[ 299 ] 



XXXVII. An Account of Scotch Pears. In a Letter to the 

 Secretary. By Mr. Archibald Gorrie, Corresponding 

 Member of the Horticultural Society. 



Read December 4, 1827. 



Sir, 



H aving forwarded two parcels containing specimens of 

 Scotch Pears for the Society on the 21st of September and 

 19th of October, I now, agreeably to my promise, report 

 the peculiarities of the fruit. 



Had I confined my attention to such varieties as were 

 known certainly to be of Scottish origin, the list would 

 have been very limited. It now consists of those which, as 

 I believe, are either cultivated in Scotland exclusively, or 

 from their excellence have been transferred from Scotland to 

 England. 



During the monkish ages the greater part of our Apples 

 and Pears were introduced to Scotland from France and the 

 Netherlands, and cultivated near the abbeys by the eccle- 

 siastics; and, from the old trees to be met with at such 

 places, it appears that the Charnock, or JDrummond, the 

 Crawford, the Christie, and the Longueville (a French Pear,) 

 were favourites with the ghostly fathers. It is also not 

 improbable that the art of raising fruit trees from seed was at 

 that period known and practised. This conjecture is strength- 

 ened by the fact, that in almost every very old orchard one or 

 two trees are to be met with which are to be found no where 



vol.vii. R r 



