OUR COMMON FRUIT TREES 



dessert. In fact, many of the best varieties were 

 originated in France and Belgium, especially in 

 gardens attached to religious establishments of which 

 Louvain was among the chief, and were introduced 

 into general cultivation after the battle of Waterloo. 

 The Pear is less hardy than the Apple, and in Eng- 

 land the better sorts are grown against walls and on 

 sheltered trellises. The Common Pear is mentioned 

 by the earliest writers as common in Syria and 

 Greece, and from the latter country it appears to 

 have been brought to Italy. The Romans intro- 

 duced it into France and Britain, and it was brought 

 to this country by the early settlers. Theophras- 

 tus speaks of the productiveness of the old Pear- 

 tree, and Virgil mentions some pears which he re- 

 ceived from Cato. Pliny in his fifteenth book describes 

 the varieties in cultivation in his time as being exceed- 

 ingly numerous. In Gerard's time the Katherine 

 Pear, a small, red, early sort, was considered the best, 

 and it remained a market variety in England down to 

 about 1840. 



The parent of our pears is undoubtedly of Eur- 

 asian origin, being found over a considerable portion 

 of Europe and eastward to the Caucasus and northern 

 Persia, but it is difficult to tell between naturalized 

 escapes from cultivation and true wildlings. A 

 variety (cordata) sometimes regarded as a distinct 



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