136 FRUIT AND ITS CULTIVATION. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

 The Pear. 



THE PEAH (Pyrus communis) belongs to the same genus 

 as the Apple, and is a native of this country, also of Tem- 

 perate Europe and Western Asia. It was known to the 

 ancient Greeks and Romans. Pliny, writing in the first 

 century of the Christian era, remarks that Pears were 

 then exceedingly numerous in Italy. It is more than pro- 

 bable, therefore, that the Romans introduced some of 

 them into this country. No doubt, too, the monks culti- 

 vated Pears extensively in their monastic gardens and 

 orchards. Pears were plentiful in the reign of King 

 Edward I. (thirteenth century). 



Gerarde, in the sixteenth century, says, to write of 

 Pears and Apples grown in his day would require a 

 volume. Parkinson also tells us that early in the next 

 century Pears were as numerous as Apples, and that new 

 varieties were constantly being introduced. He gives a 

 list of sorts, some of which are grown at the present day. 

 Among these the Windsor, Worster (Black Worcester), 

 Gergonell (Jargonelle), and the Warden are described as 

 being good sorts. Philip Miller, in his " Dictionary of 

 Gardening," published in 1731, enumerates 80 varieties. 

 A century later no less than 630 varieties were reputed to 

 be grown in England ; and at the Royal Horticultural 

 Society's Conference in 1855, 616 varieties were exhibited. 



The French gardeners were responsible for the intro- 

 duction of the majority of the varieties, as they paid a 

 good deal of attention to the culture an3 improvement 

 of the Pear. , Later the Belgian horticulturists interested 

 themselves keenly in the subject, and many of the good 

 sorts grown to-day are the outcome of their skill. Many 

 distinguished British pomologists, as the late Thomas 



