THE FRUIT GARDEN. 



467 



248. Seek no Farther.— Fruit above the middle size; color pale green, a 

 Kttle streaked with red ; comes into use in January, and lasts till May, but becomes 

 mealy by the beginning of April. 



249. Ward Apple.— Fruit rather below the middle size; flat shaped; color 

 fine red towards the eye; of a yellowish green towards the footstalk ; keeps till 

 June. 



250. Wheeler's Extreme. — Resembles the Pomme Grise. Fruit below the 

 middle size ; flat shaped ; color beautifully clouded with red on a yellowish russet 

 ground ; keeps till April. 



PEARS, 



ARRANGED AS DESSERT AND CULINARY FRUITS. 



Pear, Pyrus communis of Linnaeus, — belongs to the class Icosandria, and order 

 Pentagynia, and is arranged in the natural order Rosacece. Is a native of Britain, as 

 well as of many parts of Europe as far north as latitude 6 1'*. 



The cultivated pear differs from the apple, not only in its character, or habit of 

 growth, but also in being more apt to send up suckers from the roots ; in sending out 

 tap-roots ; in being much longer in coming into fruit from seed ; and also being 

 either grafted, or upon its own roots, much longer lived. It is well known to live for 

 several centuries ; and is, probably, of all our fruit-trees, excepting the chesnut, the 

 longest liver. It is much harder and less nice of its situation of growth than the 

 apple, and will grow in almost all soils and situations. Knight observes, that the 

 identical trees that supphed the inhabitants of Herefordshire with perry in the 

 seventeenth century, are like also to supply those of the nineteenth. As an orna- 

 mental tree, it is much superior to the apple ; some sorts, the Barland and 

 Olfield for example, form extremely handsome outlines of form, and when 

 planted in the orchards, among apples, take off", in a great measure, that stiff foiTnal 

 appearance which the apple generally assumes. At what time the cultivated pear 

 attracted the notice of the inhabitants of this country is not certainly known, but, 

 as we have observed of the apple, was probably known or used in its wild state by 

 the Britons before the Roman invasion ; after that epoch, we are to suppose that 

 they became acquainted with this fruit by its introduction by these people. Tha 

 pear ranks next to the apple in point of usefulness, as it is not only used in various 

 ways as a culinary fruit, but the expressed juice is made into the well-known liquor, 

 perry, which is an article of commerce in several counties of England. That of the 

 two sorts of trees mentioned above, if well manufactured, fetches the high price of 

 ten and fifteen pounds per hogshead, upon the spot where it is made. The French 

 prepare a perry which is little inferior to wine. They also dry the bad-eating sorts 

 of pears, which they keep for several years. With them the varieties of pears are 

 greater than that of apples. With us the varieties are also extremely numerous, 

 and our catalogues are daily increasing, at least in names. Parkinson enumerates G4 

 sorts of pears. Miller has selected 80 sorts, and described them. The catalogues Oi 

 one of the Paris nurseries contain 189 select sorts. Our London nurseries' cata- 

 logues name from to 200 to 300 sorts; and the Horticultural Society's Catalogue, 

 lately published, contains G22 sorts. Flemish pears have long been considered supe- 

 rioi to ours, and when brought into use, will give quite a new feature to the dessert. 



