420 ARBORETUM ET FRUT1CETUM BRITANNICUM. 



many are considered to be species. The fruit of the pear, in a wild state, is 

 seldom more than a fourth part of the size of even the most ordinary culti- 

 vated varieties ; and it is also austere, and unfit to eat. The plant is always 

 found on a dry soil, and more frequently on plains than on hills or moun- 

 tains ; and solitary, or in small groups, rather than in woods and forests. The 

 rate of growth is 2 or 3 feet a year for the first 6 or 7 years ; in 10 years 

 it will attain the height of 20 ft. in gardens ; and in 30 years the height of 

 50ft., with a trunk from 1 ft. to 18 in. in diameter ; which may be considered 

 its average dimensions in Britain. The tree is of great longevity. M. Bosc 

 says that he has seen trees that were considered to be more than 400 years 

 old ; and Mr. Knight believes that there are trees of the Teynton squash 

 (a famous perry pear) which existed as early as the beginning of the fifteenth 

 century. All writers on trees, from Theophrastus to the present day, agree 

 that, as the tree grows old, it increases in fruit fulness ; which is, ind*eed,the 

 case with most other trees. 



The wood of the wild pear is heavy, strong, compact, of a fine grain, and 

 slightly tinged with red. It weighs, green, 79 Ib. 5 oz. per cubic foot ; and, 

 when dry, from 49 Ib. to 53 Ib. This wood, in common with that of all the 

 .ffosacege, is liable to have its natural colour changed by steeping it in water ; 

 which ought, therefore, to be avoided when it is intended for particular pur- 

 poses. It is readily stained black, and then so closely resembles ebony as to be 

 scarcely distinguishable from it. When it can be obtained, it is much used by 

 turners and pattern-makers ; also for joiners' tools, and to make various 

 articles which are dyed black in imitation of ebony. As fuel, the wood of 

 the pear is excellent, producing a vivid and durable flame, accompanied by 

 .intense heat. It also makes excellent charcoal. The leaves, according to 

 Withering, afford a yellow dye, and may be used to give a green to blue cloths. 

 The great use of the pear tree, however, is as a fruit tree. The fruit is used 

 in the dessert, and for stewing and preserving. It is also occasionally used in 

 tarts, though very inferior for this purpose to apples. In France and Belgium, 

 the fruit is very generally dried in ovens, in which state it forms an article of 

 commerce both domestic and foreign, and will keep a year. It is also dried in 

 this manner in Russia; and, when stewed, is excellent, either as a substitute 

 for pies and puddings, or as forming part of the dessert. It is essential that 

 the soil should be dry ; and, where the tree is intended to grow large and be 

 productive, it ought to be deep and good. There are few trees better adapted 

 for being grown in hedgerows than the fastigiate-growing varieties of pear, 

 because their roots descend perpendicularly, and can, therefore, never inter- 

 fere with the plough ; and the heads, whether fastigiate or spreading, it is 

 known from experience, do very little injury to pasture If, therefore, fasti- 

 giate-growing trees, producing excellent sorts of fruit, were planted in all 

 hedges, a very great benefit would result to the proprietors and to the public. 

 The wild pear is continued by seed ; and the varieties cultivated for their 

 fruit are budded or grafted on stocks of different kinds. For the poorer 

 soils, and exposed situations, stocks of the wild pear of the given locality must, 

 doubtless, be the best, because they must be the hardiest : but it is found from 

 experience, and it is consistent with physiological principles, that, on good 

 sons, or where the pear is to be cultivated entirely as a fruit tree, both the 

 tree and the fruit will grow larger when the stock is a seedling pear of some 

 vigorous-growing variety. When dwarf trees are required, the pear is grafted 

 on the quince, the medlar, or the thorn ; or on the mountain ash, or some 

 other species of Sorbus. It grows remarkably well on the common haw- 

 thorn ; though, unless the graft be made under ground, it does not form a 

 very safe and durable tree ; because, as the scion increases faster in diameter 

 than the stock, it is liable to be blown off. When the graft, however, is 

 made close to the surface of the ground, or immediately under the surface, 

 the root swells in nearly the same proportion as the scion, and there is no 

 danger of the tree being blown down, or of its not being sufficiently long- 

 lived. 



