PLATE LVIII. 
i. ROCK PEAR. 
The original tree of this variety is still living at Cromer Pit Farm, Pendock, Worcestershire. 
It was raised in a little garden, enclosed from the waste, by an army pensioner named William 
Tuffley, who attained the age of nearly ioo years, and the tree itself is now rapidly approaching 
that age. 
Description .—Fruit : small and hard, irregular in size and shape, but usually roundish 
turbinate, flattened towards the eye and larger on one side than the other. Skin : hard, of a dark 
green colour, with a reddish brown tint towards the sun, and spotted all over with minute spots of 
russet. Eye : small and closed, slightly depressed. Stalk : stout, half an inch long, and inserted 
into an irregular cavity. Flesh : hard, rough, acid and astringent in taste, neither juicy, nor very 
sweet. Juice : full flavoured of deep amber colour, viscid and very astringent. 
The chemical analysis of the juice of the Rock Pear (season 1882), by Mr. G. H. With 
F.R.A.S., F.C.S., gave the following results :— 
Density of the fresh juice ... 
Ditto after 24 hours exposure to air 
One hundred parts by weight of the juice, yielded 
Sugar 
Tannin, Mucilage, Salts, &c. 
Water 
1*075 
1‘084 
17-600 
4-150 
78-250 
This analysis proves the very great value of this fruit. “ It is a Foxwhelp amongst pears ” 
said the analyst, without knowing anything of its character in the orchard. 
The perry made from the Rock Pear has a rich, full and rough flavour, of so much strength 
that it is said, “A man cannot drink enough of it to quench thirst without incurring the risk of 
intoxication.” Thirty-five or forty, three peck kipes of fruit, or in less local words, from twenty-six 
to thirty-two bushels, would be required to make a hogshead of clean perry. In consequence of its 
great strength it is very rarely used alone, but it is a very valuable variety to mix with free 
running pears of inferior quality. 
The trees are hardy, of good habit, and with well shaped heads of upright growth. The 
blossom is late, and a good crop of fruit may be looked for every other year with tolerable certainty. 
It is a very late pear, and the fruit will hang on the trees until all the leaves are down, if allowed to 
do so. 
