THE PEAR. 



Pyrus communis. 



Among the many industrial occupations which 

 require the actual and continuous labour of the 

 body, there is only one which is, from mere 

 choice, extensively pursued by persons whose 

 means and station in society exempt them from the 

 necessity of manual labour ; and that is the occupa- 

 tion of the gardener. We meet occasionally with 

 persons in the higher walks of life, whose taste for 

 mechanism takes them away in their leisure hours 

 to active employment at the turning-lathe gr the 

 carpenter's bench ; but this is so rarely the case, 

 that any one who devotes himself to these pursuits 

 must expect to incur the charge of singularity, or, 

 at least, to be subject to remark among his neigh- 

 bours. But, however exalted may be the rank 

 of an individual who personally superintends, or 

 engages in, the manual labour of rearing flowers 

 or fruits, there are so many others who participate 

 in the same tastes, that no one thinks it worth 

 while to notice the fact. Nor does difference of 

 station alter the case ; for how often do we see 

 the humblest artisan, when his daily toil is ended, 

 and his frame, one would suppose, exhausted by 

 previous exertion, stealing from the brief period 

 of time allowed for refreshment and repose a 



