408 THE PEAR. 



The pear tree is not a native of North America, but was in- 

 troduced from the other continent. In Europe, Western Asia, 

 and China, it grows wild, in company with the apple, in hedges 

 and woody wastes. In its wild state, it is hardier and longer 

 lived than the apple, making a taller and more pyramidal head, 

 and becoming thicker in its trunk. There are trees on record 

 abroad, of great size and age for fruit trees. M. Bosc mentions 

 several which are known to be near 400 years old. There is a 

 very extraordinary tree in Holme Lacy, Herefordshire, England 

 a perry pear from which were made more than once, 15 

 hogsheads of perry in a single year. In 1805 it covered more 

 than half an acre of land, the branches bending down and 

 taking root, and, in turn, producing others in the same way. 

 London, in his recent work on trees, says that it is still in fine 

 health, though reduced in size. 



One of the most remarkable pear trees in this country, is 

 growing in Illinois, about ten miles north of Yincennes. It is 

 not believed to be more than forty years old, having been plant- 

 ed by Mrs. Ockletree. The girth of its trunk one foot above 

 the ground, is ten feet, and at nine feet from the ground, six 

 and a half feet ; and its branches extend over an area sixty-nine 

 feet in diameter. In 1834 it yielded 184 bushels of pears, in 

 1840 it yielded 140 bushels. It is enormously productive al- 

 ways ; the fruit is pretty large, ripening in early autumn, and is 

 of tolerable flavour.* Another famous specimen, perhaps the 

 oldest in the country, is the Stuyvesant Pear tree, originally 

 planted by the old governor of the Dutch colony of New-York, 

 more than two hundred years ago, and still standing, in fine 

 vigour, on what was once his farm, but is now the upper 

 part of the city, quite thickly covered with houses. The fruit 

 is a pleasant summer pear, somewhat like a Summer Bon- 

 chretien. 



USES. The great value of the pear is as a dessert fruit. 

 Next to this, it is highly esteemed for baking, stewing, preserv- 

 ing and marmalades. In France and Belgium the fruit is very 

 generally dried in ovens, or much in the same way as we do the 

 apple, when it is quite an important article of food. 



Dessert pears should have a melting, soft texture, and a suga- 

 ry, aromatic juice. Kitchen pears, for baking or stewing, should 

 be large, with firm and crisp flesh, moderately juicy. 



The juice of the pear, fermented, is called Perry. This is 

 made precisely in the same way as cider, and it is richer, and 

 more esteemed by many persons. In the midland counties of 

 England, and in various parts of France and Germany, what are 

 called perry pears very hardy productive sorts, having an aus- 

 tere juice are largely cultivated for this purpose. In severa 1 



* Rev. H. "W. Beecher, in Hovey's Magazine. 



