ELIZABETH
1. Mag. Hort. 8:57. 1842. 2. Ibid. 13:63, fig. 6. 1847. 3. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:126, fig. 1869. 4. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 23. 1897.
Manning’s Elizabeth. 5. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 385. 1845. 6. Hovey Fr. Am. 2:41, Pl. 1851. 7. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 231. 1854. 8. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 810, fig. 1869.
Elizabeth de Manning. 9. Mas Le Verger 2:105, fig. 51. 1866-73. 10. Guide Prat. 93, 269. 1876.
Nina. 11. Hogg Fruit Man. 623. 1884. 12. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 258. 1889.
Elizabeth is among the best summer pears for eastern America, either for home consumption or for the markets. The characters which commend it are: handsome, well-flavored fruits; and vigorous, hardy, productive trees, which are as resistant to blight as those of any other European pear, and which come in bearing early and bear annually. Faults are: the fruits are small, a fault that can be overcome somewhat by thinning; they are a little coarse in texture of flesh, which is a little too gritty; and the flavor, while good for an early pear, is not as sweet and rich as might be desired. The trees are nearly flawless, failing, if at all, in not attaining as great size as some other inhabitants of pear orchards. The crop is often borne in clusters—a defect by reason of which the fruits are so often small. But even with these defects, we must end as we began with the statement that this is one of the best summer pears.
In the year 1819, Van Mons established his famous nursery at Louvain, Belgium, and in the years 1830 and 1831 he sent from there two consignments of pear cions to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, both of which were unfortunately lost in turn on the way. Three years later, Kenrick, Manning, and Dearborn, Massachusetts horticulturists, requested him to forward another collection. In the successive springs of 1835 and 1836, he sent two more collections which safely arrived in due course, though a large proportion of the cions died. These collections comprised originally about 150 named and 100 seedling unnamed varieties, and Van Mons granted Manning permission to name any of the latter that might prove worthy of cultivation. No. 154 of these, Mr. Manning[28] named Elizabeth (Van Mons). Later on it was disseminated as Manning’s Elizabeth, and soon after the name was shortened to i. The variety was placed in the fruit-list of the American Pomological Society in 1854.
Tree small, upright, dense-topped, hardy, very productive; trunk slender; branches brownish-green, partly overspread with thin, gray scarf-skin, marked by conspicuous, oval lenticels; branchlets slender, long, reddish-brown mingled with green, new growth exceptionally red, dull, smooth, glabrous except on the younger wood, with obscure, raised lenticels.
Leaf-buds small, short, pointed, plump, free. Leaves 3 in. long, 1½ in. wide, stiff; apex variable; margin almost entire; petiole 2 in. long, slender, reddish-green; stipules very small and slender when present. Flower-buds small, short, conical, plump, free, singly on short spurs; flowers early, showy, 1⅝ in. across, in dense clusters, average 8 buds in a cluster; pedicels 1 in. long, lightly pubescent.
Fruit ripe in late August; small, 2⅜ in. long, 2½ in. wide, obovate-obtuse-pyriform, symmetrical, uniform; stem 1 in. long, thick, curved; cavity acuminate, shallow, narrow, symmetrical, often lipped; calyx large, almost closed; lobes separated at the base, short, narrow, acuminate; basin shallow, obtuse, gently furrowed and wrinkled; skin tough, characteristically rough, glossy; color bright yellow, with a lively, red cheek, mottled with brownish, minute specks; dots numerous, very small, conspicuous, russet or brown; flesh tinged with yellow, slightly granular under the skin, strongly granular at the center, tender and melting, very juicy, sweet, vinous, aromatic; quality very good. Core large, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds wide, plump, acute.