30 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



DESSERT PEARS. 



The Fewest Necessary to Supply Ripe Fruit from 

 August to March. 



By Mr. W. Wildsmith, F.R.H.S., Heckfield, Hants. 



The subject of this paper was suggested to my mind by the 

 controversy about a reduction of the number of the varieties 

 of pears that took place in one of the horticultural journals 

 a few months since. The general tone of that discussion went 

 to show that there was a unanimous feeling in favour of reducing 

 the number of varieties, but to what extent, opinions differed 

 greatly, twelve being suggested by more than one writer as the 

 maximum number of varieties— a proposition that in some re- 

 spects I had a good deal of sympathy with, but the number twelve 

 ended, so far as I was concerned, simply because I knew from 

 years of experience that no twelve kinds that could be named by 

 the greatest expert in pear lore would suffice to give an 



unbroken succession of ripe fruit throughout the pear season 



say from the beginning of August to the middle of March. That 

 twelve kinds might be selected that would extend over the pear 

 season is quite another matter. I have long had the honour to 

 serve an employer whose favourite fruit is the pear, and, conse- 

 quently, have had to give special attention to it ; and if one point 

 more than another has had to be studied, it is that of quality, a 

 solitary flavourless fruit of an otherwise good variety has not 

 unseldom been the cause of the condemnation of the variety 

 generally. I name this to show that my experience has been 

 gained at some cost of labour and anxiety ; and at the risk of 

 being considered egotistical I think this entitles me to speak 

 with some degree of confidence about this matter of limitation of 

 sorts. Every fruit grower knows how precarious and how 

 variable the pear is in different soils, aspects, and positions, and 

 no twelve kinds, however good they may be in one garden or 

 district, will be equally so in another, even but a mile or two 

 away, nor even in the same garden can they be relied on to be 

 of the same excellence any two consecutive years ; and it is this 

 precariousness that I think renders it necessary to grow a good 

 number of varieties. For the purpose of this paper I have 

 closely examined the pear notes in my diary for several years, in 

 which are noted the dates of gathering and ripening, and the dura- 

 tion, i.e., the time they continued fit for table, and from these 

 notes I have compiled a list of twelve that, supposing I was 

 compelled to grow only that number, would be likely to give me 

 the most regular (not constant) succession of fruit. They are 



