THE SERVICE-TREE 07 



not slower in growth than most species of the genus 

 Pyrus. Its shoots are smooth and gummy, its leaves 

 are pinnate, like those of the Rowan, but larger and 

 with more sharply serrate leaflets, which, however, aro 

 free from all serration along the basal third of their 

 margins. There are from eleven to nineteen of these 

 leaflets and they are downy beneath when young, but 

 become smooth and paler later on. The individual 

 blossoms are as large as those of the Hawthorn, and 

 cream-coloured, and have always five styles. Of the 

 fruit there are two forms, pear-shaped (var. jyyriform'is), 

 the more common, and apple-shaped (var. maliform'is). 

 In France this species lives to a great age perhaps 

 upwards of a thousand years; its wood^is harder and 

 heavier than that of any other native tree. It is a red- 

 dish fawn colour, slightly veined, fine-grained, and sus- 

 ceptible of a high polish ; but is chiefly in request for 

 the teeth of mill-wheels, the screws of presses, mathe- 

 matical rulers, turnery and coarse engraving. The 

 fruit, which is known as " cormes " and is sometimes 

 upwards of an inch long, is reddish, and is spotted with 

 brown cork-warts, from which the English names 

 " Chequers " and " Chess-apples " are applied to its 

 allied species, P. torminalis and P. Aria. When 

 unripe, this fruit is extremely austere, producing a 

 very painful and lasting irritation in the throat ; but, 

 after it has been exposed to frost or has been kept for 

 some time, it undergoes the fermentative process 

 known as " bletting," familiar in the case of the 

 allied Medlar. As m this process the fruit not only 

 becomes soft and eatable but also turns to a brown 

 colour, it has been mistakenly supposed to be rotten. 



