I’m not sure how soon my fondante de moulins lille pear will fruit. Many members are growing this variety. Scott posted an excellent description of this pear and Bob added pictures on this post 2016 European pear variety observations. It’s reportedly one of the best though little is known about this pear.
ARS GRIN share the following information “Obtained in 1858 by M. Grolez-Duriez, Rouchin-lez-Lille, France, from a seed of Napolean. Propagated in France since 1863. Resembles Buerre d’Anjou in form and appearance but it is a little smaller in size. Flesh white, fine, free of grit, melting, extremely juicy. Very sweet, slightly acidulous, rich venous flavor. Of outstanding dessert quality but may be a little too soft in texture to withstand commercial handling. Midseason. Tree fairly vigorous, annual bearer, good foliage. True-dwarf on quince. Moderately susceptible to blight. - H. Hartman, 1957” - https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail.aspx?accid=%20PI+541190. I decided based on these several trustworthy descriptions to graft several more trees to this variety this year.
That is a very good description. It is on the soft side which I find a plus as it makes them super juicy. I would add that it tends to overset and heavy thinning is needed. It is also highly precocious, a very good trait in a pear!
My tree is not in the greatest spot, I should grab some scions and put it in a better spot.
Yours on quince, Scott?
No, its on seedling, but the precocity was as if it was on quince.
BTW the main reason why I feel this pear is not better known is the name. Sometimes I wonder if we should rename it - “Found a Molly” or whatever. Then it would be the hot pear 
“Napoleon’s Heir Pear” or “Napoleon Dyna-Pear?”
Regardless what it’s name is or will be lol it’s reportedly one of the best! I’m going to see if I can graft it directly to callery this year because last year I used kieffer interstem.
Fondante flowers for the second year in a row. I grafted it on a bad location (low branch) on a tree. It does not get a lot of sun and has not grown much. I clipped about 4-5” off this winter and just grafted it on another tree in a better location. Hopefully, the graft will take.
Here’s the blossoms of Fondante de Moulins-Lille
Clark,
Has your Fondante have blooms this year?
Mine bloomed this year but dropped the little fruitlets
We have so much rain almost everyday. I am worried about cross pollination so I have used a small panit brush to help cross pollination all the varieties that blooms overlap.
The mother pear tree (Blake’s Pride) is not that tall. I can reach all the grafts.
I did a happy dance last year when @BobVance sent my a spurry scion of FdML. I got two trees grafting that stick on rootstocks. This year a planted one tree a bit late, and it took a shock, but is putting out new growth now. The other a let a special friend plant at her house.
I’m not in a hurry to let it fruit, and understand it is precocious. Looking forward to enjoying them someday.
Jolene,
With only two pears I got last year, I was really impressed with its taste, very nice and sweet. They were both small, though.
I wasn’t thrilled with the quality of the wood I sent, but I guess with pears there is plenty of margin for error (or bad wood…). I’m glad it took for you.
Maybe the size was a result of it being young. I haven’t noticed them being small. But, I have had some rot problems with it. Maybe I need to pick it earlier, though I thought it was supposed to be relatively late season.
@BobVance,
Glad your FdML is not small. Give me hope. Mine were small. No rot but very scabby. Ugly duckling because they tasted good.
Mine ripened about the same time as Harrow Sweet which was quite late (late Sept/early Oct). However, it’s only year one. So, take my experience with a grain of salt.
I hope my help with cross pollination will help them set some fruit. Raining too frequently is really not nice.