BEURRÉ SUPERFIN
1. Mag. Hort. 20:8, 135. 1854. 2. Horticulturist N. S. 5: 88. 1855. 3. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 465. 1857. 4. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 231. 1858. 5. Leroy Dict. Pom. 1:432, fig. 1867. 6. Hogg Fruit Man. 529. 1884.
Hochfeine Butterbirne. 7. Lauche Deut. Pom. II: No. 59, Pl. 59. 1883. 8. Gaucher Pom. Prak. Obst. No. 47, Pl. 60. 1894.
Superfin. 9. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 40. 1883.
Tender in skin and delicate in flesh, the product of this variety is not for the markets, but that of few other sorts so admirably supplies those who want choicely good fruits. The pears are not as attractive in appearance as might be wished, but are hardly surpassed in flavor in their season. The flesh is notable for juiciness, rich vinous flavor, and pleasant perfume. The trees are large, healthy even as regards blight, very productive, and are easily suited as to soils. The trees do not bear early, but are regular in bearing after this life event begins. In Europe, the variety is commonly and successfully grown as a dwarf, and the pear-growers of a generation ago in America recommend this variety as one of the good sorts to work on the quince. The variety is a valuable one for home orchards, especially in New York where it grows exceptionally well.
Beurré Superfin was raised from a bed of pear seeds made at Angers, France, by M. Goubault, a well-known pomologist, in 1837. The parent tree so produced bore fruit in 1844 and the Committee of the Horticultural Society of Maine-et-Loire was requested to report on its merits, which it did in that year, and M. Millet, president of the society, named it Beurré Superfin. It was introduced in America about 1850. The variety was placed on the fruit catalog-list of the American Pomological Society in 1858.
Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, dense-topped, hardy, very productive; trunk stocky, rough; branches thick, rough and shaggy, zigzag, dull brownish-red, overspread with gray scarf-skin, sprinkled with numerous elongated lenticels; branchlets slender, light brown, glossy, smooth, glabrous, with small, raised, inconspicuous lenticels.
Leaf-buds small, short, conical, pointed, plump, appressed or free; leaf-scars prominent. Leaves 3¼ in. long, 1⅞ in. wide, stiff; apex abruptly pointed; margin tipped with small glands, coarsely serrate; petiole 1¾ in. long. Flower-buds conical, pointed, plump, free, singly on short branches and short spurs.