Right you are, Clark.
Keiffer is omnipresent at virtually every old farmstead I ever remember seeing in Alabama, and common here in Kentucky as well … those tough old trees often exhibit multiple FB strikes throughout their canopy every year… but they take a licking and keep on ticking… producing prodigious amounts of fruit, often to the point of breaking limbs.
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Scott,
This is npr’s story that covers “The Book of Pears” http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/12/15/459707633/the-book-of-pears-a-love-letter-to-a-once-pre-eminent-fruit. Excellent find on the book! Thank you for letting us know.
Clark,
Great link!
Here’s another “companion” link that exhibits photographs of hundreds of pear varieties!
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Thanks for that link Matt. I wished they had included those pictures in the book, I much prefer pictures over paintings for identification. On the plus side the pictures are free and will be very useful for helping to make sure you got the right variety.
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strange that it was published just last year-- yet there’s no electronic edition. Author could sell it as an e-book at 25$ and probably still make more profits than when selling an actual book at 50$. And that is a profit margin on a one-to-one purchase, and still not taking into account that at 25$, more people can afford to buy it.
i digress…
going back to the wonderful pear, i agree. Really like it for its longevity and (almost)zero dependence on pesticides. Fruit trees should outlive people, not the other way around!
Scott,
I find it funny that this British author included hundreds of pear photos, but not of some of the pears that have emerged as fireblight-resistant favorites here among forum members.
You don’t see:
Potomac, Elliot, Harrow Sweet, or even Fondante de Moulins-Lille!
I feel bad for you. You purchased a hundreds page book and never had the photos included/ relayed to you. Well, no good deed goes un-punished.
The author says Fondante du Automne (aka Belle Lucrative) is among her top 3 favorite pears (along with Comice and Superfin, both fireblight susceptible).
USDA Corvallis says that Fondante du Automne/ Belle Lucrative is fireblight resistant, delicious, and grower friendly. Is anyone out there growing this variety? How is it doing for you?
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I’m interested in hearing about this variety also. I only found it for sale in two places. Seems like the name Fondante d’ Automne is used by Europeans and Belle Lucrative more by those in America.
http://www.heritagefruittrees.com.au/belle-lucrative/ $16.50
Another wonderfully historic pear variety about which much more is written in our reference than there is space for here. Belle Lucrative is of Flemish origin. In 1831 it was growing in the London Horticultural Society’s gardens at Chiswick, and was then described by Lindley as “another of the new Flemish pears.” It is a russeted variety with fruit described as having flesh tinged with yellow, firm, fine-grained, crisp, buttery, juicy, sweet; quality very good.
http://www.treesofantiquity.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=575 $36.95
The Belle Lucrative is particularly well suited for the home orchard. Small, greenish, yellow fruit with small russet dots. The flesh of Belle Lucrative and flavor are nearly perfect with a hint of butterscotch. Precocious tree is disease resistant with above average hardiness.
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Arboreum also has it:
http://www.arboreumco.com/store/products/belle-lucrative
I am not into crisp pears. I like the ones with a buttery melting texture when ripe.
Seems like taste descriptions for Belle Lucrative are all over the map-- butterscotch?
Is anyone growing this pear east of the Rockies? Can any of you comment on its texture and flavor when it ripens at your locale?
Me too, on the buttery texture! When I want something crisp…I want an apple.
I looked at a number of the European descriptions too Matt and “Buttery” texture seems to be it.
Good find Matt…I’d never read about this variety before. Seems worthy of further investigation. I’d love to have some wood if anyone would happen to have it.
I think Corvallis has it, if they can ever get out from under that quarantine…
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I would trust Corvalis description…what do they say about it? Geneva doesn’t have it?
I wouldn’t put too much stock in the butterscotch thing…these aficionados taste subtle things that I never seem to be able to detect. Besides, I love butterscotch, so that doesn’t dissuade me at all.
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Various references are presented on the USDA/GRIN page, including what I’ve pasted below.
Apparently, three (3) Belle Lucrative/ Fondante D’Automne trees are maintained at Corvallis.
More information, including photos, can be found here:
Narrative
This good old pear has been a standard autumn sort for nearly a century. The internal characters of both flesh and flavor are nearly perfect, but externally much more might be desired as to shape and size. In flesh and flavor, the fruits are of the Bergamot type – fine-grained, buttery, juicy, and sugary, with a musky taste and perfume. The fruits are not as large as is desirable,and are variable in shape and color, external defects which a rather handsome color offsets in part. The trees are more satisfactory than the fruits. They bear enormously and almost annually on either standard or dwarfing stocks; they are very vigorous, with a somewhat distinct upright-spreading habit of growth; are hardier than the average variety of this fruit and are rather more resistant to blight than the average variety. The fruits are too small for a good commercial product, but their delectable flavor and luscious flesh make them as desirable as any other pear for home use; besides which the trees grow so well, and are so easliy managed that the variety becomes one of the very best for the home planter.
Belle Lucrative is of Flemish origin. In 1831 it was growing in the London Horticultural Society’s gardens at Chiswick, and was then described by Lindley as ‘another of the new Flemish pears.’ It had been taken to England by a Mr. Braddick who received the cions from M. Stoffels of Mechlin. By some writers it is considered probable that it originated with M. Stoffels, but the leading Belgian and French writers say that it was raised by Major Esperen, also of Mechlin, about 1827. In this country it first fruited in the Pomological Garden of Robert Manning, salem, Massachusetts, in 1835 or 1836. The American Pomological Society added the variety to its fruit catalog-list in 1852 under the name Belle Lucrative. – U.P. Hedrick, The Pears of New York, 1921.
Fondante d’Automne (Belle Lucrative) - A 19th century Flemish pear brought to this country by Robert Manning of Salem, Massachusetts, in 1835 and long regarded as a standard of quality among autumn pears. Medium fruits, round, conical, dull green-yellow, with sugary, buttery flesh of a musky taste and perfume. To Hedrick its ‘delectable flavor and luscious flesh’ made it one of the best ‘for home use.’ September - October. Ready to eat within a few weeks. – Robert Nitschke, Southmeadow Fruit Gardens Catalog, 1976.
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Like the sounds of that pear. Sounds delicious and tiny which is a perfect home orchard pear.
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I hope this isn’t too off topic, but how would you describe a Royal Riviera Pear, so I can look for descriptions of pears like it? I’ve been getting Harry & David Pears for an extremely long time now, but those are out of Oregon and seem to be an exclusive variety. I absolutely love them, and firmly believe the second happiest I typically am is eating those things with a spoon and slurping up the juice from the bowl.
I have a Hood, “Sugar” (which I understand may actually be an Seckel?), and Moonglow, none of which have fruited yet. I have read worrying things about the Hood and Moonglow quality, and of course Fireblight is a HUGE issue for me in NC.
Anyone have a suggestion for a dessert pear like the Royal Riviera that would tolerate my conditions?
Anjou; red or green. both delish!
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Royal Riviera is just another name they gave to the Comice pear.
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“Doyenne du Comice” to be exact.
Not to be confused with “Fondante du Comice,” a different pear.
Doyenne du Comice (often just called Comice) is the “gift box” pear you are thinking of.
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MisterGuy,
Try growing the “Magness” pear, and also try growing the “Warren” pear. They are more fireblight resistant than Doyenne du Comice (aka Royal Riviera), which grows best in Oregon.
Both of these pears are the result of a cross between the Seckel pear and Doyenne du Comice.
Magness does really well in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic. Warren does really well in the Deep South.
Comice and Magness are my two favorite pears. I can only hope to buy Comice from the grocery, but I already have Magness growing in my orchard. Magness has an aroma, texture and flavor similar to Comice, but tolerates the humid East much better (like its other parent, Seckel).
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Try Ayers. It’s a superb dessert quality pear and no FB.
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