98 



THE GARDENER'S ASSISTANT. 



velopment of garden Pears generally. A third 

 type, Pyrus sinensis, a native of China, and 

 cultivated both in China and Japan, possesses 

 a large share of interest in connection with 

 future possible development or adaptation of 

 Pears to different climates, and we shall refer 

 to this more fully in speaking of the improve- 

 ment of the fruit. 



The recorded history of the Pear, as far as 

 we are concerned, may be said to commence 

 with the time of the Romans, for Pliny gives 

 the names and brief descriptions of varieties 

 which were distinguished by special flavours, 



Fig. 896.— Pear. Cnisse Madame. (§.) 



amongst which some were considered to resemble 

 favourite Roman wines; and even as early as 

 that the musky aroma, which has become a 

 notable character of many fine varieties of 

 modern origin, had been developed. It is 

 impossible at the present time to identify any 

 of the Roman Pears with the oldest varieties 

 still in cultivation, and it is probable that they 

 have long since been lost. 



From the earliest historical time much atten- 

 tion has been paid to Pears in France, the 

 climate in a large portion of the country being 

 suited to the best development of the fruit. 

 Some hundreds of distinct varieties were grown 

 in French gardens many years before they were 

 counted by dozens here. An example of the 

 progress made in early times is afforded by the 

 catalogue issued by Le Lectier of Orleans in 

 1628, which is the first exhaustive list pub- 



lished, and which enumerates no less than 260 

 varieties. These include such names as Cuisse 

 Madame (fig. 896), Jargonelle, Martin Sec, and 

 Bon Chrestien. Subsequent lists became more 

 of the nature of selections, rarely exceeding 

 100 varieties, until the nursery catalogues of 

 the nineteenth century multiplied the numbers. 

 In Leroy's Dictionnaire de Pomologie, the two 

 volumes devoted to Pears (1867-69) included 

 915 varieties, which were fully described, and 

 the majority illustrated, constituting probably 

 the longest list of varieties of one kind of fruit 

 with systematic descriptions ever printed. 



It is probable that the Romans introduced 

 some of their Pears into Britain, but in sub- 

 sequent years it is certain that a large majority 

 of the varieties grown in this country were 

 brought here from France, and it is difficult 

 to indicate many old varieties of British origin. 

 Most of the early writers on horticulture notice 

 the Pear. Parkinson, in 1629, refers to 64 

 varieties; Wise, seventy years later, names 73, 

 many of which were then considered of little 

 value in this climate. In 1707 Mortimer 

 named 138 varieties, but during that century 

 the number was enormously increased, and, in 

 1829, G. W. Johnson states in his History of 

 English Gardening, that 630 varieties of Pears 

 were then in cultivation in this country. Here, 

 as in France, selection has been in operation, 

 and the late Dr. Hogg described in the different 

 editions of his monumental work, The Fruit 

 Manual, the following numbers of Pears as in- 

 dicating the best grown in the British Isles. 



First Edition (1847), 81 varieties. 

 Second Edition (1862), 279 varieties. 

 Third Edition (1866), 374 varieties. 

 Fourth Edition (1875), 581 varieties. 

 Fifth Edition (1884), 647 varieties. 



At a Conference of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society held at Chiswick in 1885, fruits of 616 

 varieties were represented, but the total number 

 in cultivation in the British Islands would 

 probably far exceed 1000, while on the Con- 

 tinent the number recorded is even greater. 

 There is little doubt that quite three-fourths 

 of these could be discarded with advantage, 

 and nurserymen would gladly have their stocks 

 limited to fewer varieties. One method to 

 attain this end would be to adopt the plan 

 of an old trade grower, who classified his Pears 

 under the heads " Good ", " Inferior ", and 

 "Worthless". 



Amongst the known varieties that have been 

 longest in cultivation in Britain the following 



