1071 years before Jesus Christ, to the time of David, peartree appears already under walls of Jerusalem.
Later Greeks cultivated some four varieties and Romans 178 years before Jesus Christ ate it again withCaton that identified even Six different varieties.
Two centuries after, Pline quoted forty onevarieties of pears to plant in Roman gardens.
The Middle Ages until 1850, the evolution of the culture of the pear was more important than the apple.
At the end of 19 century, in France, more of 900 varieties were listed and today it exists somemore of 3000 varieties through the world.
It is elsewhere in France that are born all the great varieties consumed again today throughthe world (or their relatives)."
This question (asked on another thread—and answered by our estimable host) had also occurred to me:
But it seems that both pears originated in the same place and at around the same time, the nursery of André Leroy in Angers, France in the mid-nineteenth century; and that both are apparently named for the same man, Dr. André Desportes, who was Leroy’s longtime nursery manager (according to Morgan’s Book of Pears, from which I also derived my information regarding the “Docteur Desportes” pear’s origins in Angers, ca. 1854) and the son (and perhaps successor, if Morgan is correct) of another Leroy manager, Baptiste Desportes (according to Hedrick) . “André Desportes” (a seedling of “Williams’ Bon Chrétien”—aka “Bartlett”) was known in the U.S. in the nineteenth century, whereas “Docteur Desportes”—which, according to this French site, was first obtained by a horticulturalist and nurseryman named Treyve (possibly François-Marie Treyve or one of his sons) of Trévoux in 1893—was apparently not commercially available even in France until the end of the century. Hartman in Catalog and Evaluation of the Pear Collection at the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station (1957) suggests that the first commercial listing for “Docteur Desportes” was in the Leroy catalog of 1912. However, the contemporary Journal de la Société Nationale d’Horticulture de Francenotes that Treyve was offering grafts in 1893.
Whether all of this information is correct or not, I haven’t the time to ascertain. But I roughly pieced together these scraps of data in a spare moment—mainly because I find this sort of thing fascinating. Perhaps somebody with the interest—and better access to French sources—can shine more light on the origins of these two pears.
EDIT: If the good doctor truly was the namesake of both, he must’ve really been some fellow to have had two pears named in his honor, don’t you think?
Clark, Have you grown and liked “Bergamotte Esperen” ? I looked for a scion about 35 years ago, gave up, and forgot about it. Can’t even remember why I wanted it unless it was high quality.
" COR - Pyrus communis shroyers sunset**
Oregon’s Home Orchard Society (HOS) voted at their November 2018 annual meeting to name a favorite pear selection in memory of long-time member Jerald (Jerry) Shroyer who was born on November 24, 1932 and died on November 9, 2017. Shroyer’s Sunset (PI 541201) is a delicious little pear that was among hundreds of varieties transferred to the USDA National Clonal Germplasm Repository when it opened in 1981 from Oregon State University’s Experiment Station near Medford. Little is known about this un-named selection from Canada, other than it was from a cross made in 1925 by O.A. Bradt in Ontario. The catalog at the Southern Oregon Experiment Station listed this pear as HES 25021, the letters presumably an acronym for ‘Harrow Experiment Station’. There are no records to link this selection to a particular pedigree, however the fruit resembles the cultivar Seckel in size, shape and coloration, although it tends to be slightly larger than ‘Seckel’. The fruit ripens in mid-September, and like ‘Seckel’ has superb texture and flavor. HES 25051, now Shroyer’s Sunset, has been a favorite of HOS members during their annual visits to the USDA Pear Repository in Corvallis."
Original colour chromolithograph with hand colouring on a vellin type paper. on paper.
Size in cm: The overall size is ca. 23.5 x 31 cm. The image size is ca. 18 x 25 cm. Size in inch: The overall size is ca. 9.3 x 12.2 inch. The image size is ca. 7.1 x 9.8 inch.
Plate II Pl.21.: ‘Bergamotte d’Esperen (41) and Cure / Bon Papa / Belle Adrienne / Comice de Tourlon (42).’ (Pear varieties from Belgium and France.) Original descriptive text included (sometimes a copy in case of one page describing 2 plates). This decorative original old antique print / lithograph originates from: ‘De Nederlandsche Boomgaard ….’ (translation: The Dutch Orchard.), by the Pomological Society at Boskoop, the Netherlands, with plates after S. Berghuis, published in 1868. This awarded and respected work was printed in an estimated 1200 copies and contains plates of many species and variations of fruits: apples, pears, apricots, peaches and cherries. It provided great knowledge of the Dutch fruit variety and underscored the fame of the Boskoop fruit tree nursery industry.Artists and Engravers: The plates were drawn by Samuel Berghuis and printed by Severeyn’s Chromolithographic Institute in Belgium.
Condition: Excellent. General age related toning and the usual light foxing.
At the Corvallis germplasm repository, between the Chinese quinces and the medlars, there is a tree labeled “red delicious x pear” that I can’t find anything online about. Does anyone know more about it?
I ordered a scion of an apple-pear hybrid from Singing Tree this year. I believe that it was developed at the University of Minnesota, but that is all I know. I assume that it should be grafted on apple stock because it was listed in the apples, not the pears.
I have been growing apple pear cross for a few years. I wrote Singing Tree to ask about it. He said he was unsure of it’s origin, but thinks it might be pure Malus. It’s an interesting “apple” you pick it Green when you start seeing drops and it ripens turning Yellow on the counter (Like a pear) I would not be surprised if Winter Banana was one of it’s parents. I tried to graft it to OHxF 333 but it died after one season. Where did you hear it was developed at the University of Minnesota?
