THE PEAR. 
4:0) 
and modern cultivators. Indeed, we believe the Pear of mo- 
dern times, thanks to the science and skill of horticulturists, is 
quite a different morsel for the palate, from the pear of two or 
three centuries ago. In its wild state it is one of the most aus- 
tere of all fruits, and a choice pear of our fields, really a great 
improvement on the wild type, seizes one’s throat with such an 
unmerciful gripe, as to leave behind it no soothing remem- 
brances of nectar and ambrosia. 
So long ago as the earliest time of the Romans, the pear was 
considerably cultivated. It was common in Syria, Egypt, and 
Greece, and from the latter country, was transplanted into Italy. 
“ Theophrastus speaks of the productiveness of old pear trees, 
and Virgil mentions some pears which he received from Cato. 
Pliny in his 1 5th book describes the varieties in cultivation in 
his time, as exceedingly numerous; and mentions a number 
which were named after the countries from which they were re- 
ceived. Of all pears, he says, the Costumine is the most deli- 
cate and agreeable. The Falernian pear was esteemed for its 
juice; and the Tibernian, because it was preferred by the Em- 
peror Tiberius. There were ‘proud pears,’ which were so called 
because they ripened early and would not keep, and ‘winter 
pears,’ pears for baking, as at the present day.”* None oi 
these old Roman varieties have been handed down to us, and 
we might believe some of them approached the buttery lusci- 
ousness of our modern pears, did not Pliny pithily add, most 
unfortunately for their reputation, “ all pears whatsoever are but 
a heavy meat, unless they are well boiled or baked.” 
In fact the really delicious qualities of this fruit were not de- 
veloped until about the seventeenth century. And within the 
last sixty years the pear, subjected to constant reproduction 
from seed by Van Mons and his followers, and to hybridizing 
or crossing by Mr. Knight and other English cultivators, ap- 
pears, at length, to have reached almost the summit of perfec- 
tion, in beauty, duration, and flavour. Of Professor Van Mons 
and his labours of a whole life, almost devoted to pears , we have 
already spoken in our first chapter. From among the 80,000 
seedlings raised by himself, and the many thousands reared by 
other zealous cultivators abroad, especially in Belgium — the 
Eden of the pear tree — there have been selected a large num- 
ber of varieties of high excellence. In this country, we are 
continually adding to the number, as, in our newer soil, the 
pear, following the natural laws of successive reproduction, is 
constantly appearing in new seedling forms. The high flavour 
of the Seckel pear, an American variety, as yet unsurpassed, itt 
this respect, by any European sort, proves the natural congeni- 
ality of the climate of the northern states to this fruit. 
* Arboretum Britannicum. 
