gros-Hâtiveau. Fruit small, ovate, obtuse and more or less globular; skin smooth and fine, lemon-yellow, dotted with exceedingly minute greenish points and more or less stained with gray-russet around the calyx and stem; flesh whitish, breaking, semi-fine, scented, juicy and gritty, juice sugary, acid, and slightly musky; third; July.
Petit-Muscat. 1. Knoop Fructologie 1:75, Tab. 1. 1771. 2. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:522, fig. 1869.
Little Muscat. 3. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 802. 1869.
Jean Mayer, director of the gardens of the Grand Duke of Wurtzburg, Bavaria, in his Pomona franconica published in 1801 showed that the Petit-Muscat was the antique pear Superba described by Pliny. Various other pomologists wrote of it prior to Mayer as for instance Jacq. Daléchamp, 1615; Jean Jonston, 1662; and Henri Manger, 1783. Charles Estienne was the first to write of it in France, 1530, and he named it Musquette. Fruit very small, turbinate, more or less obtuse and sometimes globular-turbinate; the eye is placed in a regular-formed cavity and is always naked in consequence of the segments of the calyx falling off, pale greenish-yellow, finely dotted and slightly clouded with rose on the side of the sun (in France); flesh yellowish, semi-fine, breaking, not very juicy, sugary, acidulous and with a pleasant musk flavor; second; June.
Petit-Oin. 1. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:524, fig. 1869.
Winterwunder. 2. Christ Handb. 497. 1817.
Müskirte Schmeerbirne. 3. Dochnahl Führ. Obstkunde 2:13. 1856.
Merveille d’Hiver. 4. Hogg Fruit Man. 616. 1884.
Valerius Cordus was the first to describe this pear which originated in Germany and belongs to the Schmeerbirne or greasy class. About 1650 it was cultivated in France under the name of Oing or Oin, the French equivalent of the German speck or lard. Fruit medium or less, globular-ovate or turbinate, slightly obtuse at summit, with thick but smooth and greasy skin, dull yellow-green, more or less gray, dotted and flecked with greenish-russet; flesh whitish, granular, scented, exceedingly melting and juicy, very saccharine, free from acid and having an exquisite flavor; third; Sept. to Nov.