THE POME-FRUITS 117 



^ows spontaneously as an escape from orchards in nearly all 

 regions where the pear is generally cultivated, but sparingly in 

 North America, because kept down by pear-blight. 



The common pear has been cultivated from time immemorial. 

 The ancient Greeks had several varieties; Pliny, the Roman 

 naturalist, describes forty-one. The pear is mentioned in 

 France, Germany, and Great Britain almost with the first 

 written records of agriculture, and it came to America with the 

 earliest permanent settlers in the eastern states. The French 

 brought the pear to Canada and Michigan, and pear-trees said 

 to be two hundred years old are yet standing about mission sites 

 of the French along the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes to 

 Detroit, Michigan. 



Pear-growing began in America as an avocation for men of 

 means. Its period of gi^eatest activity was early in the nine- 

 teenth century and passed before the close of the century, during 

 most of which time the pear w^as the center of interest in 

 American fruit circles. In the first half of the last century many 

 new varieties of pears w^ere introduced from Europe, and a con- 

 siderable number originated on this side of the Atlantic. In 

 1859, T. W. Field in his Pear Culture gave a list of 854 pears, 

 of which 686 originated in Europe and 168 in America. 



For many years past, however, the pear, in comparison with 

 the apple, peach, plum, or cherry, has been losing in popularity. 

 There are now few good collections in the country; nurserymen 

 list fewer and fewer varieties ; and the pear is less and less eaten 

 as a dessert fruit, the product being largely used for canning. 

 Pear-culture is failing in America because the pear is not well 

 adapted to the American climate, cultural and commercial condi- 

 tions make it more difficult to grow and sell than other fruits, 

 and the formidable disease, blight, remains unchecked by any 

 of the remedies now in use. 



170. Cultivation of the pear in North America. — The pear is 

 cultivated in the temperate regions of the world wherever agri- 

 culture is an industry. In North America, pears thrive par- 

 ticularly well only in the states north of IMaryland, west to 

 Wisconsin and on the Pacific. The climate of the southern 

 states is uncongenial to this fruit, being too hot, while that of 

 the Mississippi Valley and Great Plains is too hot in the summer 



