THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 37 



far fewer familiar names at the end of three centuries than Parkinson Hsts 

 of apples, pliims, cherries, or even the peach in Europe. Dropping old 

 varieties can only be interpreted as improvement in the pear. The pear, 

 it seems certain, has been more profoundly changed for the better through 

 the touch of man's hand than the other fruits named since Parkinson wrote. 

 For this, pomology has the Belgians to thank. 



Pear culture seems to have reached its height, if it be judged by its 

 literature and by the number of varieties cultivated, early in the nineteenth 

 century. The Belgians' passion for pears was no doubt the chief stimulus, 

 for the Belgian breeders spread their offerings with generous hand throughout 

 England. In 1826, the catalog of the Horticultural Society of London 

 listed 622 pears. Pomology in England was then, and is now as compared 

 with America, an art of the leisure classes. This has been an advantage 

 and a disadvantage to the pear in England. The advantage is that when 

 fruit is grown for pleasure many varieties are grown to add novelty to 

 luxury so that the fruit is thereby more rapidly improved and its culture 

 brought to greater perfection. The disadvantage is that those who grow 

 fruit for market find a poorer market for their wares since those who should 

 be their best customers supply their own wants. For the reason, therefore, 

 that the English take delight in growing their own fruit, pear-growing is 

 not the great commercial enterprise that it is in America. 



Pear-growing in England differs from that of America in another 

 respect. The pear-tree in England is built as much as planted. In many 

 plantations each tree has a precise architectural form. The plants are 

 trained into fans, cordons, espaliers and u-forms on walls; or as pyramids, 

 globes, or vases in the open; sometimes in fantastic shapes to suit the fancy 

 of the grower; and now and then as a hedge or border. The undisciplined 

 standards of America are hardly known, though what the English call a 

 standard seems to be increasing. This difference in training is due in part 

 to the necessity of meeting different climatic conditions, and in part to 

 greater devotion on the Englishman's part to the art of gardening — the 

 use of the shears, the knife, and the billhook give the gardener greater 

 scope. The pear-tree in England is often decorative as well as useful. 



THE PEAR IN AMERICA 



The pear is a popular fruit in America, but its cultiu"e as a commercial 

 product is limited to a few favored localities. From the earliest records 

 of fruit-growing in America the pear has been grown less than the apple 



