2 THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 



its habitat in Korea; another is to be found in the western Himalayas; 

 while the remainder, some eight or ten species, are found westward from 

 Turkestan, through Persia and Asia Minor into southern and western 

 Europe and northern Africa. From these statements as to habitats it is 

 seen that pears grow wild over a very extended area and under quite varied 

 conditions; therefore, it would be expected that the several species are 

 quite distinct, differing chiefly, however, from a horticultural point of view, 

 in the fruits. 



But three of these wild species are now under common cultivation, 

 though it is possible that through hybridization the blood of one or two 

 more are to be found in cultivated varieties. Several others have horti- 

 cultural possibilities either for their fruit, as means through which new 

 characters may be introduced into cultivated pears, or as stocks upon 

 which to grow orchard varieties. The three species of chief horticultural 

 importance are Pyrus communis Linn., P. nivalis Jacq., and P. serotina 

 Rehd. 



The pear of common cultivation in ancient and modem orchards is 

 Pyrus commimis, native of southern Europe and Asia as far east as Kashmir. 

 The species is now to be found naturalized in forests and byways of northern 

 Europe, as it is in parts of America, so that it is impossible to tell precisely 

 what its ancient habitat was. While most often to be found in mountainous 

 regions in the great area which it inhabits, wild pears are common enough 

 in the forests of Europe and western Asia so that it is probable that most 

 of the early inhabitants of this part of the Old World enlivened their fare, 

 obtained with the spear or the bow, with ready-made food from the pear. 

 The species runs into at least three botanical forms, a dozen or more 

 horticultural divisions and between two and three thousand orchard varieties. 



Pyrtis nivalis, the Snow pear, is a small tree native of southern Europe, 

 more particularly of Austria and northern Italy, from which region it has 

 spread in modem times as an escape from cultivation into neighboring 

 countries. It is called Snow pear because the fruits are not fit to eat until 

 after snow falls. The French call it the "Sage-leaved pear" {P airier 

 sauger), from the fact that the under side of the leaves is covered with 

 down so that the leaf resembles that of garden sage. The Snow pear is 

 cultivated in southern Europe, particularly in France, for the making of 

 perry for which purpose several varieties are grown. Probably the Greeks 

 and Romans used fruit of this species for perry so that it may be said to 

 have had attention from man, if not care under cultivation, from the earliest 



