PLATE LVIII. 
5. THORN PEAR. 
An old variety without any known history. 
Description. —Fruit: of full medium size or rather above it, of a blunt, pyriform shape. 
Skin : of a light orange colour, with a crimson tint on the sunny side, and covered with thin russet 
specks over the surface. Eye : open, and scarcely depressed, calyx segments, incurved anther 
stiles, very long and erect. Stalk : short, stout, and irregular, inserted rather obliquely, without 
depression. Flesh : firm, crisp and juicy, with an astringent after taste. Juice : plentiful, deep 
straw colour. 
The chemical analysis of the juice (season 1882), by Mr. G. H. With, yielded the following 
results 
Density of fresh juice 
Ditto after 24 hours exposure to air 
One hundred parts of the juice contained, of 
Sugar 
Tannin, Mucilage, Salts, &c. 
Water 
1 ’046 
1*048 
11-500 
1-400 
87-100 
The juice of the Thorn Pear makes a strong, second-class perry—or cider as the season 
may require. “ A good useful liquor for home consumption,” but it seems to require also a good 
country constitution to bear it, for “ when fresh,” the same informant added, “ it will rout a body out 
well.” It is a very early variety and ripens all at once. As soon as a single pear falls to the ground, 
the fruit should be gathered and crushed. It is a very favourite pear in cottage gardens, for it 
stews well, and makes excellent pies and puddings. 
The trees are small in size, and bushy, with stiff branches and large leaves. They bear too 
freely to make much wood. The trees bear so well, and the fruit “runs so much liquor,” that 
its popularity in the gardens around Ledbury, and in Worcestershire, is very great. 
