1883.] BEAUTIES OF BBITISH TREES. 11 



number contained within the limits of the horizon, and were only 

 surprised that they did not place it at a thousand. 



And I cannot think that any one who has seen the thousand 

 islands of the St. Lawrence, and also taken passage from Wiborg to 

 Kuopio will hesitate for a moment to award the palm fur scenery of 

 this character to the glorious lakes of Finland. 



A. G. GUILLEMAIID. 



irOe*^ 



THE BE A UTIES OE BRITISH TREES. 



>HE PEAR {Tyribs communis), so well known in our orchards, 

 is by no means common in a wild state, and does not occur 

 in the extreme north of England, or in Scotland. No 

 doubt, it is often an escape from gardens, so that some botanists deny 

 its claim to rank as an indigenous British tree, dating its introduction 

 from the time of the Eoman occupation of our island. It is true 

 that we often lose sight of the fact that this occupation was a period 

 of more than four centuries, or a period as long as that from the 

 Yorkist and Lancastrian wars to our day ; so that, though the Eoman 

 conquerors to some extent assimilated the conquered Britons to 

 themselves without in any way de-nationalizing them, epicures as 

 they were in the times of the empire, they would hardly fail to 

 introduce into their northern colony such luscious fruits as suited its 

 climate. Nevertheless, one can w^ith difficulty persuade oneself 

 that all three of the varieties of wild pear recognized by botanists, 

 with fruits seldom two inches long, and so harsh in flavour as to be 

 as unpalateable as a crab-apple, are merely the results of rapid 

 degeneration. Nor is there any a priori reason against the native 

 character of the Pear. It is in its distribution confined to a limited 

 area in Europe, not occurring south of the Balkans, nor in the 

 northern parts of Eussia, Sweden and Norway. This agrees M'ith its 

 absence in Scotland ; whilst its presence in a wild state in Ireland, 

 which w^as never conquered l^y the Romans, is a difficulty in the way 

 of the theory of its introduction by them . 



It is but a small tree, sometimes a mere shrub, and more often 

 twenty feet high than forty ; but its rough bark, its upright growth, 

 and pyramidal shape, with pendulous boughs, give it a grace that 

 does not belong to the more straggling Apple-tree, though the rosy 

 blossoms of the latter may be more attractive than the wan blooms 

 of its congener. The branches of the Wild Pear, like those of the 

 Wild Plum, are inclined to be spinous ; and the leaves, which are 

 scattered alternately along the young shoots, are crowded together in 



