2 THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 
its habitat in Korea; another is to be found in the western Himalayas; 
while the remainder, some eight or ten species, are found westward from 
Turkestan, through Persia and Asia Minor into southern and western 
Europe and northern Africa. From these statements as to habitats it is 
seen that pears grow wild over a very extended area and under quite varied 
conditions; therefore, it would be expected that the several species are 
quite distinct, differing chiefly, however, from a horticultural point of view, 
in the fruits. 
But three of these wild species are now under common cultivation, 
though it is possible that through hybridization the blood of one or two 
more are to be found in cultivated varieties. Several others have horti- 
cultural possibilities either for their fruit, as means through which new 
characters may be introduced into cultivated pears, or as stocks upon 
which to grow orchard varieties. The three species of chief horticultural 
importance are Pyrus communis Linn., P. nivalis Jacq., and P. serotina 
Rehd. 
The pear of common cultivation in ancient and modern orchards is 
Pyrus communis, native of southern Europe and Asia as far east as Kashmir. 
The species is now to be found naturalized in forests and byways of northern 
Europe, as it is in parts of America, so that it is impossible to tell precisely 
what its ancient habitat was. While most often to be found in mountainous 
regions in the great area which it inhabits, wild pears are common enough 
in the forests of Europe and western Asia so that it is probable that most 
of the early inhabitants of this part of the Old World enlivened their fare, 
obtained with the spear or the bow, with ready-made food from the pear. 
The species runs into at least three botanical forms, a dozen or more 
horticultural divisions and between two and three thousand orchard varieties. 
Pyrus nivalis, the Snow pear, is a small tree native of southern Europe, 
more particularly of Austria and northern Italy, from which region it has 
spread in modern times as an escape from cultivation into neighboring 
countries. It is called Snow pear because the fruits are not fit to eat until 
after snow falls. The French call it the ‘‘Sage-leaved pear’ (Poirier 
sauger), from the fact that the under side of the leaves is covered with 
down so that the leaf resembles that of garden sage. The Snow pear is 
cultivated in southern Europe, particularly in France, for the making of 
perry for which purpose several varieties are grown. Probably the Greeks 
and Romans used fruit of this species for perry so that it may be said to 
have had attention from man, if not care under cultivation, from the earliest 
