l82 PERRY PEARS. 



he speaks much more favourably. " There is a Pear in Bosberry 

 and that neighbourhood, which yields the liquor richer the second 

 year than the first, and so, by my experience, very much amended 

 the third year." Another writer says : "It hath many of the 

 Masculine Qualities of Cyder. It is quick, strong, and heady, high 

 coloured, and retaineth a good vigour . . . many years before 

 it declineth ... As it approacheth to the Apple Cyder in 

 Colour, Strength and excellence in Durance, so the bloom cometh 

 forth of a damask Rose Colour, Hke Apples, not like other Pears." 

 — Herefordshire Orchards^ by J. Beale (1760). 



The juice is rich in colour and full in flavour, its chemical 

 analysis by Mr. G. H. With, F.R.A.S., F.C.S., Trinity College, 

 Dublin, gave the following results : — 



Density of fresh juice ... ... i'042i 



Ditto after 24 hours' exposure to air ... 1*0435 

 100 parts of juice by weight, yielded of 



Sugar ... ... ... ... io'67o 



Tannin, Mucilage, Salts, &c. ... ... 2763 



Water ... ... ... ... 86-567 



Mr. Knight, in his Pomona, says : "many thousand hogsheads 

 of Perry are made from this fruit, in a productive season ; but the 

 Perry is not so much approved by the present, as it was by the 

 original planters. It, however, sells well, whilst new, to the 

 merchants, who have probably some means of employing it with 

 which the public are not acquainted ; for I have never met with it 

 more than once, within the last twenty years, out of the district 

 in which it is made, and many Herefordshire planters have applied 

 to me in vain, for information respecting its disappearance. It 

 may be mingled in considerable quantity with strong new port, 

 without its taste becoming perceptible ; and, as it is comparatively 

 cheap, it possibly, sometimes, contributes one of the numerous 

 ingredients of that popular compound." 



Barland Perry does not bottle well. It curdles in the bottles. 

 It is usually drunk, in Herefordshire, as soon as made, when it is 

 considered very wholesome, and singulary beneficial in nephritic 

 complaints. 



