16 THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 
English nurseries; and still later, 1849, the importation of a great number 
of new varieties from America. To Americans, it is particularly significant 
to note that the great progress of the pear in France is due to amateur 
tendance and not commercial success. 
THE PEAR IN BELGIUM 
Providence ordained Belgium to produce the modern pear. The 
evolution of the pear proceeded slowly, indeed, until its culture became 
common on the clayey and chalky soils in the cool, moist climate of Belgium, 
where flavor, aroma, texture, size, and color reach perfection. The pear 
was improved more in one century in Belgium than in all the centuries 
that had past. The part Providence played in endowing the Belgians 
with an ideal soil and climate for the pear, is but one of two causes of the 
results in improving the pear in this country. The other is that the Belgians, 
ever notable horticulturists, give the pear assiduous care, cultivate only 
the most approved varieties, and in breeding, aim ever at high quality, 
so that Belgian pear-growers, as well as an ordained soil and climate, must 
be given credit for the modern pear. 
The early history of the pear in Belgium follows step by step that of 
the pear in France. In the sixteenth century, botanists were numerous in 
the Low Countries, their zeal and activity showing forth in several of the 
best of the early herbals. These herbalists, however, gave scant attention 
to the pear. Dodoens, most noted Belgian botanist of the century, dis- 
missed the matter of varieties with the statement that the names change 
from village to village, and that it is therefore useless to give them. From 
this we may assume that a considerable number of pears were cultivated 
in Belgium at the time Dodoens wrote, about the middle of the sixteenth 
century. . 
Pear-breeding began in Belgium about 1730, when Nicolas Hardenpont, 
1705-1774, a priest in his native town of Mons, made a large sowing of 
pear seed with a view of obtaining new pears of superior quality. Time 
is fleeting in breeding tree fruits, and the Abbé Hardenpont waited nearly 
30 years before introducing his selected seedlings, and then, beginning in 
1758, he introduced one new variety after another until a dozen or more 
new pears were accredited to him. At least six of these are still grown in 
Europe, but only one, the Passe Colmar, is known in America. But before 
going further with the work of the Belgian breeders, it is necessary to take 
stock of what was on hand before their time. 
