THE PEAE. 39 



culiarly adapted to that country, and far more highly 

 esteemed there than the sorts from which they were pro- 

 duced. The prince of American pears, a variety exhibit- 

 ing a rare combination of virtues, the richest and most 

 exquisitely flavoured of fruits being borne on the healthiest 

 and hardiest of trees, is the Seckel Pear, so general a 

 favourite that no garden is considered complete without 

 it. Small sized, dumpy in shape, and dull in colour, it; 

 has been called the ugliest of fruits, but if we may so far 

 adapt the old saying as to admit that " handsome is that 

 handsome tastes" no deficiencies in beauty will be per- 

 ceived when once the palate revels in the honied spicy 

 richness of the Seckel Pear, its flavour, quite peculiar to 

 itself, being generally pronounced to be unequalled by any 

 of its European kindred. 



The pear is peculiar in one respect, for, unlike nearly 

 all other fruits, its being fresh gathered is by no means 

 a recommendation, most varieties being much finer in 

 flavour if plucked early in the season and ripened in the 

 house than if suffered to mature on the tree ; and many 

 which appear very dry and second-rate when ripened in 

 the open air, not only keep good much longer but attain 

 first-rate quality when gathered while unripe and shut up 

 for weeks in-doors. They, however, require warmth, for 

 a pear which is of melting consistency after having been 

 exposed for some time to a temperature of 60 or 70 

 would prove quite tough if left until wanted in a cold 

 apartment. A German writer recommends packing pears , ( 

 between feather beds as a good mode of ripening them, ' 

 but this would hardly suit English notions, and the Guern- 

 sey method of exposing them to the sunshine on the 

 shelves of a greenhouse commends itself as seeming the 

 most natural and pleasant way of bringing the fruit to 

 healthy maturity. The chief use of pears is as a des- 

 sert fruit, but they are also stewed or baked, many of the 

 hard kinds being appropriated exclusively to this use ; but 

 most keeping pears, such as the Swan's Egg, &c., are 

 also excellent for baking, for when simply heaped into a 

 dish and put in the oven, their own juice forms a rich 

 syrup, as sweet as though much sugar had been used, and 



