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.