PLATE XXX. 
4. HOLMER. 
[Syn : Holmore Pear —by printers error in the Pomona Herefordiensis .] 
The original tree of this variety was found in a hedgerow on the estate of the late Charles 
Cooke, Esq., of the Moor, in the parish of Holmer, near Hereford. Mr. Thos. Andrew Knight 
judged it to be about eighty years old (c. 1730), and it is therefore now about a hundred and fifty 
years old. 
A good figure is given of this Pear in the Pomona Herefordiensis, PI. XX. 
Description. —Fruit: small, roundish, turbinate, even and regular in its outline. Skin: pale 
green at first, but of a dull, greenish yellow when ripe ; thickly covered with russet dots, so as to 
form a kind of crust on the surface. Eye : open, full of stamens, having short divergent segments, 
and set in a very shallow, or in scarcely any depression. Stalk : from half to three quarters of an 
inch long, slender; inserted in a small hole with occasionally a slight swelling on one side. Flesh : 
yellowish, firm and crisp. Juice : plentiful, pale in colour, with a sweet subacid and very astringent 
flavour. 
Mr. With’s analysis of the Holmer Pear (season 1880), is as follows :— 
Density of fresh juice ... ... ... ... 1*051 
Ditto after 24 hours exposure to air ... ... 1*055 
One hundred parts by weight of juice contains :— 
Sugar ... ... ... ... ... 11*9 
Tannin, Mucilage, Salts, &c. ... ... ... 3*4 
Water ... ... ... ... ... 84 *7 
Mr. Thomas Andrew Knight found the density of the juice of this Pear to be 1*066—so 
that the analysis is favourable for its spirit-producing power. 
The Perry from this variety in a good season is of good flavour, very sweet and rich, and 
resembles that made from the Red Pear. 
The tree is strong and vigorous, grows tall and bears abundantly. The fruit follows the 
Moor croft and Bar land in season. The pears ripen all together and perish very quickly, so that 
they must be sent at once to the mill. Notwithstanding these grave faults, Mr. Knight thought 
very highly of the Holmer Pear, and consequently it has been widely propagated. 
