I am searching for an old pear variety called Jackman’s Melting or King Edward’s/ Roi Edouard which is mentioned in Edward Bunyard’s Handbook of Fruits (1920) and Robert Hogg’s Fruit Manual (1884). It is a large irregular cooking pear. So far I have not found it in any collection of pears. Hogg says it was grown by his friend the Reverend Kingsley of South Kilvington, near Thirsk, North Yorkshire. Can anyone point me in any direction. I have not yet contacted German groups as it was also called Konig Eduard, does anyone know of pear collections in Germany?
Nick Jackman
I asked some German Pomologists about this pear and someone has it in his collection. However, it has not had any fruit on it yet and is not finally confirmed. Nevertheless, he seems willing to get scions to you if you wish.
Fruit Forum can pass on the contact details
It does not appear to be in the main German collections. There is no mention in either the ECPGR-Pyrus or EURISCO databases. They cover quite a number of the collections around Europe as well as Germany.