which prevents the fruit setting, or if 

 they do set, they are crippled and injured 

 in growth and crack as they ripen. The 

 most serious, however, is the fire blight, 

 which occurs during moist seasons. This 

 is a distinctively American disease, and 

 is caused by microbes which enter the 

 growing points and gradually work down 

 the stem, killing the tissues and causing 

 the leaves to die. 



Of the more than seven hundred va- 

 rieties of Pear trees, some attain to a 

 large size and become hoary with age. A 

 tree in the village of Garmouth, New 

 Brunswick, is over one hundred and fifty 

 years old. Its trunk measures twelve feet 

 in circumference and reaches to a height 

 of forty feet. In one year it produced 

 twenty-eight thousand six hundred Pears. 

 Another tree on the turnpike, between 

 Worcester and Tenbury, England, has a 

 trunk fourteen feet in circumference and 

 fifty-six feet in height. There are Pear 

 trees in France which are said to be more 

 than four hundred years old, and a speci- 

 men in the parish of Holm-Lacey, Here- 

 fordshire, has yielded fifteen hogsheads 

 of perry or pear cider in one year. Ad- 

 vanced age produces a strong, compact 

 wood, which is much used in making 

 tools, statuary and some kinds of cabinet 

 work. It takes an excellent ebony finish. 



It would be strange if trees of such 

 value and age had not been made the sub- 

 ject of myth and story, and while the 

 Pear cannot compete with the apple as a 

 myth producer, yet it has done well when 

 we consider the herpetological record of 

 its sister, the apple, which started in by 

 making trouble for our first parents. 



In the first place, the Pear is a fruit of 

 good omen, while the plum and cherry 

 are harbingers of misfortune. To dream 

 of a ripe Pear insures the speedy attain- 

 ment of great riches, and it was doubtless 

 for either or both of these reasons that 



the Roman bride partook of the fruit. 

 Pliny does not state whether or not this 

 bridal Pear was boiled or roasted. 



The northern mythology describes a 

 Pear, whose odor caused the writing of 

 inspired verse, while Iduna jealously 

 guarded certain Pears which, by a touch, 

 restored to the aged gods the full vigor 

 of youth. 



It is stated on the excellent authority 

 of a mediaeval English writer that in 

 certain parts of Greece there grew "trees 

 which bore small Pears of a white color 

 which contain little living creatures; 

 which shells in time of maturity do open, 

 and out of these do grow those little liv- 

 ing things which, falling into the water, 

 do become fowls, which we call barna- 

 cles." 



Pear cider, commonly known as perry, 

 when too freely imbibed, becomes an in- 

 toxicant. This was evidenced during the 

 ninth year of the Peloponnesian war. 

 It appears that the Priestess Chrysis par- 

 took of the pear juice for so long a 

 season that she placed torches in too close 

 proximity to the garlands adorning the 

 temple of Juno at Argus, and so reduced 

 the sacred structure to ashes. A series of 

 thirteen paintings in the National Club at 

 Perth illustrates the Hungarian myth of 

 the seasons. Illona, Queen of Summer, 

 is held in thrall by the Queen of Winter. 

 Illona plants a Pear tree — to her a sym- 

 bol of freedom — in the territory of 

 Argeles, the Earth King, and commits its 

 keeping to the King of the Sun. Winter 

 at once sets a guard around the tree, but 

 the genius of the winds wafts poppy seeds 

 over the eyes of the watchers, and while 

 they sleep the golden fruit is borne away 

 in a swan chariot. The paintings repre- 

 sent the victory of the Sun god, the union 

 of Illona and Argeles, summer and earth 

 and the coming of the harvest of the 

 fruits. Charles S. Raddin. 



231 



