President Drouard has been on probation in the United States for nearly thirty years, but does not seem to be in great demand in any part of the country. In the pear growing region of New York to which it first came, it is scarcely known. The accompanying description shows that the fruits contain all the requisites of a good pear. The flesh is juicy, melting, saccharine, rich, and perfumed. The trees, however, are not satisfactory. They lack vigor, blight badly, and are niggardly in bearing. With these faults, there is no place for the variety in commercial plantations, but it may well be planted in home orchards and in collections. President Drouard is a chance seedling found in the suburbs of Pont-de-Ce, Maine-et-Loire, France, by M. Olivier, gardener at the Fruit-Garden at Angers. It was sent out by M. Louis Leroy of Angers and was described in 1886 as a new pear. It seems to have been introduced in this country by Charles A. Green, Rochester, New York. The American Pomological Society added the variety to its list of fruits under the name 'Drouard' in 1899. Tree of medium size, spreading, open-topped, usually hardy; branches reddish-brown, nearly covered with gray scarf-skin, marked with small lenticels; branchlets thick, long, greenish-brown mingled with red, dull, smooth, pubescent on the new growth, with numerous small, brownish, raised, conspicuous lenticels.
Leaf-buds small, short, pointed, plumb, free; leaf-scars with very prominent shoulders; Leaves 3 in. long, 1 3/4 in. wide, oval, thick, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margins glandless or with but few glands, entire or closely serrate; petiole glabrous, greenish, thick, 1 5/8 in. long, tinged red; stipules very short, tinged with pink. Flower-buds short, conical, very plump, free, arranged singly on short spurs; flowers 1 3/8 in. across, in dense clusters, 6 to 9 buds in a cluster; pedicels 1 1/8 in. long, lightly pubescent, greenish.
Fruit in season from late November to December; large, 3 1/2 in. long, 3 in. wide, oblong-obovate-pyriform, with unequal sides, uniform in shape; stem 1 in. long, very thick and woody; cavity obtuse, deep, irregular, furrowed, usually lipped; calyx large, open; lobes separated at the base, long, narrow, acuminate; basin deep, abrupt, usually smooth but sometimes gently furrowed; skin thick, tough, rough, dull; color clear lemon-yellow, with nettings and streaks of russet; dots numerous, small, russet, obscure; flesh tinged with yellow, very granluar at the core, tender and melting, buttery, juicy, aromatic, sweet; quality good. Core large, closed, axile, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds large, wide, long, plump, acute, occasionally abortive. -- U.P. Hedrick. 1921. The Pears of New York.
Very susceptible to Monolinia fructigena in Germany. -- Kock, 1911.