30 OUH COMMON FBTJITS. 



lutely shining ; and when both are full grown, the low 

 and spreading apple, often uncouthly irregular in form, 

 seldom attains more than half the height of the tall, up- 

 right, shapely pear, always inclining to the pyramidal 

 form. In spring-time the large, rosy, fragrant blossoms 

 of the former far outshine the scentless and colourless 

 bloom of its modest rival, though differing scarcely at all 

 botanically, the only distinction being that the five cen- 

 tral styles are in the one case united at the base, in the 

 other distinct ; while as regards the fruit, though the 

 tender melting consistency of the best dessert pears is 

 different indeed from, the crisp solidity of the apple, yet 

 in some varieties the one species could quite compete 

 with the other in hardness, and the characteristic dis- 

 tinction is therefore to be sought rather in the fact that 

 the former is generally convex at the base, while the 

 latter is always concave. Both fruits have woody threads 

 passing from the stalk through the midst of the flesh, 

 but in the pear these are less distinct, on account of the 

 gritty concretions commonly found at the core, and which 

 is caused by the woody matter becoming disseminated 

 near the centre in small masses. The cells of the core, 

 too, are pointed at both ends in the apple and only at one 

 end in the pear, and the latter fruit is more astringent, 

 less acid, and lighter than the former. 



The pear does not come into bearing so soon as the 

 apple, seedlings seldom producing any fruit before the 

 seventh or eighth year after planting ; but, though at- 

 tacked by the same insects and liable to the same dis- 

 eases, it is usually found to retain its health and vigour 

 far better, at least in Britain (for in France and America 

 this is said not to be the case), and reaches a much greater 

 age, the longevity of pear trees being often reckoned by 

 centuries. Usually the largest of our orchard trees, ifc 

 sometimes attains extraordinary dimensions, one being 

 recorded to have been 50 ft. high, to Lave had a trunk 

 18 ft. in circumference, and to have borne in good years 

 1-|- tons of fruit. Another noted pear-tree, seeming to 

 " take a leaf" from the Banyan of the East, increased to 

 an enormous size by sending down its branches to the 



