Raised in the mid 19th century by M. Boisbunel of Rouen, France from Forunee d'Angers open pollinated. First fruited in 1861. Named after Olivier de Serres, a famous agronomist of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. This variety is rated in Europe as a valuable late winter pear, and the pomological writers of the last century give it all of the virtues on this side of the Atlantic ascribed to it by Europeans. A closer study of the variety in America shows that it does not possess these merits. The quality of the pear as grown here is below that of several other sorts of its season; the flesh is coarse and gritty and the flavor mediocre. The tree -characters are good, but are not sufficiently good to offset the faults of the fruits