420 ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 
many are considered to be species. The fruit of the pear, in a wild state, is 
seldom more than a fourth part of the size of even the most ordinary culti- 
vated varieties ; and it is also austere, and unfit to eat. The plant is always 
found on a dry soil, and more frequently on plains than on hills or moun- 
tains ; and solitary, or in small groups, rather than in woods and forests. The 
rate of growth is 2 or 3feet a year for the first 6 or 7 years; in 10 years 
it will attain the height of 20 ft. in gardens; and in 30 years the height of 
50ft., with a trunk from 1 ft. to 18in. in diameter ; which may be considered 
its average dimensions in Britain. The tree is of great longevity. M. Bosc 
says that he has seen trees that were considered to be more than 400 years 
old; and Mr. Knight believes that there are trees of the Teynton squash 
(a famous perry pear) which existed as early as the beginning of the fifteenth 
century. All writers on trees, from Theophrastus to the present day, agree 
that, as the tree grows old, it increases in fruitfulness ; which is, indeed, the 
case with most other trees. 
The wood of the wild pear is heavy, strong, compact, of a fine grain, and 
slightly tinged with red. It weighs, green, 79 Ib. 5 oz. per cubic foot ; and, 
when dry, from 49 1b. to 53 lb. This wood, in common with that of all the 
Rosacez, is liable to have its natural colour changed by steeping it in water ; 
which ought, therefore, to be avoided when it is intended for particular pur- 
poses. It is readily stained black, and then so closely resembles ebony as to be 
scarcely distinguishable from it. When it can be obtained, it is much used by 
turners and pattern-makers ; also for joiners’ tools, and to make various 
articles which are dyed black in imitation of ebony. As fuel, the wood of 
the pear is excellent, producing a vivid and durable flame, accompanied by 
intense heat. It also makes excellent charcoal. The leaves, according to 
Withering, afford a yellow dye, and may be used to give a green to blue cloths, 
The great use of the pear tree, however, is as a fruit tree. The fruit is used 
in the dessert, and for stewing and preserving. It is also occasionally used in 
tarts, though very inferior for this purpose to apples. In France and Belgium, 
the fruit is very generally dried in ovens, in which state it forms an article of 
commerce both domestic and foreign, and will keep a year. It is also dried in 
this manner in Russia; and, when stewed, is excellent, either as a substitute 
for pies and puddings, or as forming part of the dessert. It is essential that 
the soil should be dry ; and, where the tree is intended to grow large and be 
productive, it ought to be deep and good. There are few trees better adapted 
for being grown in hedgerows than the fastigiate-growing varieties of pear, 
because their roots descend perpendicularly, and can, therefore, never inter- 
fere with the plough ; and the heads, whether fastigiate or spreading, it is 
known from experience, do very little injury to pasture. If, therefore, fasti- 
giate-growing trees, producing excellent sorts of fruit, were planted in all 
hedges, a very great benefit would result to the proprietors and to the public. 
The wild pear is continued by seed; and the varieties cultivated for their 
fruit are budded or grafted on stocks of different kinds. For the poorer 
soils, and exposed situations, stocks of the wild pear of the given locality must, 
doubtless, be the best, because they must be the hardiest: but it is found from 
cae and it is consistent with physiological principles, that, on good 
soils, or where the pear is to be cultivated entirely as a fruit tree, both the 
tree and the fruit will grow larger when the stock is a seedling pear of some 
vigorous-growing variety. When dwarf trees are required, the pear is grafted 
on the quince, the medlar, or the thorn; or on the mountain ash, or some 
other species of Sérbus. It grows remarkably well on the common haw- 
thorn; though, unless the graft be made under ground, it does not form a 
very safe and durable tree ; because, as the scion increases faster in diameter 
than the stock, it is liable to be blown off. When the graft, however, is 
made close to the surface of the ground. or immediately under the surface, 
the root swells in nearly the same proportion as the scion, and there is no 
danger of the tree being blown down, or of its not being sufficiently long- 
lived. 
