318 THE PEAR. 



troduced from the other continent. In Europe, Western Asia, 

 and China, it grows wild, in company with the apple, in hedges 

 and woody wastes. In its wild state, it is hardier and longer- 

 lived than the apple, making a taller and more pyramidal head, 

 and becoming thicker in its trunk. There are trees on record 

 abroad, of great size and age for fruit trees. M. Bosc mentions 

 several which are known to be near 400 years old. There is a 

 very extraordinary tree in Home Lacy, Herefordshire, Eng- 

 land a perry pear from which were made more than once, 

 15 hogsheads of perry in a single year. In 1805 it covered 

 more than half an acre of land, the branches bending down and 

 taking root, and, in turn, producing others in the same way. 

 Loudon, in his recent work on trees, says that it is still in fine 

 health, though reduced in size. 



One of the most remarkable pear trees in this country, is 

 growing in Illinois, about ten miles north of Vincennes. It is 

 not believed to be more than forty years old, having been plant- 

 ed by Mrs. Ockletree. The girth of its trunk one foot above 

 the ground, is ten feet, and at nine feet from the ground, six and 

 a half feet ; and its branches extend over an area sixty-nine 

 feet in diameter. In 1834 it yielded 184 bushels of pears, in 

 1840 it yielded 140 bushels. It is enormously productive al- 

 ways ; the fruit is pretty large, ripening in early autumn, and 

 is of tolerable flavour.* Another famous specimen, perhaps 

 the oldest in the country, is the Stuyvesant Pear tree, originally 

 planted by the old governor of the Dutch colony of New- York, 

 more than two hundred years ago, and still standing, in fine 

 vigour, on what was once his farm, but is now the upper part of 

 the city, quite thickly covered with houses. The fruit is a plea- 

 sant summer pear, somewhat like a Summer Bonchretien. 



USES. The great value of the pear is as a dessert fruit. 

 Next to this, it is highly esteemed for baking, stewing, preserv- 

 ing and marmalades. In France and Belgium the fruit is very 

 generally dried in ovens, or much in the same way as we do the 

 apple, when it is quite an important article of food. 



Dessert pears should have a melting, soft texture, and a 

 sugary, aromatic juice. Kitchen pears, for baking or stewing, 

 should be large, with firm and crisp flesh, moderately juicy. 



The juice of the pear, fermented, is called Perry. This 

 is made precisely in the same way as cider, and it is richer, 

 and more esteemed by many persons. In the midland coun- 

 ties of England, and in various parts of France and Germany, 

 what are called perry pears very hardy productive sorts, hav- 

 ing an austere juice are largely cultivated for this purpose. 

 In several places in our eastern states, we understand, perry 

 is now annually made in considerable quantities. The fruit 



* Rev. H. W. Beecher, in Hovey' Magazine. 



