At one time the best second early pear, Jargonelle is now little grown in America. The crop ripens two or three weeks before that of Bartlett. The fruits are as attractive as any of their season. The quality leaves much to be desired. The flesh is coarse, rather gritty, and the flavor lacks the rich sugary taste, or the refreshing piquancy of good pears. The fruits rot at the core, and the season is short. The crop should be picked early and ripened in the house. The trees are large, vigorous and sometimes very productive, but are coarse, untidy bearers, and are often uncertain in bearing. Jargonelle is one of the oldest of all varieties, according to some, dating back to before the time of Christ.Jargonelle (English). Synonyms: Beau Present, Beau Present Espargne, Belle Verge, Beurre de Paris, Certeau Madam, Chandelle, Chopine, Cuilette, Cuisse Madame, English Jargonelle, Epargne, Espargne, Frauenschenkel, Gargonelle, Grosse Cuisse Madame, Grosse Quisse Madame, Jargonelle, Jargonelle de Knoop, Jargonelle (of the English), Lady's Thigh, Lauren's Summer, Long Island Summer, Poire de Tables de Princes, Real Jargonelle, Reserve Pear, Saint Lambert, Saint Sampson, Saint Sanson, Sicile, Sparbirne, Sweet Summer. -- Ragan, Nomenclature of the Pear, 1908.
Jargonelle (of the English). (Robert Thompson, 1842; George Lindley, 1831; The Pomological Magazine, 1831). This fruit, the true Jargonelle pear*, was for a long time considered the finest of Summer pears, and thompson yet says 'the best of its season.' It is still one of the most common fruits in the New York market, partly, because it bears abundant crops, and partly, because other superiour new sorts (have not had) time enough to displace it.
Fruit pretty large, long pyriform, tapering into the stalk. Skin greenish-yellow, smooth, with a little brownish colour on the sunny side. Stalk nearly two inches long, rather slender, curved, obliquely set. Calyx open, with quite long projecting segments and sunk in a small and furrowed basin. The flesh is yellowish-white, rather coarse grained, juicy, with a sprightly, refreshing flavour. The tree is a strong grower, with a rather straggling, pendant habit. Ripens the last of July and the first of August. Jargonelle has long straggling, dangling branches. The blossoms are unusually large. [See also Windsor Pear]
(*Although called by Thompson the English Jargonelle, to distinguish it from (the one) under that name on the continent, there is no doubt that it was introduced originally from France. Antiquarians derive its name from Gergon, Italian, a corruption of Graecum, whence Merlet supposes it to be the Numidianum Graecum of Pliny, and the Graeculum of Macrobius. This, if correct, would prove it to be a very ancient sort.) -- A.J. Downing, The fruits and fruit trees of America, 1846.
Jargonelle. This pear has not been much cultivated in America, and almost always under false names; it is a tolerably large pear, of the size of a middling Beurree, with a neck somewhat curved, and diminishing to a small point, with a long stalk, fleshy towards its junction with the fruit - the skin is a light green with small cloudy spots, blended with russet, particularly near the stem - the cheek next the sun has frequently a brownish red colour - the flesh is juicy, highly flavoured, and sprightly, but liable to rot - it is like most summer pears, best when picked before fully ripe, and matured in the house; it is in perfection about the latter part of July. -- W. Coxe, A view of the cultivation of fruit trees, 1817.