FRUIT GARDEN. 239 



The PEAR-TREE (Pyrus communis) was not un- 

 known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, and 

 grows spontaneously in the forests of Europe as 

 high as the 51st degree of north latitude. It differs 

 from the apple-tree in its greater tendency to a py- 

 ramidal form, in its being more slow in arriving at 

 a bearing or productive state,* and, lastly, in its 

 living to a much greater age.f 



The hardiness of the tree and the excellence of 

 its fruit have recommended it to general cultiva- 

 tion, as might be inferred from the very great num- 

 ber of its varieties. These, which in the time of 

 Pliny amounted to thirty, have since increased to 

 three hundred ; and, if Van Mons is to be credited, 

 to even double that number. From this long mus- 

 ter-roll of names we shall select a few, in their nat- 

 ural order of ripening, which stand highest in pub- 

 lic estimation for dessert and culinary uses, and 

 which may be made to supply our tables from 

 July to March : The Green Chissel, the Red Musca- 

 dine, the Avorat or Muscat Robine, the Royale d'Ete, 

 the Green Yair, the Beurre Rouge, the Messieur Jean, 

 the Crassan, the Colmar, the Vergoleuse, the Wondet 

 of Winter, the Poire d'Auch, the Brown Beurre, the 

 Muscat VAllemande, the Winter St. Germain, and the 

 Bon Chretien.^ 



As these varieties do not reproduce themselves 

 from the seed ; as the plants furnished by layers, 



opinion of the best horticulturists of that country, a more effi- 

 cient covering for the wounds of trees than the complicated and 

 much-vaunted mixture of Forsyth. 



* Generally from 15 to 18 years. Cours d' Agriculture, art. 

 Poirier. 



t Knight asserts, that the variety called in England the Bar- 

 land has existed from the beginning of the 17th century, and 

 conjectures that the Tanuton Squash, (an older variety) was first 

 known in the beginning of the 16th. 



| Du Hamel divides the varieties known in his day into two 

 classes, and considers them all as proceeding from the fecunda- 

 tion of the wild pear by the quince. 



$ See our note on orchards, p. 009. J. B. 



