CHAPTER II 

 THE PEAR {Pyrus communis: Malacece) 



THE Pyrus communis, or common pear, ranks close to 

 the apple in point of family, of abundance, lati- 

 tudinal range and general utility. The wild pear grows 

 throughout Europe and Asia, its branches thorny; its small, 

 hard fruit not considered edible. But from very early 

 times the bristling little wild tree or bushy shrub has 

 taken kindly to cultivation. The Greeks and Romans 

 seem to have availed themselves of this susceptibility and 

 the legions of the latter introduced the pear into Britain. 

 Whether grafted on quince, the mountain ash (the rowan) , 

 or wild pear stock, it flourished and now the vast majority 

 of pears do not deserve the epithet "insipid" even yet 

 not infrequently applied by the thoughtless who judge all 

 by the few exceptions or by those pears intended by na- 

 ture for cooking only. 



There are stores of riches in the grape sugar contained 

 in this fruit, in its proportion of iron, in its moderate per 

 cent, of malic, tannic, and tartaric acids, its albumen, lime, 

 pectin, mucilage, and its relatively large proportion of 

 potash and phosphoric acid and toothsome juiciness, the 

 quantity and pure quality of which last "distilled water," 

 should tempt one to make up for the water one should but 

 which one does not drink copiously enough in simple form. 

 Such general mildness of tonic properties agrees with al- 

 most any type of stomach and the laxative quality has a 

 properly stimulating effect upon the intestines. 



The pear may be used in almost as many forms and in 



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