366 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch. XXXI. 



single instance in which the perry made from fruits that were without it did 

 not become sour before the middle of the ensuing summer. It may, how 

 ever, be preserved by a mixture with the harsh juice of the crab." 



The pears anciently held in the most estimation were the " Squash" — so 

 called from the tenderness of its pulp, which is supposed to have furnished 

 more champaign to this country than was ever imported into it ; the " Huff- 

 cap," from the quantity of fixed air contained in its liquor ; the " Sack 

 pear," from its richness, and the " Red pear," from its colour; thougli of 

 the common sorts, the " Long-land" is, for the general use of the farmer, 

 perhaps the best of any. The table varieties of the finest species have, 

 however, been introduced from France, — as, for instance, the St. Germain 

 and the bon Chretien, — and some of a very superior kind are grown in the 

 Islands of Guernsey and Jersey ; but perhaps one of the most delicious sorts 

 in Europe is that known throughout the north of Spain as the Pera de 

 Mantega, or " Butter pear ;" and the species grown in the neighbourhood 

 of Guimaraens, in the north of Portugal, is equally celebrated. The pear- 

 tree flourishes in a greater variety of soils than the apple, and is more 

 productive : every tree, when nearly full-grown, being calculated, if in 

 moderately good ground, to produce an annual average of twenty gallons 

 of liquor. Many single trees have produced a hogshead in one season ; 

 and one extraordinary plant, growing on the glebe-land of Home Lacey, 

 in Herefordshire, has more than once filled fifteen hogsheads in the same 

 year*. 



" An acre of land, as commonly planted, is, indeed, capable of contain- 

 ing thirty pear-trees of usual dimensions, which, taken from new varieties 

 of fruit, would probably continue in a productive state beyond the conclu- 

 sion of a second century. The produce of an acre planted with apple- 

 trees will generally be found nearly one-third less than the same quantity 

 of ground planted with pear-trees would afford — with the exception of 

 the Holnier pear and the Oldfield ; but the apple-tree begins to bear at an 

 earlier age, and cider," it is said, " will ever be preferred to the juice of the 

 peart ." From this latter opinion many persons will however be found to 

 differ; for perry, when well made, is so similar to the white wines of the 

 grape, that it has been often mistaken, without any mixture, for efferves- 

 cing champaign J. The juice is, however, more delicate , than that of the 

 apple, and its management more precarious than that of cider ; which, 

 added to the smaller quantity grown, rendres its price considerably higher. 



The juice of both has been frequently boiled as soon as pressed, and 

 much of it has been passed off, when mixed with certain spices to give it 

 flavour, as different kinds of grape-wine. The main object of the process 

 is, however, to render the liquor stronger, by the evaporation of the watery 



* " When the branches of this tree in its original state became long and heavy, their 

 extreme ends successively fell to the ground, and taking fresh root at the several points 

 where they touched it, each branch became as a new tree, and in its turn produced 

 others in the same way. Nearly half an acre of land was thus covered upwards of 

 twenty years ago, and there is little difficulty in extending its progress." — Herefordshire 

 Survey, p. 90. ' f Ibid. 



I In the north of France the imitation of wine is thus made: — " Having heated 

 55 pounds of the juice of wild pears to 180 degrees, I added about a tenth of that 

 ■weight of dried grapes (raisins), and bunged up the whole in a cask. In a short time 

 the heat of the liquor had fallen to 77 degrees, when I drained out the raisins, bruised 

 them, returned them into the must, and closed the cask so as to allow the fermentation 

 to take place. A fortnight after, the wine, or perry, was racked into stone cans, and 

 after standing for three months in the cellar, it was reckoned by good judges equal 

 to the best white wine from grapes."— Booth on Wine-making, p. 122. 



