BeurrÉ De Wetteren

Fruit, large, roundish, inclining to turbinate, widest in the middle, and tapering obtusely towards each end, uneven in its outline. Skin, bright green and shining, dull red on the side next the sun, and covered with large russet spots. Eye, open, deeply set. Stalk, an inch long, stout, and deeply inserted. Flesh, yellowish, coarse-grained, half-melting, pretty juicy, and well-flavoured.

A showy and peculiar-looking pear, which in some seasons is very good; ripe in October.

I received this from M. Papeleu, of Wetteren, near Ghent, in 1848. It originated in the garden of M. Louis Berckmans, at Heyst-op-den-Berg, in Belgium, and is supposed to have been one of the seedlings raised by Major Esperen, some of whose trees M. Berckmans obtained after his death.

Beuzard. See Hampden's Bergamot. Bezi de Caen. See Leon Leclere de Laval. Bezi de Caissoy. See Besi de Caissoy. Bezi de Chaumontel. See Chaumontel. Bezi de Échassery. See Échassery. Bezi Esperen. See Besi d'Esperen. . Bezi Goubault. See Besi Goubault. Bezi d'Heri. See Besi d'Héry. Bezi de Landry. See Échassery. Bezi de Quessoi. See Besi de Caissoy. Bezi de Quessoy. See Besi de Caissoy. Bezi Royal. See Besi d'Héry. Bezi Vaet. See Besi Vaet. Biémont. See Bergamotte Cadette. Biémont. See Beurré Beauchamps.

Bishop's Thumb (Bishop's Tongue)

Fruit, large, three and a half to four inches long, and two to two and a quarter broad; oblong, narrow, pyriform, or undulating in its outline. Skin, yellowish green, covered with numerous large russety dots, and with a rusty red colour on the side exposed to the sun. Eye, small and open, with long reflexed segments, set level with the surface. Stalk, one inch long, curved, fleshy at the base, obliquely inserted, and attached to the fruit without depression. Flesh, greenish yellow, melting, and juicy, with a rich, sugary, and vinous flavour.

An old-fashioned and very excellent dessert pear; ripe in October. The tree is hardy, an abundant bearer, and succeeds well as a standard.

The Bishop's Thumb was formerly called Bishop's Tongue, and it is recorded in Leonard Meager's list of the fruits that were grown in the Brompton Park Nursery in 1690 under that name. I find from the old books of that establishment that it continued to be grown there under the same name till the end of the last century, when it was altered to Bishop's Thumb. It appears also in Miller and Sweet's Catalogue in 1790 as Bishop's Thumb.

Bishop's Tongue. See Bishop's Thumb. Black Achan. See Achan. Black Bess of Castle Menzies. See Achan. Black Beurré. See Verulam.

Black Huffcap

Fruit, quite small; pyriform, or oblong-ovate, even and regular in its outline. Skin, olive green on the shaded side, and entirely covered with dull rusty red on the side next the sun; the whole surface thickly sprinkled with large grey russet dots. Eye, prominent, open, with erect segments. Stalk, three-quarters of an inch long, woody, connected with the fruit by a thickened continuation the flesh. Flesh, yellowish green, firm, and very gritty.

A noted perry pear of Herefordshire and Worcestershire.