[Illustration: Marshall P. Wilder]
STATE OF NEW YORK--DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Twenty-ninth Annual Report--Vol. 2--Part II
* * * * *
THE
PEARS OF NEW YORK
BY
U. P. HEDRICK
ASSISTED BY
G. H. HOWE
O. M. TAYLOR
E. H. FRANCIS
H. B. TUKEY
Report of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station for the Year 1921
II
ALBANY
J. B. LYON COMPANY, PRINTERS
1921
NEW YORK AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION,
GENEVA, N. Y., _October_ 1, 1921.
_To the Honorable Board of Control of the New York Agricultural
Experiment Station_:
GENTLEMEN:--I have the honor to transmit herewith the manuscript of
the sixth of the series of monographs on fruits, to be entitled "The
Pears of New York." I recommend that, under the authority of chapter
636 of the Laws of 1919, this be submitted for publication as Part II
of the report of this Station for 1921.
The wide-spread use of and frequent expressions of appreciation
for the preceding books of this series are ample justification for
the preparation and publication of this similar treatise on pears.
Further, the added years of experience and observation of Dr. Hedrick
and his assistants serve to bring each successive monograph to a
higher state of excellence and completeness. The present work is a
splendid example of painstaking care in the collection and compilation
of all available evidence concerning all known varieties of pears.
With the publication of this volume, the series will include books
on apples, peaches, plums, cherries and pears, all of our leading
tree-fruits of the non-citrus type. The book on grapes and the
"Sturtevant's Notes on Edible Plants" are similar treatises published
in uniform style with those dealing with tree-fruits and it is
hoped that the series may eventually be extended to include similar
discussions of small fruits.
"The Pears of New York" cannot fail to find an extremely useful place
in the literature of fruit-growing, and its publication will be
welcomed by the fruit growers of the State and by horticulturists the
world over.
R. W. THATCHER,
_Director_
PREFACE
_The Pears of New York_ is sixth in the series of books on hardy fruits
being published by the New York Agricultural Experiment Station. The
object and scope of these treatises have been given in prefaces of
the preceding books, and though this work does not differ from its
predecessors, for the convenience of readers the aim and the contents
of the book in hand are set forth in this foreword.
Broadly speaking, the aim is to make _The Pears of New York_ a complete
record of the development of the pear wherever cultivated up to the
present time. With this end in view an attempt is made: To give an
account of the history and uses of the pear; to depict the botanical
characters of cultivated pears; to describe pear growing in this
country and more particularly in New York; and, lastly, to give in
full detail the synonymy, bibliography, economic status, and full
descriptions of the most important cultivated pears with brief notices
of varieties of minor importance.
The reader will want to know what considerations have governed the
selection of varieties for color plates and full descriptions. These
are several: (1) The value of a variety for home or commercial
orchards. (2) Noteworthy new varieties. (3) Varieties desirable in
breeding new pears. (4) A few sorts are described and illustrated to
show the trend of evolution in the pear.
In the use of horticultural names the rules of the American Pomological
Society as adopted at the meeting in Columbus, Ohio, in 1919, have been
followed. With a very few varieties these rules have not been followed
since the changes required by their strict observance would augment
rather than diminish confusion.
The references given are those that have been used in ascertaining
the history and economic status or in verifying the description of
varieties. The synonyms created by pomologists whose works we have had
have been noted, but in no case are synonyms given only when quoted by
pomologists from another writer. One of the chief aims of _The Pears of
New York_ is to set straight in high degree the names of pears.
Biographical sketches of men who have been most prominent in pear
growing in the United States are to be found in the footnotes. These
are written to give in some measure the credit and honor due to those
who introduced new varieties or improved their culture. A knowledge of
the career of these men is indispensable to a full comprehension of the
industry of growing pears.
U. P. HEDRICK,
_Horticulturist, New York Agricultural Experiment Station_
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE v
INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS ix
CHAPTER I.--HISTORY OF THE PEAR 1
CHAPTER II.--SPECIES OF PEARS AND THEIR CHARACTERS 57
CHAPTER III.--PEAR CULTURE 83
CHAPTER IV.--LEADING VARIETIES OF PEARS 122
CHAPTER V.--MINOR VARIETIES OF PEARS 236
BIBLIOGRAPHY, REFERENCES, AND ABBREVIATIONS 589
INDEX 599
INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS
PORTRAIT OF MARSHALL P. WILDER _Frontispiece_
FACING PAGE
DESCRIPTION OF A PEAR 68
VARIETIES
ANDRÉ DESPORTES 122
ANSAULT 122
BARTLETT 124
BELLE LUCRATIVE 126
BEURRÉ D'ANJOU 128
BEURRÉ BOSC 130
BEURRÉ CLAIRGEAU 132
BEURRÉ DIEL 134
BEURRÉ GIFFARD 134
BEURRÉ HARDY 136
BEURRÉ SUPERFIN 138
BLOODGOOD 138
BRANDYWINE 140
BUFFUM 142
CLAPP FAVORITE 142
COLONEL WILDER 144
COLUMBIA 144
DANA HOVEY 146
DEARBORN 148
DORSET 150
DOYENNÉ D'ALENÇON 152
DOYENNÉ BOUSSOCK 152
DOYENNÉ DU COMICE 154
DUCHESSE D'ANGOULÊME 156
DUCHESSE D'ORLÉANS 156
DUHAMEL DU MONCEAU 158
EARLY HARVEST 158
EASTER BEURRÉ 160
ELIZABETH 162
FLEMISH BEAUTY 164
FONTENAY 166
FREDERICK CLAPP 170
GANSEL SECKEL 170
GLOU MORCEAU 172
GUYOT 174
HOWELL 174
IDAHO 176
JARGONELLE 178
JOSÉPHINE DE MALINES 180
KIEFFER 182
KOONCE 184
LAMY 184
LAWRENCE 186
LE CONTE 188
LÉON LECLERC (VAN MONS) 190
LINCOLN 190
LINCOLN CORELESS 192
LOUISE BONNE DE JERSEY 194
MADELEINE 196
MARGARET 196
MARIE LOUISE 198
MOUNT VERNON 200
ONONDAGA 202
ONTARIO 202
P. BARRY 204
PASSE COLMAR 206
PITMASTON 208
POUND 208
PRÉSIDENT DROUARD 210
PYRUS BETULAEFOLIA 80
PYRUS SEROTINA 74
REEDER 212
RIEHL BEST 212
ROOSEVELT 214
RUTTER 214
SECKEL 216
SHELDON 218
SOUVENIR DU CONGRÈS 218
SOUVENIR D'ESPÉREN 220
SUDDUTH 220
SUMMER DOYENNÉ 222
TYSON 222
URBANISTE 224
VERMONT BEAUTY 226
VICAR OF WINKFIELD 228
WHITE DOYENNÉ 230
WILDER EARLY 230
WINTER BARTLETT 232
WINTER NELIS 234
WORDEN SECKEL 234
THE PEARS OF NEW YORK
CHAPTER I
HISTORY OF THE PEAR
The pear has no history if history be defined as a record of evolution.
Even the annals of the pear, which but state events in chronological
order, are a heap of confused facts and dates with important data
missing at every turn. The origin of the cultivated pear is so
completely hidden in prehistoric darkness that it can never be known
precisely from what wild pear it came. The historian must content
himself with recording what the pear was when written records began;
what the touch of time has done since the first written accounts; and
what the events and by whom directed which have aided time in making
its impressions since cultivated pears have accompanied its flight.
Happily, it does not matter much what the pear was before husbandmen
appeared on the scene. But from the day the pear began to supply the
needs of men, and in its turn to require ministration from those it
nourished, its history becomes of importance to all mankind. Those whom
it helps sustain as well as those who tend the pear, may well ask:
What was the raw material when the domestication of the pear began?
How has this material been fashioned into the pear of the present? Who
began domestication and who has carried it forward? And, gauged by
past progress, what further progress is possible? These are questions
of prime importance to those who seek to improve the pear; they throw
light on the culture of the pear; and they are of general interest
to all husbandmen, and to all interested in the world's food supply.
The history of the pear is important, as has been said, only as it is
connected with the history of man. Yet, this history must begin with
the wild pear.
WILD PEARS
Botanists number from twenty to twenty-five species of pears, all of
which are found in the northern hemisphere of the Old World, there
being no true pear native to the southern hemisphere or to the New
World. Some ten or twelve wild pears are found in China, several of
which overrun the limits of China; three or four are natives of Japan;
at least one has its habitat in Korea; another is to be found in the
western Himalayas; while the remainder, some eight or ten species,
are found westward from Turkestan, through Persia and Asia Minor into
southern and western Europe and northern Africa. From these statements
as to habitats it is seen that pears grow wild over a very extended
area and under quite varied conditions; therefore, it would be expected
that the several species are quite distinct, differing chiefly,
however, from a horticultural point of view, in the fruits.
But three of these wild species are now under common cultivation,
though it is possible that through hybridization the blood of one or
two more are to be found in cultivated varieties. Several others have
horticultural possibilities either for their fruit, as means through
which new characters may be introduced into cultivated pears, or as
stocks upon which to grow orchard varieties. The three species of chief
horticultural importance are _Pyrus communis_ Linn., _P. nivalis_
Jacq., and _P. serotina_ Rehd.
The pear of common cultivation in ancient and modern orchards is _Pyrus
communis_, native of southern Europe and Asia as far east as Kashmir.
The species is now to be found naturalized in forests and byways of
northern Europe, as it is in parts of America, so that it is impossible
to tell precisely what its ancient habitat was. While most often to be
found in mountainous regions in the great area which it inhabits, wild
pears are common enough in the forests of Europe and western Asia so
that it is probable that most of the early inhabitants of this part
of the Old World enlivened their fare, obtained with the spear or the
bow, with ready-made food from the pear. The species runs into at least
three botanical forms, a dozen or more horticultural divisions and
between two and three thousand orchard varieties.
_Pyrus nivalis_, the Snow pear, is a small tree native of southern
Europe, more particularly of Austria and northern Italy, from which
region it has spread in modern times as an escape from cultivation
into neighboring countries. It is called Snow pear because the fruits
are not fit to eat until after snow falls. The French call it the
"Sage-leaved pear" (_Poirier sauger_), from the fact that the under
side of the leaves is covered with down so that the leaf resembles
that of garden sage. The Snow pear is cultivated in southern Europe,
particularly in France, for the making of perry for which purpose
several varieties are grown. Probably the Greeks and Romans used fruit
of this species for perry so that it may be said to have had attention
from man, if not care under cultivation, from the earliest times. It
is doubtful if it has been hybridized with _P. communis_, parent of
nearly all cultivated pears. The Snow pear is not cultivated in America
but is to be found in botanical collections.
From _Pyrus serotina_ came the Japanese, Chinese, or Sand pears of
pomologists. The species is a native of central and eastern China and
is found wild in Japan, but whether as a native or as an escape from
cultivation it is impossible to say. There are three botanical forms of
the species and possibly a score of horticultural varieties cultivated
for their fruits and as ornamentals. Of all the species of Pyrus found
in western Asia, this, in the light of present knowledge, is most
closely related to the common pear, with which it hybridizes freely.
We have now discovered in what countries the progenitors of cultivated
pears grow spontaneously, and are therefore ready to search for the
first landmarks in the domestication of the three cultivated species.
What has ancient literature to say on the subject? We turn first to the
Bible and find that the pear is not mentioned in sacred literature, and
that, according to commentators on the Sanscrit and Hebrew languages,
there is no name in the tongues of Biblical lands for the pear. Nor
should we expect ancient notices of the pear in north-west India or
Persia, for the pear does not flourish in hot countries. The survey
next turns to ancient Greece where landmarks are at once sighted which
must be put down as the earliest records of the pear, and as such
deserve full consideration.
THE PEAR IN ANCIENT GREECE
In ancient Greece we find the first landmarks and begin the history
of the pear as a cultivated plant. It is wrong, however, to assume
that the beginning of the cultivation of the pear, or of any plant,
was contemporaneous with the writing of even the oldest books. Mention
of a cultivated plant in a book is proof that its domestication
antedates the writing of the book. It is not easy to imagine tribes of
semi-civilized men in southern Europe and Asia who did not make use of
the apples, pears, quinces, plums, cherries, almonds, olives, figs,
pomegranates, and grapes which grew wild in this land of gardens and
orchards, and who did not minister to their needs as husbandmen long
before men wrote books. Names for orchard operations, as planting,
grafting, and pruning, in the simplest dialects of primitive peoples,
establish the fact that husbandry long antedates writing, as would be
expected from the greater need of the one than of the other.
Plutarch, a Greek writer, A.D. 50-120, enlightens us as to the early
use of the pear by the Greeks, and also as to the Grecian name for the
fruit and tree. He says in his Greek Questions (51):
"Why do the boys of the Argives playing at a certain festival call
themselves Ballachrades? (_Ballo_, I throw; _achras_, a wild pear.)
"It is because they say that those who were first brought down by
Inachus (founder of Argos) from the rural districts into the plains
were nourished on wild pears (_achrades_). But wild pears (they say)
were first seen by the Greeks in Peloponnesus, when that country was
still called Apia; whence wild pears were named _apioi_. (_Apios_, a
pear-tree; _apion_, a pear.)"
The pear is one of the "gifts of the gods" which Homer tells us grew
in the garden of Alcinöus. It is certain, therefore, whether or not
this is the earliest mention of the pear in Greek literature, that in
Homer's time, nearly one thousand years before the Christian era, the
pear was cultivated in Greece. As this garden of Alcinöus furnishes the
earliest noteworthy landmarks of the pear, and is moreover the most
renowned of heroic times, an early paradise of trees, vines, and herbs,
it is worth while to take a look at it with a view of discovering the
status of the pear at this early date. Stripped of the harmonious rhyme
and pleasing rhythm of Homer's poetry, the garden is described in
English prose as follows:
"And without the court-yard hard by the door is a great garden,
of four plough-gates, and a hedge runs round on either side. And
there grow tall trees blossoming, pear-trees and pomegranates, and
apple-trees with bright fruit, and sweet figs, and olives in their
bloom. The fruit of these trees never perisheth, neither faileth
winter or summer, enduring through all the year. Evermore the West
Wind blowing brings some fruits to birth and ripens others. Pear upon
pear waxes old, and apple on apple, yea, and cluster ripens upon
cluster of the grape, and fig upon fig. There too hath he a faithful
vineyard planted, whereof the one part is being dried by the heat, a
sunny plot on level ground, while other grapes men are gathering, and
yet others they are treading in the wine-press. In the foremost row
are unripe grapes that cast the blossom, and others there be that are
growing black to vintaging. There too, skirting the furthest line,
are all manner of garden beds, planted trimly, that are perpetually
fresh, and therein are two fountains of water, whereof one scatters
his streams all about the garden, and the other runs over against
it beneath the threshold of the court-yard, and issues by the lofty
house, and thence did the townsfolk draw water.--These were the
splendid gifts of the gods in the palace of Alcinöus.[1]"
Divested of the spell with which the poet's flight of imagination
bewitches us, we find that the wonderful garden of Alcinöus is, after
all, rather trifling, probably of small extent, and containing an
orchard, a vineyard, garden beds and two fountains of water, which
brings us to the conclusion that this renowned garden would cut but a
sorry figure beside modern gardens; but, on the other hand, we are made
sure that certain fruits, among them the pear, were commonly cultivated
in Greece a thousand years before Christ's time. There is no hint in
Homer as to whether there were as yet varieties of pears, or as to
whether fruits were as yet pruned, grafted, fertilized and otherwise
cared for. For indications that these arts of the orchard were under
practice, we must pass on to the writings of another great Greek,
Theophrastus.
Between Homer and Theophrastus nearly 600 years intervene, in all
of which time traces of the pear are few and uncertain. But from
Theophrastus, to whom botanists accord the title "Father of Botany," we
know that orcharding had been making progress, and that the pear, among
other fruits, must have been as well known and nearly as well cared
for in his time, 370-286 B.C., as in this twentieth century. All the
expedients we now know to assist nature to bring pears to perfection,
save spraying and cross-pollination, were known to Theophrastus,
although of course the evolution from the wild state as indicated by
number and diversity of kinds had not progressed so far. Out of one of
the books of Theophrastus, _Enquiry into Plants_, a very good treatise
on the pear might be compiled and one better worth following than
many of his more modern imitators. To quote Theophrastus at length is
impossible, but space must be given to a summary of what he says about
pears.
Theophrastus distinguishes between wild and cultivated pears and
says that the cultivated forms have received names. He speaks of
the propagation of pears from seeds, roots, and cuttings and makes
plain that plants grown from seed "lose the character of their kind
and produce a degenerate kind." Grafting is described. The nature of
the ground is said to regulate the distance for planting pears, and
the lower slopes of hills are recommended as the best sites for pear
orchards. Root-pruning, girdling the stems, and driving iron pegs in
the trunk and other methods of "punishing" trees are said to hasten the
bearing time. Even the necessity of cross-pollination is recognized
though of course the reasons for it are not known. Thus, Theophrastus
says: "Trees which are apt to shed their fruit before ripening it are
almond, apple, pomegranate, pear, and, above all, fig and date-palm;
and men try to find the suitable remedies for this. This is the reason
for the process called 'caprification'; gall-insects come out of the
wild figs which are hanging there, eat the tops of the cultivated figs,
and so make them swell." The growth of the pear on various soils and in
diverse situations is compared; he makes mention of a "peculiar, red
and hairy worm" which infested the pear of these old Greek orchards. In
Pontus, it is stated, "pears and apples are abundant in a great variety
of forms and are excellent." "General diseases" are enumerated as
"those of being worm-eaten, sun-scorched, and rot." Certain affections
due to season and situation are mentioned, as freezing, scorching, and
injury from winds.
This is but a brief epitome of what Theophrastus writes of the pomology
of the Greeks, and only topics in which the pear is specifically
mentioned are set down and not all of these. By inference, one who
reads Theophrastus might apply much more to the pear. Yet enough has
been said to prove the point that pear culture was as well established
in Greece 300 years B.C. as in 1900 years A.D. One leaves Theophrastus,
satisfied that pear-growers of his day had about the same problems that
growers have nowadays and solved them by the same sort of reasoning
intelligence.
In crediting Theophrastus as the earliest writer on pomology, we may
assume that there were earlier writers from whom he must have received
much knowledge. Perhaps greater writers on botany and pomology preceded
him, since he cites older authors on the same subjects whose books have
been lost. His alone of the books of its kind have come down to us from
ancient Greece. Theophrastus was the friend and pupil of Aristotle,
another philosopher and prince of science, and both in turn were taught
by Plato. Who shall say, then, from whence Theophrastus received his
knowledge? Aristotle is said to have written two books on botany
antedating the _Enquiry into Plants_ of Theophrastus, neither of which
has survived the passing centuries. May not these great minds have
been indebted to authors whose books and names have perished? These
speculations serve to remind us again that the beginnings of botany and
pomology long antedate written records.
There were Greeks who wrote on agriculture after Theophrastus, and
before the Roman treatises on farm management, a few of which are to be
mentioned in the next topic. Of books, as monuments of vanished minds,
however, there are none to indicate the activities of Greek farmers who
wrote, but there are citations to show that ancient Greek literature
on farming was voluminous. Thus, Marcus Terentius Varro (B.C. 116-28),
called "the most learned of the Romans," in his eightieth year wrote a
book on Roman agriculture for the guidance of his wife in the practice
of farming. Learned old Varro believed in "book farming," or science
with practice, of which we hear so much nowadays. He begins his
treatise by invoking Greek and Roman deities to aid his wife, and names
fifty monographs on husbandry written by Greeks, in which, he tells
this early farmerette, she will find all of the practical information
she needs. This is but one of several sources from which we learn that
in the making of books on agriculture there was no end in the heroic
days of Greece as in modern times.
THE PEAR IN ANCIENT ROME
Italy, by common consent, is the garden of the world, and it would
be strange if the pear had not been taken to this favored land with
the earliest tillers of orchards, or if attempts had not been made to
domesticate the wild pears found in the northern mountains. And so we
may assume, with no very definite proofs, that the pear was cultivated
in ancient Rome some hundreds of years before the Christian era. In
Cato, the first book written in Latin on agriculture, the pear is
discussed, and six varieties are named and described. What had this
illustrious Roman, known generally as a statesman and scholar, to do
with pomology?
Marcus Portius Cato (B.C. 235-150), called the elder Cato, besides
serving Rome in state and army, wrote a treatise on farming,
fruit-growing, and gardening, which, first of its kind in Latin
literature, may be read with greater profit than the works of most
writers of our own day in agriculture. Cato was preeminently the first
agricultural philosopher, and no one who has followed him has packed
more shrewd agricultural philosophy in a book than he. But it is as
a pomologist that Cato concerns us most at this time. Cato describes
almost every method of propagating, grafting, caring for, and keeping
fruits known to twentieth-century fruit-growers. He describes, also,
many varieties of fruits, as well as of vegetables, grains, and breeds
of farm animals. Among Cato's fruits are six varieties of pears. What
is of especial interest in this history is that Cato writes as if the
practices of agriculture and the plants and animals he described were
not only established but ancient in his time.
Varro, whose standing as a Roman writer on agriculture is noted above,
says nothing of varieties of pears, but gives directions for grafting
pear-trees, among other methods that of inarching of which he seems
the first ancient writer to take note, thereby justifying, in small
degree, it is true, the appellation often given him, "the most modern
of all the ancients." Varro also tells how pears should be stored.
While, therefore, he says nothing that helps in following the evolution
of the pear, yet his accounts of grafting and storing make plain the
fact that this fruit was a standard product of the times. Were it worth
while, still other early Roman treatises on husbandry might be quoted
to establish the place of the pear in the agriculture of ancient Rome,
but it is chiefly in the evolution of the fruit we are concerned and so
pass from Varro to Pliny, who, in his _Natural History_, adds to Cato's
six varieties thirty-five new sorts, giving a total of forty-one for
the generation following Christ.
Pliny, more or less discredited as a scientist because he was a
compiler and, as the men of science for science sake never forget to
point out, at all times of a utilitarian bent of mind, makes a most
important contribution to the history of the pear as a domesticated
fruit. Indefatigable compiler as he was, few cultivated pears of his
or more ancient times could have escaped his notice, and the thread of
the utilitarian running through his _Natural History_ makes all the
more important what he has to say in this study of the domestication
and improvement of the pear. A good authority says that there are sixty
manuscript copies of Pliny and eighty different editions, no two of
which are exactly alike. Allowing some latitude, therefore, to the
translator, Pliny's descriptions of pears run as follows:
"For the same reason (as in the case of apples) in the case of pears
the name Superba (proud) is given; these are small, but earliest
ripe. The Crustumia are most pleasant to all; next to these the
Falerna, so called from the wine, since they have such abundance of
sap or milk, as it is called; among these are those which others
call Syrian from their dark color. Of the rest, some are called by
one name in one place and by another in another. Some by their Roman
names reveal their discoverers, as the Decimiana, and what they call
the Pseudo-Decimiana, derived from that; the Dolabelliana with their
long stalk; the Pomponiana of protuberant (full-breasted) shape;
the Liceriana; the Seviana and those which spring from these, the
Turraniana, distinguished by their length of stalk; the Favoniana
of reddish color, a little larger than the Superba; the Lateriana;
the Aniciana, which ripens in late autumn and has a pleasant acid
flavor. The Tiberiana are so called because the Emperor Tiberius
was very fond of them. They get more color from the sun and grow to
larger size, but otherwise are the same as the Liceriana. These bear
the name of the country from which they come; the Amerina, latest of
all; the Picentina; the Numantina; the Alexandria; the Numidiana; the
Greek and among them the Tarentine, the Signina, which others from
their color call Testacea (like tiles, or brick-colored), like the
Onychina (onyx) and Purpurea (purple). From their odor are named the
Myrapia (myrrh-pear), Laurea (laurel), Nardina (nard); from their
season the Hordearia (barley, at the barley-harvest); from the shape
of their neck the Ampullacea (flask). The Coriolana and Bruttia have
family-names (Coriolanus, Brutus); the Cucurbitina (gourd-pears) are
so called from their bitter taste. The origin of the name is unknown
in the case of the Barbarica and the Veneria which they call colored;
the Regia, which are attached to a very short stalk; the Patricia; the
Voconia, which are green and oblong. Virgil mentions also the Volema,
taken from Cato, who names also the Sementiva and the Mustea.[2]"
It is pertinent to inquire, now, as to what types of pears the ancients
had. Such an inquiry leads up to another and much more important
question: Have new characters appeared in pears since Pliny wrote? If
so, it may be possible that we shall be forced to assume that man's
dominancy over this fruit has produced the new characters, in which
case search might be made for the key to unlock more new characters.
For the present, however, only the first question can be considered,
before going into which it is necessary to know what the most prominent
characters of the pear are. Only those of the fruit need be named.
There are twenty outstanding characters which differentiate the
varieties of pears now cultivated, not taking account of those
introduced by the hybridization of _P. communis_ with _P. serotina_
which has given pomology the Kieffer-like varieties. These characters
are: Smooth or russet skin; red, yellow, or green color; large or
small size; early or late season; long or short stem; round, oblate,
ovate, and pyriform shapes; granular, buttery, or breaking flesh;
sweet or acid flavor. In the pears described by Pliny so many of
these characters are mentioned or may be assumed to be present from
inference, that the conclusion is forced that in the many new pure-bred
pears of _P. communis_ which have come into existence since Pliny's
time, showing a great shuffling of characters in pear-breeding, it is
doubtful whether new characters have come into being in 2000 years.
This, in turn, forces the conclusion that if this fruit is to be
greatly changed, the change must come about through hybridization with
other species.
Another quotation from Pliny shows that the Romans valued pears
as a medicine as well as a food, had curious notions as to their
digestibility, and, as with most plants, ascribed other marvelous
qualities to them. Thus, Pliny says:
"All kinds of pears, as an aliment, are indigestible, to persons in
robust health, even; but to invalids they are forbidden as rigidly as
wine. Boiled, however, they are remarkably agreeable and wholesome,
those of the Crustumium in particular. All kinds of pears, too,
boiled with honey, are wholesome to the stomach. Cataplasms of a
resolvent nature are made with pears, and a decoction of them is
used to disperse indurations. They are efficacious, also, in cases
of poisoning by mushrooms and fungi, as much by reason of their
heaviness, as by the neutralizing effects of their juice.
"The wild pear ripens but very slowly. Cut in slices and hung in the
air to dry, it arrests looseness of the bowels, an effect which is
equally produced by a decoction of it taken in drink; in which case
the leaves are also boiled up together with the fruit. The ashes of
pear-tree wood are even more efficacious as an antidote to the poison
of fungi.
"A load of apples or pears, however small, is singularly fatiguing
to beasts of burden; the best plan to counteract this, they say, is
to give the animals some to eat, or at least to show them the fruit
before starting."
There is in the books of these old farmer-writers a mass of sagacious
teachings which can never be outlived--will always underlay the best
practice. Followed carefully, except in the matter of pests, the
precepts of Cato and Varro would as certainly lead to success as the
mandates of the modern experiment stations with all the up-to-date
appliances for carrying out their commands. Sagacity fails, however,
in one respect in these Roman husbandmen--all are fettered by
superstitions. In these old books on the arts of husbandry, woven in
with the practical precepts, which stand well the test of science,
superstitions abound beyond present belief. Thus, whenever the
discourse turns to pears, from Diophanes, who lived in Asia Minor a
century before Christ, down through the ages in Greece, Italy, France,
Belgium to the eighteenth century in England, runs the superstition,
with various modifications, that to grow the best pears you must bore
a hole through the trunk at the ground and drive in a plug of oak
or beech over which the earth must be drawn. If the wound does not
heal, it must be washed for a fortnight with the lees of wine. As the
superstition waned, the apologetic injunction usually follows, that, in
any event the wine-lees will improve the flavor of the fruit. Another
superstition, current for centuries, accepted by Cato and Varro, and
handed on with abiding faith almost to modern times was, as stated by
Barnaby Googe, a farmer and writer subject of Queen Elizabeth, "if you
graffe your peare upon a Mulbery, you shall have red Peares." Stories
of promiscuous grafting abound in the old books. Another is that if an
apple be grafted on the pear, the fruit is a "pearmain."
After Pliny follows a dreary and impenetrable period of 1500 years,
in which time but few new facts regarding the evolution of the pear
come to light in what is now Italy. The pear is mentioned, it is true,
by many Roman writers, but all copy Theophrastus, Cato, and Pliny.
Dioscorides, a learned Greek physician and botanist, who may be said to
have been the author of the first book of "applied science" in botany,
was the great botanical and pomological authority for the first 1600
years of the present era, many editions of his book appeared and in
several languages, and it is he who is most often quoted by writers
on fruits even until the seventeenth century, but he adds nothing new
on the pear, and does not even extend the list of known varieties.
During these 1600 years a great number of voluminous commentaries
on Dioscorides appeared, in several of which names of new pears are
mentioned, but, with the exception of one writer, the descriptions are
so terse that the new sorts cannot be connected with older or later
periods. The exception is Matthiolus (1501-1577), but since the English
herbalists, in their turn, largely copy Matthiolus, with valuable
amplifications, it is better to give space further on to them.
Perhaps one more name should be mentioned among the Roman writers.
Messer Pietro de Crescenzi, an Italian born at Bologna in 1230, wrote
a book on agriculture in which the chapters on fruits are especially
well written. For reasons to be mentioned, this book had a remarkable
influence on the horticulture of Europe for the next three or four
centuries. With the discovery of printing, nearly two centuries after
the book was written, Crescenzi was published in numerous editions and
in several languages to the great enlightenment of pomologists on the
cultivation of fruits, but with small additions to the knowledge of
the fruits themselves. Whether because the book was really the most
serviceable of its kind in the world for four centuries, or whether
by virtue of the happy circumstance of being many times printed, it
had absolute supremacy over other agricultural texts, is now too
late to judge. There is good reason to suspect that Crescenzi's is
the precedence of circumstance, for he stole page after page from
Palladius, of the fourth century, who, to be sure, in his turn, copied
Columella and the Greeks. Most of these borrowings, however, meet the
requirement of being "bettered by the borrower" that separates adoption
from plagiarism.
One other landmark, though a somewhat inconspicuous one, in the history
of the pear in Italy, is deserving brief mention. Toward the middle of
the sixteenth century Agostino Gallo, an Italian, wrote _The Twenty
Days of Agriculture and the Charms of Country Life_. With the fall of
the Roman Empire in the fifth century, agriculture was reduced to the
production of the necessities of life and pomology all but perished.
It required a thousand years to recover from the domination of the
barbarian conqueror of Rome. Hence, it is not surprising that Gallo
names but twelve varieties of pears instead of the forty-one of Pliny.
Gallo says that he does not name all of the summer pears, but leaves
the inference that his list is complete for autumn and winter sorts.
There probably was a greater number under cultivation at this time
in Italy, but Gallo's list shows that the number was small. Gallo
is regarded as the restorer of agriculture in Italy after the dark
ages, and as one of the most enlightened men of his time, so that we
may accept him as an accurate historian. Besides furnishing a list
of the pears of his day in Italy, Gallo names two that are now under
cultivation--Bergamot and Bon Chrétien.
THE PEAR IN FRANCE
Who introduced the pear in France matters little. The Greeks who
founded Marseille 600 B.C. may have done so. The Romans, masters
of ancient Gaul for centuries, undoubtedly planted pears at widely
separated places and in earliest times of Roman occupation. Or,
and quite possibly, the original natives of the land began the
domestication of the pear for, as we have seen, two cultivated species
grow wild in what is now France. Date and manner of introduction matter
less than a recognizable landmark in the history of the pear as an
orchard plant in France. There is such a landmark and a conspicuous one.
Charlemagne, the many-sided genius who ruled the Franks in the ninth
century, exercised his powerful influence in behalf of agriculture
during the time of his reign, and to him is due credit for establishing
the first notable landmark in the history of the pear in France. We
are well informed of Charlemagne's various activities while in power,
for official annals were kept at the Frankish Court. Charlemagne's
secretary has left a biography of his master, and many of the King's
_Capitularies_, or lists of laws, are extant. In these records,
agriculture is a matter of constant comment and the pear is often
up for discussion. One quotation serves to show that this fruit was
cultivated in considerable variety in Charlemagne's orchards.
In the _Capitulaire de Villis_, Chapter LXX, Charlemagne is reported
to have commanded his orchardists to plant pears of distinct kinds for
distinct purposes. That the command was of sufficient importance to
be recorded in a capitulaire indicates that Charlemagne esteemed this
fruit. The order runs: "Plant pear trees whose products, because of
pleasant flavor, could be eaten raw, those which will furnish fruits
for cooking, and, finally, those which mature late to serve for use
in winter." There is little information in this brief command, but it
tells us that a considerable number of varieties of pears were grown
in France in the ninth century, and that they were of sufficient
importance to hold the attention of a great and busy monarch.
Either the culture of the pear abruptly ceased with the death of
Charlemagne or records ceased to be kept that would throw light on
the agriculture of the next five centuries, for from the tenth to the
fifteenth century is an uncharted waste in the history of the pear in
France. Undoubtedly pears were cultivated during this time by the monks
who had the time, the taste, and the land for carrying on agriculture.
When the pear comes to light again in the happier period for pomology
of the sixteenth century, the many names of monasteries in the list of
varieties suggest that the monks not only busied themselves with the
culture of the fruit but greatly increased the number of kinds of pears.
Three great minds now appeared to make France the leading country
in the production of agricultural literature in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries and all paid attention to pomology. The names
of Charles Estienne, Olivier de Serres, and Le Lectier in agriculture
mark the departure from traditions handed down from the old Greeks and
Romans to the beginning of a new agriculture founded on first-hand
study and observation. The printing-press, it is true, was now an
invaluable ally, but these three men were of an original bent of mind
and would have been distinguished in any period before printing.
Charles Estienne, the first and the least of these three early geniuses
of French agriculture, published several works on agriculture, mostly
compilations, but all containing original observations, in one of
which, his "Seminarium," printed in Paris in 1540, is a list of sixteen
pears with brief descriptions of each. Not one of Estienne's pears is
now important, but all appear in the histories of minor sorts in the
last chapter of this text.
De Serres, known in France as "The Father of Agriculture," published
his _Le Théâtre d'Agriculture_ in 1608, a book ever to be notable in
agriculture as the first to break wholly away from the 1600 years
of repetition of book after book in the languages of Europe which
but copied the ancients. De Serres was a good farmer--most of his
farming operations have not been improved upon; he founded the first
experimental farm of which there is record at his home near Pradel
and so became the first of a long line of modern experimenters in
agriculture. Lastly, De Serres was a charming writer and his book
rapidly ran through many editions and was translated into several
languages. To him must be given credit for first sounding the alluring
call of "back to the land" which rings from nearly every page of his
books. Here is his appeal to plant pears; and words could hardly make
it simpler, more charming, and more compelling:
"There is no tree among all those planted which abounds so much
in kinds of fruits as the pear tree, whose different sorts are
innumerable and their different qualities wonderful. For from the
month of May to that of December pears good to eat are found on the
trees. In considering particularly the different shapes, sizes,
colors, flavors, and odors of the pear, who will not adore the wisdom
of the creator. Pears are found round, long 'goderonnees'[3] pointed,
blunt, small, and large. Gold, silver, vermillion, and satin green are
found among the pears. Sugar, honey, cinnamon, clove, flavor them.
They smell of musk, amber, and chive. In short, so excellent are the
fruits that an orchard would not be worth while in a place where pear
trees do not thrive."
This laudation of the pear, in which it is made manifest that many
pears of diverse shapes, colors, flavors, and perfumes existed in the
year 1600, is all that space permits from De Serres, though much could
be quoted as to the care of pear orchards, and a list of kinds could
be given, of which, however, the descriptions count for but little. Le
Lectier, to whom we now come, is a better authority on varieties.
Le Lectier, an attorney of the king at Orleans, was an amateur fruit
collector, but a collector who reflected and printed his reflections.
He seems to have been about the first of the many collectors who,
with fruit-growing as an avocation, have zealously sought to improve
and distribute varieties, and thereby have done as much or more for
pomology than those who have made fruit-growing a vocation. Though Le
Lectier collected all of the fruits of his time and country, the pear
was mistress of his passion, a passion which gave him such pleasure
that it excited others to become amateurs and emulate him. The result
was that a country-wide taste for pears was stimulated and a veritable
craze for this fruit was started--everybody planted pears.
The famous collection of fruits was begun by Le Lectier in 1598. By
1628, the infatuation to plant had progressed until Le Lectier could
send to his fellow amateurs a catalog of his possessions of fruits
with the desire to exchange. His offer to exchange shows all of the
collector's zeal. It reads as follows:
"I beg all those who have good fruits (not contained in the present
Catalogue) when he obtains them to inform me of it, so that I can have
grafts of them in exchange for those which they have not, but which
they wish to get from me, and which I will furnish them.
"Signed, Le Lectier, Attorney of the King at Orleans.
20th of December, 1628."
From Le Lectier's list we learn that 300 years ago the French had at
least 254 pears. In this catalog are many pears in the pomologies
of today, but, unfortunately without descriptions or any attempt
to determine duplicates in names or varieties, the list serves for
little more than a monument for one of the first and one of the most
zealous collectors of pears. Le Lectier, however, may be said to have
introduced the golden age of pomology in France; for, during historical
times there seems to have been no other period in which pomology
exercised the minds and hands of well-to-do people as in the century
that followed Le Lectier. Even the kings of France took pleasure in
using the spade and the pruning-knife. La Quintinye, the best of
the pomological writers of the day, complained that the country was
overwhelmed with books on pomology. Thus, was ushered in the period
which we may call our own in which the history of the pear may be read
in books innumerable.
As steps in the progress of the pear, the number of varieties may be
noted as given by French pomologists in the modern era of pear-growing.
Merlet, 1667, describes 187 varieties; La Quintinye, 1690, 67; Duhamel,
1768, 119; the Chartreuse fathers, 1775, 102; Tollard, 1805, 120;
Noisette, 1833, 238; while Leroy, 1867, from whom the figures just
given were taken, says that in the half century preceding, the number
of pears in France was quadrupled and that there are 900 varieties
for which there are 3000 names. Leroy notes three events as the cause
of the generous multiplication of pears in the period of which he
writes: The introduction of the many varieties grown by Van Mons and
other Flemish pomologists beginning about 1805; a little later, the
establishment of exchange relations with English nurseries; and still
later, 1849, the importation of a great number of new varieties from
America. To Americans, it is particularly significant to note that the
great progress of the pear in France is due to amateur tendance and not
commercial success.
THE PEAR IN BELGIUM
Providence ordained Belgium to produce the modern pear. The evolution
of the pear proceeded slowly, indeed, until its culture became common
on the clayey and chalky soils in the cool, moist climate of Belgium,
where flavor, aroma, texture, size, and color reach perfection. The
pear was improved more in one century in Belgium than in all the
centuries that had past. The part Providence played in endowing the
Belgians with an ideal soil and climate for the pear, is but one of
two causes of the results in improving the pear in this country. The
other is that the Belgians, ever notable horticulturists, give the
pear assiduous care, cultivate only the most approved varieties, and
in breeding, aim ever at high quality, so that Belgian pear-growers,
as well as an ordained soil and climate, must be given credit for the
modern pear.
The early history of the pear in Belgium follows step by step that of
the pear in France. In the sixteenth century, botanists were numerous
in the Low Countries, their zeal and activity showing forth in several
of the best of the early herbals. These herbalists, however, gave scant
attention to the pear. Dodoens, most noted Belgian botanist of the
century, dismissed the matter of varieties with the statement that the
names change from village to village, and that it is therefore useless
to give them. From this we may assume that a considerable number of
pears were cultivated in Belgium at the time Dodoens wrote, about the
middle of the sixteenth century.
Pear-breeding began in Belgium about 1730, when Nicolas Hardenpont,
1705-1774, a priest in his native town of Mons, made a large sowing of
pear seed with a view of obtaining new pears of superior quality. Time
is fleeting in breeding tree fruits, and the Abbé Hardenpont waited
nearly 30 years before introducing his selected seedlings, and then,
beginning in 1758, he introduced one new variety after another until a
dozen or more new pears were accredited to him. At least six of these
are still grown in Europe, but only one, the Passe Colmar, is known
in America. But before going further with the work of the Belgian
breeders, it is necessary to take stock of what was on hand before
their time.
La Quintinye, the most noted French pomologist of his time, in 1690
listed 67 pear varieties. The Belgians probably had all of these.
What were they? Most of them were old sorts--some were centuries old.
All, so far as their histories show, originated by chance in garden,
orchard, hedge row, and forest. No one seems yet to have planted seed
with a view of obtaining new and better pears. Camerarius in 1694
had made known the fact of sex in plants. Soon after, experiments in
hybridization began, but no one as yet had hybridized pears. Lastly,
nearly all pears, before the Belgians began to improve them, were
crisp or breaking in flesh, the _crevers_ of the French, while the
soft-fleshed, melting pears, the _beurrés_ of the French, were as
yet hardly known. Now, mostly owing to the work of the Belgians, the
buttery pears predominate.
Of the means by which Hardenpont obtained his superior pears, there
is no precise knowledge. Whether his new sorts were lucky chances
out of a large number of promiscuous seedlings, or whether he was a
pioneer in hybridizing can never be known. Du Mortier, a distinguished
Belgian botanist, gives the credit of hybridization to the Abbé, basing
his opinion on the fact that the characters of most of Hardenpont's
varieties are plainly a commingling of two well-known parents which
could hardly be the case if they were happy chances were fate ever so
kindly disposed.
Hardenpont soon had many imitators in Belgium. Indeed, the Belgians
seem to have been quite carried off their feet by pear-breeding, and
during the first half of the nineteenth century a fad like the "tulip
craze" of Holland and the "mulberry craze" of America reigned in the
country. Among the breeders are found the names of priests, physicians,
scientists, apothecaries, attorneys, tradesmen, and gentlemen of
leisure. The introduction of new varieties made notable in horticulture
the towns of Mons, Tournaii, Enghien, Louvain, Malines, and Brussels.
The awarding of medals for new pears produced the horticultural
sensations of the times. Hundreds if not thousands of new varieties
were introduced, of which many, it is true, have proved worthless,
others of but secondary merit, while still others, as we shall find,
are even now among the best pears under cultivation. But the great
fact, be it remembered, is that these amateur pear-breeders wrought
in a few years a complete transformation in a fruit that had been
domesticated and had been fairly stable for over 2000 years.
A few names besides Hardenpont stand out prominently and must be
mentioned. Of these, Van Mons is best known. Jean Baptiste Van Mons,
1765-1842, was a pharmacist, physicist, and physician, one of the
savants of his time, who, late in the eighteenth century, under the
potent spell cast by Hardenpont's work, began to breed pears. Space
forbids an account of Van Mons' experiments. Suffice to say that he
introduced more than two scores of pears having lasting merit, and
that in the height of his career he had in his "Nursery of Fidelity"
at Louvain, eighty thousand seedlings. Van Mons outlives in fame the
Belgian pear-breeders of his time because he propounded a theory for
the origination of new varieties of plants, and this in its turn
is famed as the first complete system of plant improvement. Van
Mons contributed but little of direct value to plant-breeding, but
indirectly he gave a great impetus to breeding pears and to the culture
of the pear, more especially in America, and we must therefore glance
at his theory and trace more in detail its influence on American
pear-growing.
Van Mons' theory, in brief, as expounded in various papers, is: A
species does not vary in the place in which it is born; it reproduces
only plants which resemble itself. The causes of variation are changes
in soil, climate, or temperature. Whenever a species produces one or
many varieties, these varieties continue to vary always. The source
of all variation, which is transmissible by sowing, resides in the
seeds. The older a variety, the less the seedlings vary, and the more
they tend to return toward the primitive form, without being able ever
to reach that state; the younger or newer the variety, the more the
seedlings vary.
In putting his theory in practice Van Mons took the first seeds from
wild plants or those little improved, from which he grew seedlings,
and from these the seeds were taken from the first fruits to ripen for
new sowings. This practice he repeated generation after generation.
Thus, it is seen that Van Mons was an early apostle of selection. He
is said to have distributed over 400 varieties, about 40 of which are
still under cultivation. It is to be feared, however, that Van Mons'
theory was preconceived without experiment or even observation for a
foundation. He devoted a life of most admirable zeal to verifying and
developing this vision of his early years with some material reward
it is true, but with a better foundation his prodigious labors would
have yielded greater direct results in improving the pear. Still, the
indirect results, his influence on the pomologists of two continents,
even though they did not subscribe to his theories, was more valuable
than the work of one mind and one pair of hands could possibly have
been.
There must always be pioneers, men who stray from beaten paths, but
pioneers seldom exert wide and deep influence at once--leave the worn
path, so to speak, and at once construct a macadamized road--yet this
was what Van Mons did. Pomologists agree that until his time no man had
exerted so profound an influence on pomology. His love of discovery
and love of labor permeated fruit-growing in Europe and America.
Fortunately, it was the age of the amateur fruit-grower. Pleasure
and progress, driven by curiosity, counted for more than commercial
success, so that Van Mons' new varieties at once gave him wide fame.
He was made known to American pear-growers by Robert Manning who
distributed his new varieties in this country and described them in
the horticultural literature of the day and in his _Book of Fruits_
published in 1838. Later, Andrew Jackson Downing, the brilliant genius
of American horticulture, published Van Mons' theories and described
many of his new pears in his _Fruits and Fruit Trees_, which came from
the press in 1845. Thus, Van Mons became the recognized authority in
America on all matters relating to the pear. Indeed, it is hardly too
much to say that we owe him obligations as the founder of pear-culture
in this country.
But the work of the Belgians does not end with Van Mons. There were
other breeders of pears, who, though not to be classed with Van Mons
as a Titan, lacking the quality of mind to set forth a new philosophy,
helped to enliven the impulse given by their leader to the improvement
of the pear by originating new varieties. Chief of these are Major
Espéren, of Malines, who introduced twenty of the pears mentioned in
the _Pears of New York_; Bivort, who has twenty-three to his credit;
Gregoire, forty-two; Simon Bouvier, eleven; De Jonghe, six; and De
Nelis, five. While, if the lists of varieties in the last two chapters
of this text be scanned for Belgians who introduced but one, two, or
three new pears, the list runs up into the hundreds. Labor finds its
summit in the work of these Belgian pear-breeders, who obtained petty
rewards by sifting millions of seedlings through the coarse meshes
of the sieve of selection. We can pardon these enthusiastic breeders
with grace for over-zealousness in naming varieties obtained with such
prodigious efforts.
THE PEAR IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
The pear can be improved only where the pear-tree flourishes, and then
only when assisted by the foresight and desire of men. This happy
combination seems not to exist in Europe outside of Italy, France,
Belgium, and England. The pear flourishes along the Danube, in parts
of Austria and southern Germany, and along the upper Rhine, but
the people of these regions seem to have been followers rather than
leaders in developing this fruit, having produced almost no meritorious
varieties. America is indebted to the vast region of central and
western Europe for but one major variety, the Forelle, and this sort is
of little importance.
Pomology, the world over, however, is indebted to Germany for much
valuable pomological literature. Cordus, Mayer, Christ, Diel, Dittrich,
Truchsess, Hinkert, Dochnahl, Oberdieck, Engelbrecht, Lauche, and
Gaucher, all Germans, and Kraft, an Austrian, have been industrious
compilers, and have given pomology some of its best texts on systematic
pomology.
Cordus, earliest German pomological writer, wrote an illuminating
chapter in the history of the pear, which must be reproduced. Valerius
Cordus, 1515-1544, a botanical genius, made botanical expeditions
to nearly every part of Germany, in the course of which he made
special study of the apple and the pear. He described fifty pears and
thirty-one apples. These descriptions are noteworthy as the earliest
for these fruits in Germany. Cordus is called by one great botanist,
"the inventor of the art of describing plants;" by another, he is said
to have been "first to teach men to cease from dependence on the poor
descriptions of the ancients and to describe plants anew from nature;"
a third botanical authority says of him, "the first of all men to excel
in plant description;" while a fourth writes of the four books of his
_Historia Plantarum_ "truly extraordinary because of the accuracy
with which the plants are described." Thus, botanists accord him
special distinction, but pomologists seem not to know this resplendent
systemist of the sixteenth century, who, as we shall see, is especially
deserving of pomological recognition.
Cordus is entitled to honor in the history of pomology as first to
print descriptions of fruits for the purpose of identifying varieties.
No doubt as soon as the earth ceased to furnish spontaneously the
primitive luxury of ready-to-eat food in the shape of fruit, making
culture necessary, varieties were acquired and became commodities as
they are today. Varieties were certain to originate under cultivation,
and their value was certain to be recognized by our first ancestors, to
whom the convenience, necessity, and expediency of having a diversity
of kinds of any fruit as well as of a means of keeping them true to
kind, must have been apparent at the beginning of fruit culture. That
such was the case, the most ancient sacred and profane writings assure
us. Varieties of the fig, olive, grape, and other fruits are mentioned
by all early writers on plants. That varieties of fruits would not come
true to seed was early known, and propagation by cuttings, layers,
and grafting was invented to preserve choice sorts. Many of the early
writers name varieties, tell from whence they came, and some set forth
a remarkable character or two, but none give detailed descriptions.
Cordus was first to engage in this sort of enterprise.
This chapter from Cordus is important, too, because it makes plain that
the pears grown in Germany four hundred years ago possessed all the
characters to be found in modern pears. Culture has increased size,
modified shapes, augmented flavors, brightened colors, and softened
textures, but no characters that can be considered new or distinct,
unit characters of the plant-breeder, have been introduced in the
four centuries that have gone by. The characters possessed by these
German pears are the same, so far as can be made out, as those of the
varieties grown by the Greeks and Latins nearly 2000 years earlier.
From this, the inference must be drawn that the characters of the pear
have not originated under cultivation but exist in wild types. New
and distinct characters can come only by hybridization with another
species. Pears within a species are changed only by a recombination of
the characters possessed by the species.
The descriptions of varieties from Cordus[4] that follow are commended
to pomologists as models of brevity and accuracy. These word-pictures
reproduce the pears as vividly as an artist could paint them. One sees
at once that Cordus was no compiler. Such descriptions as Cordus writes
can be made only in the orchard with the pear in hand.
"The domesticated pear-tree is like the wild tree in trunk, bark,
timber, leaves and blossoms, but has straighter and more shapely
boughs and leaves a little larger. Of the fruits themselves, which we
call pears, there are innumerable kinds, of which we will describe
some that are found in Germany, adding also their German names, which
vary, however, in the different provinces.
"_Probstbirn_, that is, Provost pear, so-called from their broad base,
near the stalk end in a blunt point, have a length of three inches,
breadth a little less. Their color is pale green, speckled with green
spots or dots; they are astringent to the taste, and by the abundance
of their juice extinguish thirst. They ripen at the beginning of
autumn, and quickly decay because of the abundance of watery and
rather cold juice. They are found in abundance at Eisleben near the
Harz forest in Saxony.
"_Speckbirn_, that is, Lard pear, swell in the middle with a thick
belly, from which they suddenly taper off into a point; they have a
length of more than three inches, a width somewhat less than three
inches; they are of pale color, and like the Provost, speckled with
green dots, rather mild and sweet to the taste, dissolving in the
mouth like lard, whence they have received their name, and with the
abundance of their juice they quench thirst; when they are peeled they
give a sweet odor. They ripen at the beginning of autumn and very
easily decay.
"_Kaulbirn_, that is, Ball pear, have almost the roundness of a globe,
except that near the stalk they rise to a blunt and inconspicuous
circle. Their length is scarcely two inches; they rarely exceed this,
but in width slightly exceed their length. In color they are pale
green, in taste and smell they rival the Lard with which also they
come to ripeness; these too easily decay. They are found at Eisleben.
"_Hanffbirn_, that is, Hemp pear, are like the Ball but a little
larger; they have a green color, marked with spots or dots; in taste
they correspond to the Ball, but do not dissolve so readily in the
mouth; they ripen at the same time, and are easily affected by decay.
These too are found at Eisleben.
"_Glockenbirn_, that is, Bell pear, from a broad base narrow down to a
sort of narrow neck and then end in a blunt head; they have quite the
shape of a bell, whence they have received their name. They are wholly
of a yellow color spotted with dots, in length a little less than
three inches, but in width they do not reach two inches. They have no
unpleasant odor, especially when peeled; in taste they correspond to
the Hemp, and reach maturity at the same time, and easily decay. They
grow in abundance at Eisleben.
"_Königsbirn_, King's pear, or _Regalbirn_, Rule pear, that is, Royal
pear, are large and big-bellied; they have a length sometimes of four
inches, a width a little less; they are of bluish-gray color, but in
that part where they have had the sun they become slightly red. They
are astringent to the taste and with a copious juice, and that sweet
and something like wine, they allay thirst. They ripen when the sun
has entered Libra, and do not so easily decay.
"_Klunssbirn_, that is, Lump pear, are of two varieties; both kinds,
however, correspond proportionately in shape to the Royal, but are
inferior to them in size. There is a difference in color, for one
kind has a bluish-gray color, the other reddish-gray. They have a
juice similar in flavor to the Royal but more acid. They ripen with
the Royal. In Saxony there is great abundance of them, especially at
Hildesheim.
"_Bonnebirn_, that is, Bonn pear, so-called from the city of Bonn
on the Rhine, from which they have been transplanted into other
districts. They have an almost spherical shape, except that near the
stalk they end in a blunt point. They are three inches in length, a
little less in width. Their color is on one side green or pale, on
the other, where they have been touched by the sun, reddish. They
are moderately acid to the taste, and abound with copious juice,
rather watery, very refreshing in effect. They ripen when the sun is
hastening toward Scorpio. They are abundant at Marburg in Hesse.
"_Schmalzbirn_ that is, Butter pear, so called because they melt in
the mouth like fat or some liquid mixture; their fruit is generally
swollen at the lower end and gradually tapers to a narrow neck toward
the stem. Like gourds they are three inches in length or often more,
but in breadth two and a half inches. They have a pale yellow color, a
pleasing fragrance, but are very acid in taste, with the admixture of
a peculiar, winey flavor; when insufficiently ripe and not thoroughly
chewed or too greedily devoured they sometimes stick in the throat and
choke the breathing; on the other hand, when ripe and well masticated
they melt in the mouth like fat. They ripen before the sun passes into
Libra. They are found in Hesse, especially in Frankenberg, where there
is great abundance of them.
"_Junckfrauenbirn gross_, that is, Maiden pear, large, are like the
Lump pear in color and shape, but in size somewhat smaller. In taste
they are powerfully astringent, so that they irritate the throat and
contract the lips into a pucker like a maiden's kiss. They have a
watery juice mixed as it were with sour wine. They ripen at the end of
summer. At Brunswick in Saxony they are very abundant.
"_Junckfrauenbirn klein_, that is, Maiden pear, small, from a swelling
belly they end in a narrow neck; they have a length a little less than
three inches, but in breadth somewhat exceed an inch and a half; they
are of beautiful color, as if one should mix dark blue-green with
reddish-purple; they are besides speckled with dots, acid in taste,
and in like manner are easily dissolved in the mouth. They ripen at
the beginning of autumn. They are much cultivated at Eisleben.
"_Hamelsswenstebirn_, that is, Ram's paunch pear, have received their
name from the fact that in their swelling shape they resemble the
bellies of wethers; they swell as it were with a thick paunch; reach
three inches in length and often even more, but less in width. In
color they are bluish-gray, but slightly reddish on that side which
they have turned to the sun. They have a very acid flavor, with a
certain pleasantness and a winey juice. They ripen at the end of
summer. They are found in Hesse and neighboring districts, and there
are preferred to other pears.
"_Loewenbirn_, that is, Lion pear, so called from their excellence;
these are called Hessiatica in Thuringen and neighboring districts;
their fruit is remarkable, holding the supremacy among all autumn
fruits for duration and excellence of taste and juice. They are
swollen in the lower part and generally unequal; they have a length
of three inches and often greater; in width they not rarely exceed
two inches. They are of greenish gray color, slightly reddened. They
have an astringent taste of marked pleasantness. They abound in
copious juice, winey, sweet-smelling, and very refreshing, so that
they speedily quench thirst; indeed the pears themselves by their
strong aromatic odor wonderfully revive the sick. They ripen when the
sun has entered Libra; finally when stored away they last for a long
time. They abound in Hesse, especially at Marburg and likewise at
Frankenberg, a town near Marburg. They are called Barber's pear, from
a certain barber who first introduced them there.
"_Hangelbirn_, that is, Hanging pear, are equal to the Butter in
shape, color, and size; they hang from a long stalk, whence they have
received their name; in flavor they differ from the Butter, for their
juice is not so winey nor so acid; they have a simpler flavor, not
composed of so many qualities. However, they ripen at the same time.
These too are cultivated in Hesse.
"_Margarethenbirn_, that is, Margaret's pear, are so called because
they become ripe about St. Margaret's Day, when the sun is entering
into Leo. They end in an oblong neck; in length they reach three
inches, in width hardly two inches. They have a reddish-blue color.
Their pulp is tender and juicy, of very sweet taste, easily melting in
the mouth; they have a very pleasant smell. They abound at Brunswick
in Saxony.
"_Winterbirn_, that is, Winter pear, from a round shape become
slightly conical; they are less than three inches in length, little
more than two inches in breadth. They have a green color, a very hard
substance, so that they scarcely give way to the teeth. In taste they
are very acid and refreshing, quenching the thirst with a watery, sour
juice. They ripen late in autumn after all other fruits, after they
have been touched with frosts and cold. They are found at Frankenberg
in Hesse.
"_Knochenbirn_, that is, Bone pear, have received their name from
their hardness; from a swelling belly they end gradually in a short
and narrow neck. They rarely exceed two inches in length and an inch
and a half in breadth. They have a light reddish color; they are of
such hard substance that they cannot be chewed raw but only when
cooked. They have a very acid taste. They ripen at the beginning of
autumn. They are cultivated at Frankenberg in Hesse.
"_Augustbirn_, that is, August pear, would be almost round except that
they end in a short point. Their length is a little more than two
inches, their width a little less. They have a yellow color, at times
turning to pale red. In taste they are acid, with a peculiar sweetness
of juice. They ripen early in August, whence they have received
their name. They are short-lived and do not last long. They abound
everywhere in Hesse.
"_Honigbirn gross_, that is, Honey pear, large, end in an oblong cone:
they are two inches and a half in length, but in breadth hardly reach
two inches. They have a bluish-gray color verging on yellow, and a
surface not so smooth; in taste they are acid and abound in sweet
juice; they ripen at the beginning of autumn, lasting for a while.
They are found at Wittenberg in upper Saxony.
"_Honigbirn klein_, that is, Honey pear, small, are of conical shape,
in length do not exceed an inch and a half, in width are a little
less; they have a light reddish color, a flavor very sweet and
pleasant, whence they have received their name. They melt readily in
the mouth of those who taste them. They ripen soon after the August
pear. They abound in Hesse.
"_Muscatellerbirn_, that is, Musk pear, are very small and conical, in
length a little more than an inch, in width a little less. Their color
is green tinged with red, their taste most sweet and aromatic, as if
it were flavored with a little musk, whence their name. They easily
melt in the mouth; they have also a pleasing odor. They ripen in June.
They are carefully cultivated in Meissen.
"_Schaffbirn_, that is, Sheep pear, are like the larger Honey in size,
shape and color, but a little more oblong and narrow. They have a very
sweet flavor, moderately astringent, and easily dissolve in the mouth
on account of the tender softness of their pulp and juice. They ripen
when the sun is hastening toward Libra. They are found in Frankenberg
in Hesse.
"_Waxbirn_, that is, Wax pear, are big-bellied at the lower end, at
the upper end taper off into a cone; in length sometimes exceed three
inches by a little, but in width rarely exceed two inches. They have
a yellow or wax-like color, whence their name has been given them,
but on that side where they have received the sun they invite those
who look upon them to eat them by their pleasing, speckled redness.
They have a sweet flavor, slightly astringent; their pulp is soft and
easily melts in the mouth. They ripen when the sun has entered Virgo;
they are short-lived and do not last long. They are found at Marburg
in Hesse.
"_Rostbirn_, that is, Rust pear, are big-bellied in the middle and
narrow down at both ends; in length three inches and a half, in
width two inches and a half. They have a yellow color, speckled with
bluish-gray spots; they have a very mild, sweet flavor, and easily
melt in the mouth; because of their extreme softness they last a very
short time. They ripen at the beginning of autumn. They are cultivated
at Eisleben and neighboring towns.
"_Aschbirn_, that is, Ash pear, have their name because they are
soft like ashes and easily dissolve in the mouth. They resemble the
Rust pear in shape, color, quality of pulp, and flavor; but are a
little smaller, and more conical at one end toward the stalk, though
sometimes they become big-bellied in the middle like the Rust. They
ripen with the Rust. They are cultivated at Eisleben.
"_Drinkebirn_, that is, Drink pear, are so called because like a drink
they drive away anybody's thirst. They are swollen in the middle and
end in a blunt point; in length a little over two inches, in width
scarcely two inches. Their color is wholly yellow, but they redden
on that side which is exposed to the sun; they have a sweet flavor,
tender pulp, abounding with copious and drinkable juice. They ripen
with the Rust and quickly decay just as they do. They are cultivated
in the country near Eisleben.
"_Eyerbirn_, that is, Egg pear, have received their name from
their shape, which becomes conical at both ends like a short egg;
otherwise they do not differ much from the Drink pear in proportion
and shape. They are, however, a little smaller, have a yellow color
speckled with dots. In flavor they rival the Rust and like them are
moderately astringent; they have a very sweet fragrance, ripen with
the Drink pear, and quickly decay. They too are found at Eisleben and
neighboring towns.
"_Pfaltzgräuischbirn_ (Palatinate grayish-pear), that is, Palatina,
which are called Mass pear in Hesse, are the most excellent of the
short-lived ones, and in like manner generally end in a cone; in
length they reach two inches and a half, in width rarely exceed two
inches. Their color is mid-way between saffron and reddish purple.
They have a tender, juicy pulp, an exceptionally sweet flavor,
aromatic as it were. They have a most pleasing fragrance both when
they are whole and when they are cut, surpassed in excellence by no
other variety of pear. They ripen at the end of August, when the sun
has entered Virgo. They are found in the Rhine Valley, in France,
Hesse, and many other regions.
"_Spindelbirn_ or _Rautenbirn_ (Rhombus pear), that is, Spindle pear,
are like the Rust in shape, color, and size, but a little narrower;
in substance and flavor they differ from them, since they consist of
harder pulp and so last longer; they have a flavor astringent and at
the same time sweet. They ripen with the Rust, and are cultivated in
the country about Eisleben.
"_Zuckerbirn_, that is, Sugar pear, are a little more than two inches
in length, rarely as much in width; of greenish color; they have a
tender pulp, melting easily in the mouth like sugar, sweet and of
pleasant flavor. They ripen with the Egg pear and do not last long.
They are cultivated in the country about Eisleben.
"_Packelemischbirn_, that is, Paclemiana, are like the Sugar in size
and shape; their color is green and bluish-gray; their surface is
rather rough, their pulp hard, juicy, and acid. They ripen with the
Sugar, and if they receive no injury they do not easily decay, but may
last for some time, as most others do which have hard pulp and acid
taste. They are cultivated in the country about Eisleben.
"_Kirchmessbirn_, that is, Church Mass pear, are round and
big-bellied, and end toward the stalk in a long, narrow, and much
attenuated point. In length they are three and a half inches, in
breadth over two inches, though even smaller ones are produced. They
are yellow in color, tender and juicy in pulp, and like the Palatina
and Drink in flavor. They ripen in autumn and last almost until the
sun enters Sagittarius. They are found at Wittemberg.
"_Knaustbirn_ or _Gelbe Honigbirn_ (Yellow Honey pear), that is,
Bread Crust pear, have a broad base and are swollen and almost round,
toward the stalk ending in a short, blunt, and rounded point; both in
length and in breadth they sometimes exceed two inches and a half,
but rarely; they are of yellow color, speckled generally around the
bottom; they resemble the larger Honey in color and acidity; their
pulp is rather hard but juicy, stony around the seed-receptacles. They
have a flavor between that of the larger Honey and the Lion and that
very pleasing. They ripen in autumn and sometimes last almost to the
winter solstice. They are cultivated at Wittemberg and neighboring
places.
"_Klosterbirn_, that is, Cloister pear, swell out with uneven belly
and toward the stalk become conical; they reach three inches in length
and not much less in breadth. They have a yellow color, speckled with
green dots; their pulp is rather hard and somewhat stony; their taste
mildly astringent and of slightly glutinous sweetness. They ripen with
the Bread Crust pear and last as long. They are found in the country
about Wittemberg.
"_Glassbirn_, that is, Glass pear, are round and slightly conical;
in length they generally reach two and one-third inches, in breadth
a little over two inches; their color is light green verging on
yellow; their flesh is tender, juicy, astringent to the taste, sweet
and winey; they ripen with the Rust a little before the beginning of
autumn. There is an abundant crop of them at Eisleben and neighboring
towns. They last until the sun enters Sagittarius.
"_Kirchbirn_, that is, Church pear, have an oblong oval shape but
end in a cone rather than an oval. They reach two inches in length,
in width somewhat exceed an inch and a half. Their color is on one
side yellowish-green, on the other, where they have received the sun,
reddish. Their pulp is hard, rather juicy, slightly sour to the taste,
and very astringent. They ripen at the end of summer and last for a
long time. Of these too there is an abundant crop at Eisleben.
"_Quittenbirn_, that is, Quince pear, like the Cloister pear, swell
out with uneven belly, and toward the stalk end in a short point,
like the conical Cotonea, but protuberant ones are also found, whence
the name was given them. In breadth as well as length they exceed
two inches and a third. They have a green color, a hard, juicy pulp,
rather winey and astringent to the taste. They ripen at the beginning
of autumn and last till the winter. They are found at Eisleben.
"_Parissbirn_, that is, Parisiana, are round at the lower end and
taper to a point at the upper end. Their length is two and a half
inches, their width not over two inches, or rarely more. Their color
on one side is yellow, but on the other, where they have felt the sun,
purple. Their pulp is juicy, their taste pleasantly astringent. They
ripen with those before mentioned, lasting into the winter. There is
an abundant crop of them in the country about Eisleben.
"_Weybersterbenbirn_, that is, Women's Death pear, would be round,
except that toward the stalk they end in a short, blunt point. They
generally exceed two inches in breadth as well as in length. They have
a yellow color, saffron towards the base, speckled with purple dots.
Their pulp is hard and rather stony, with juice slightly sour to the
taste and very astringent, like the Church pear, with which also they
ripen. They last into the winter. They are cultivated in the country
about Eisleben.
"_Kölbirn_, that is, Cabbage pear, are large, almost round, tapering
to a cone, three inches in length and one-half to one-third of an
inch less in breadth. They have a pale green color, one side slightly
reddish and speckled with dots. Their pulp is rather hard, juicy,
somewhat sour and very astringent to the taste, like the Women's Death
pear, with which also they ripen, and they last as long. They are
cultivated at Eisleben.
"_Hölpenerbirn_, that is, Hollow pear, are large, big-bellied, uneven,
and conical; in length they sometimes exceed two and a half inches,
in width almost equal their length. Their color is green; they have a
juicy pulp, winey in taste, slightly acid, and more astringent than
the Brassicana. They ripen at the beginning of autumn, and last long
into the winter. There is a large crop of them in the country about
Eisleben.
"_Safftbirn_, that is, Sap pear, are like the Hollow pear but a little
smaller and less uneven, of a greenish-yellow color; their pulp is
solid and when cut sheds a copious juice, when chewed passes almost
wholly into juice and very little dry substance remains; when the
juice is swallowed, it is cool to the taste, somewhat acid, winey, and
astringent. They ripen at the beginning of autumn and last for a long
time. They are found at Wittemberg.
"_Eierlingebirn_, that is, Little-egg pear, have received their name
from their oval shape; in shape and size they are midway between the
Drink and the Egg pear; their color is yellow, speckled with reddish
dots on a dark background. They have hard, juicy pulp, acid to the
taste, winey, and astringent. They ripen at the beginning of autumn
and last for a long time. They grow at Wittemberg.
"_Kruselbirn_, that is, Curling pear, in shape resemble a top which
boys throw upon the ground wound up with a string to make it spin. In
length they reach three inches, in width two and a half. Their color
is pale green, speckled with many green dots or spots; their pulp
is solid, juicy, very astringent to the taste, somewhat acid and
pleasant. They last until the sun has passed Aquarius or Pisces. They
abound in Meissen.