THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 37 
far fewer familiar names at the end of three centuries than Parkinson lists 
of apples, plums, cherries, or even the peach in Europe. Dropping old 
varieties can only be interpreted as improvement in the pear. The pear, 
it seems certain, has been more profoundly changed for the better through 
the touch of man’s hand than the other fruits named since Parkinson wrote. 
For this, pomology has the Belgians to thank. 
Pear culture seems to have reached its height, if it be judged by its 
literature and by the number of varieties cultivated, early in the nineteenth 
century. The Belgians’ passion for pears was no doubt the chief stimulus, 
for the Belgian breeders spread their offerings with generous hand throughout 
England. In 1826, the catalog of the Horticultural Society of London 
listed 622 pears. Pomology in England was then, and is now as compared 
with America, an art of the leisure classes. This has been an advantage 
and a disadvantage to the pear in England. The advantage is that when 
fruit is grown for pleasure many varieties are grown to add novelty to 
luxury so that the fruit is thereby more rapidly improved and its culture 
brought to greater perfection. The disadvantage is that those who grow 
fruit for market find a poorer market for their wares since those who should 
be their best customers supply their own wants. For the reason, therefore, 
that the English take delight in growing their own fruit, pear-growing is 
not the great commercial enterprise that it is in America. 
Pear-growing in England differs from that of America in another 
respect. The pear-tree in England is built as much as planted. In many 
plantations each tree has a precise architectural form. The plants are 
trained into fans, cordons, espaliers and. u-forms on walls; or as pyramids, 
globes, or vases in the open; sometimes in fantastic shapes to suit the fancy 
of the grower; and now and then as a hedge or border. The undisciplined 
standards of America are hardly known, though what the English call a 
standard seems to be increasing. ‘This difference in training is due in part 
to the necessity of meeting different climatic conditions, and in part to 
greater devotion on the Englishman’s part to the art of gardening — the 
use of the shears, the knife, and the billhook give the gardener greater 
scope. The pear-tree in England is often decorative as well as useful. 
THE PEAR IN AMERICA 
The pear is a popular fruit in America, but its culture as a commercial 
product is limited to a few favored localities. From the earliest records 
of fruit-growing in America the pear has been grown less than the apple 
