Passe Madeleine

This is a small oblong pear, with an uneven surface. Skin, green, covered with dots. The flesh is dry and very astringent, crisp, and without much flavour.

An early pear; ripe in August, and grown to some extent in the market-gardens round London, but it is a very worthless variety.

Pastorale (Musette d'Automne; Petit Bateau)

Fruit, above medium size; pyriform. Skin, yellow, with a blush of red next the sun, and wholly covered with numerous greyish dots and markings of russet. Eye, small and open, with short rigid segments, set in a slight depression. Stalk, from an inch to an inch and a half in length, fleshy at the vase, and inserted in a fleshy knob on the apex. Flesh, white, tender, crisp, and half-melting, and of a rich, sweet, and slightly musky flavour.

A dessert pear; in use from November to February. The tree is a strong grower and an abundant bearer; succeeds well as a standard, and must be grown on the pear in preference to the quince. It requires a light warm soil, not too moist, otherwise it is harsh and austere.

Pastorale d'Hiver. See Easter Beurré. Paternoster. See Vicar of Winkfield. Du Patre. See Easter Beurré.

Paul Thielens

Fruit, large, three inches and a half long, and two and three-quarters wide; obovate, inclining to oblong, even in its outline. Skin, smooth and shining, pale yellow, with a slight blush and a few streaks of red next the sun, the whole strewed with russet and green dots on the shaded side, and with pale crimson ones on the other. Eye, large and open, set in a shallow depression. Stalk, about an inch long, green, thick, and fleshy, inserted without depression. Flesh, white, tender, fine-grained, juicy, and sweet.

Of no great merit. Blets and rots at the core in the last week of September.

Peach (Peche)

Fruit, medium sized, two inches and three-quarters long, and two inches and a half wide; roundish obovate. Skin, smooth, pale greenish yellow when ripe, occasionally with a faint blush of red on the side exposed to the sun, the surface covered with minute dots, and a patch of cinnamon-coloured russet round the stalk. Eye, large and open, set even with the surface, surrounded by a few slight knobs. Stalk, upwards of an inch long, stout and woody, inserted without depression on the stump end of the fruit. Flesh, yellowish white, melting, and very juicy, sweet, richly flavoured, and with a delicate perfume.

An excellent early pear; ripe in the third and fourth weeks of August. At Teddington Mr. Blackmore finds it quite worthless.

It was raised by Major Esperen, of Malines, in 1845.

Péche. See Peach.

Pengethley

Fruit, medium sized; obovate, inclining to oval. Skin, pale green, covered with dark dots, and becoming yellow as it ripens. Eye, large and open, set in a shallow depression. Stalk, long and slender, curved, and set in an uneven cavity. Flesh, coarsegrained, crisp, very juicy and sweet.

Ripe in March.