THE PEAE. 



Py'rus commit nit L. 



Spring, with the bursting of green leaf-buds and the 

 joyous opening of many blossoms, is essentially the 

 season of hope. The colours of summer have not yet 

 come : many of the trees put forth their blossoms, as 

 it were, prematurely upon leafless boughs, and those 

 blossoms are often of a chilly whiteness that might 

 be expected to depress the spirits so recently emanci- 

 pated from the dull thraldom of winter frosts ; but 

 the promise of verdure and warmer colour is here, 

 and man refuses to be depressed. 



The Pear puts forth its snowy blossoms at a date 

 when snow can hardly be assumed to be a thing 

 entirely of the past, so that the trees massed in 

 orchards suggest lingering snowdrifts ; but before the 

 blossoms fall the green leaves have generally made 

 their appearance among them, and the likeness to 

 snowdrifts is gone. 



The Pear (Pyrus communis L.), so well known in 

 our orchards, is by no means common in a wild state, 

 and does not occur in the extreme North of England 

 or in Scotland. No doubt it is in many cases an 

 escape from gardens, its seeds being often swallowed 

 and dropped by fruit-eating birds, so that some 

 botanists deny its claim to rank as an indigenous 

 British tree, and date its introduction from the time 

 of the Roman occupation of our island. Nevertheless, 

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