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Subsect. 2. Pear.— Fi/rus commùnis L. (Eng. Bot. 1784.); Icos. Di-Pentag. D. and
Ro5Gce<e J. Poirier, Fr. ; Birnbaum, Ger. ; Peer, Dutch ; Pero, Ital. ; and Pera, Span.
4336. The pear ti'ee, in its wild state, is a thorny tree, with upright branches, tending
to the pyi-amidal form, in which it differs materially from the apple tree. The twigs or
spray hang down ; the leaves are elliptical, obtuse, serrated ; the floivers in terminating
villose corymbs, produced from wood of tho preceding year, or from buds gradually
formed on that of several years’ growth, on the extremities of very short protruding
shoots called, technically, spurs. It is found in a wild state in England, and abundantly
in France and Germany, as well as other parts of Europe, not excepting Russia,
as far north as lat. 51°. It grows in almost any soil. The cultivated free differs from
the apple, not only in having a tendency to the pyramidal form, but also in being more
apt to send down tap-roofr ; in being, as a seedling plant, longer (generally from fifteen
to eighteen years) in coming into hearing ; and when on its own root, or grafted on a
wild pear-stock, of being much longer lived In a dry soil it will exist for centuries, and
still keep its health, productiveness, and vigour. Our remarks on the histoiy of the
apple will apply almost without exception to the pear. The Romans, in Pliny’s time,
possessed thfrty-six varieties, and the fi'uit is still, as formerly, more valued, both iu Italy
and France, than the apple.
4337. Use. As a dessert fniit tho peai' is much esteemed, and generally preferred to
the apple. It is also used for baking, compotes, marmalade, &c. Pared and dried in the
oven, the fiaiit will keep several years, either with or without sugai*. This mode of
preparing the pear is about as common in France as tho making of apple-pies is in this
countiy ; and what is favourable to tho practice is, that bad eating sorts answer best for
drying. Bosc (Nouveau Cours d’Agric., in loco) describes two methods of drying pears
for preservation ; and adds, that he has tried them after three years’ keeping, and found
them still very good. Perry, the poiré of the French, is made from the fermented juice
in the manner of cider, and tho best sorts are said by Withering to be little inferior to
wine. The wood of the pear tree is light, smooth, and compact, and is used by turners,
and to make joiner’s tools, picture-frames to be dyed black, &c. The leaves wiil produce
a yellow dye, and may be used to give a green to blue cloths.
4338.^ Criterion o f a good pear. Dessert pears are characterised by a sugary aromatic
juice, with the pulp soft and sub-liquid, or melting, as in the beurrés, or butter-pears ;
or of a firm and crisp consistence, or breaking, as in the winter bergamots. Kitchen
pears should be of large size, with the flesh firm, neither breaking nor melting, and
rather austere thau sweet, as the wai'dens. Perry pears may be either large or small ;
but the more austere the taste, the better will be the liquor. Excellent perry is made
from the wild pear.
4339. Varieties. Tusser, in 1573, in his list of fruits, mentions “ peeres of all sorts.”
Parkinson enumerates sixty-four varieties ; Mortimer, in 1708, has many sorts; and
Miller has selected eighty sorts, and described them from Tournefort. In France, the
varieties of tlie pear are much more numerous than even the vai'ieties of the apple.
The catalogue of the Luxemburg nurseiy at Paris contained, in the beginning of the present
century, 189 select sorts.. The British nursery lists at the present time contain from
300 to 400 names, among which, it may be observed, the number of good sorts are fewer
ill proportion than in the apple lists. In the present very imperfect state of the nomen-
clatui-e of fruits, we are most happy in being able to lay before our readers a descriptive
catalogue, containing a selection of all the best varieties, prepared for us by Mr. Thompson
of the Horticultural Society’s Garden, who has examined and compared many
hundred sorts. They are an’anged as dessert, kitchen, and peiry pears, and the kinds in
each division are set doivn in the order of their ripening.
4340. Sorts o f pears to be recommended where the space is very limited; or fo r cottage
gardens. Jargonelle,-Marie Louise, BeuiTe de Capiaumont, Beurré Diel, Glout morceau,
Knight’s monarch, Easter bemaé, Beuiaé de ranz. These are all of first-rate excellence^
deserving the protection of walls where such can he afforded, but, with the exception of
the jargonelle, they are all hardy enough for standards, in any climate tolerably good,
as regards the growth of this class of fruits. It would be difficult to select fewer soi*ts
than the above, because some might prefer a sort which would come fit for use in autumn ;
others in winter or spring. Several sorts may, however, be worked on the same tree,
where ¿ e space will not admit of one of each being planted. For instance, the Beurré
de Capiaumont is such a great and constant bearer (nothing to the contrary has been
observed of it since it first began to bear in this country), that a whole tree would be
more than sufficient for a small demand ; it might therefore be pai'tly worked with
Glout morceau, or Easter beurré. It may be farther remarked, that the Beurré Diel
requires to have the branches kept rather thin, as otherwise its large and abundant
foliage becomes too dense for the admission of sun and air to the fruit. (See Gai-d,
Mag., vol. ii. p. 253. ; and vol. iv. p. 107. and p. 245.)
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