Pear tree, Pyrus. A large tree which is more widespread in the temperate climates of Europe than in other parts of the world. French soil seems particularly favourable to this tree: we have over the past century successfully endeavoured to collect the best species and perfect them by grafting. [1] The pear tree is upright rather than spreading. It forms a straight, detached stem of which the crown is furnished with a great number of thorny shoots. Its roots, which tend to pivot, penetrate to a great depth. When the tree is full grown, the bark becomes furrowed and extremely rough. The leaves are oblong, pointed, medium-sized, and of a glossy green. The clusters of white flowers appear in April. The fruit is usually pyramidal and sometimes round, but it varies in shape and size according to the cultivar, and its colour, taste, and ripening season vary for the same reason.

The pear is the most prized ‘pip-fruit’ tree and the most commonly- cultivated fruit tree in the fruit and kitchen gardens of the wealthy, while apples abound in the orchards of common people. The reason for this last preference is that the acid which dominates in apples, especially rennets which are the most widespread, means that they keep longer and may be eaten before they are ripe, because the acid corrects their greenness, whereas pears are edible only when they are more or less ripe. But good pears, by their variety, different ripening seasons, and the rich and refined flavour of the majority, are infinitely superior to the finest apples.

Pears may be propagated from seed and by grafting. The first method is suitable only for procuring rootstocks for grafting, given that the pips of a good pear not only fail to come true but also give pears which are usually wild and degenerate; it is true that a few may prove excellent, but this is a rare and chance occurrence. It is therefore only by grafting that one can be certain to obtain the same fruit.

Pears can be cleft grafted or shield budded on to wild pears, pear cultivars, wild quinces, or hawthorns. Hawthorns are not used as rootstocks because they dry up the fruit. Wild pears are used only when there is no alternative, because they conserve a bitterness which passes to the fruit one has grafted on top. One usually grafts on to pear cultivars when raising trees for the open ground and on to wild quinces when forming espaliers or growing pear trees as bushes.

In order to procure pear rootstocks, the pips of all sorts of edible pear are sown, whereas wild quince rootstocks are grown from cuttings or layers. When the rootstocks are sufficiently strong, pear cultivars are cleft grafted or shield budded, whereas wild quinces are always shield budded. For the proper grafting season and method, see Tree nursery.

In order to establish which soil conditions are most suited to the pear, one must consider this tree from two different angles: wild pears and cultivars require different soil conditions from wild quinces, for when a pear grafted on to a wild quince is planted, one is not planting a pear but a wild quince.

Wild pears thrive in cold, damp sites of any exposure: plains, slopes, and mountains are equally suited to it and it springs up everywhere, even in close, shaded areas. It is no more difficult with regard to the soil: it thrives in soil which is rich, heavy, coarse, and mixed with clay. It is frequently seen to thrive in dry soil mixed with stones, sand, or gravel, and thrives equally well in the most hard-packed blue clay. Its roots penetrate right down into the rocks: tufa is practically the only substance which can stop and weaken this tree.

Pears grafted on to cultivars require soil which is loamy, muddy, soft, and fertile, such as wheat land.

Pears grafted on to wild quinces often fruit after three years, but are less long-lived than pears which are grafted on to pear cultivars. Wild quinces make excellent rootstocks for beurrés and pears which melt in the mouth: these fruits attain a degree of perfection which they do not reach when grafted on to pear cultivars, when moreover they fruit only after twelve or fifteen years. However, when one wishes to plant the trees in dry, arid land, pears grafted on to cultivars are more suitable than pears grafted on to wild quinces: the former grow more rapidly and support themselves better on high ground; moreover, crisp, gritty pears improve on pear cultivar rootstocks, while some pears do not take again on wild quinces.

While pears may also be grafted on to hawthorns, this method is no longer used, because it makes the fruit dry and woolly. Pears may also be grafted on to apple and medlar rootstocks, but this produces trees which are feeble, languid, and not long-lived. The same is true of some trees which can in theory be grafted on to the pear, such as apples, medlars, and azaroles; only wild quinces take again on pears, but this is without use.

Pears assume a variety of forms: they may be left to grow freely into full standards, trained as espaliers, or grown as bushes. Pears grafted on to cultivars or wild stocks are the most suitable for forming standards, while pears grafted on to wild quinces are commonly used for trees which are to be trained.

When removing half-standard pears from the tree nursery in order to plant them permanently, one must choose vigorous trees with smooth barks and good graft unions. Maidens are usually too feeble, while those with a graft of three years are frequently too formed; pears which have been grafted for two years should nearly always be preferred. This tree is so hardy that it should always be transplanted in autumn, when it will take root again more reliably than in spring. Moreover, pears grow vigorously when they are maidens, which is beneficial when establishing the desired shape of young trees. Those which grow freely into full standards may be spaced at intervals of 20 or 24 feet, those which are grown as bushes at intervals of 12-15 feet, and those which are destined for esapliers at 10 or 12 feet, according to the depth and condition of the soil.

Pears lend themselves readily to being pruned: branches of medium breadth may be lopped in any season and at any age without detriment. Feeble trees must be pruned in autumn, whereas trees which are too vigorous must not be pruned until spring. Full standards require only formative pruning in order to shape the crowns; in subsequent years one lops only dead wood and superfluous or detrimental branches. In order to give a fine shape to espaliers, those which are destined to fill the top of the wall should have stems of 5-6 feet, whereas those which are to cover the bottom should be kept close to the ground. One must then train a sufficient number of strong branches to grow out on either side at the same angle, in order to form the fan precisely and avoid empty spaces or crossing branches. The whole must be checked at the correct point in order to make the trees finely formed while yet conditioning them to bear fruit profitably. One must endeavour to control the sap, so that it flows equally into all of the branches. Branches which are useless, flawed, or detrimental, or which cross or are too vigorous, should be cut back or shortened, though crossing branches are preferable to gaps on the wall. [2]

With pears grown as bushes, the beauty of the form lies in the stem being extremely short and the bush perfectly rounded and open-centred in the form of a vase, until it is regularly broad and uniformly dense in outline and no more than six or seven feet tall. Moreover, since one should not lose sight of the form’s utility when seeking to establish its beauty, gardeners should above all prune sparingly, leaving the trees with a sufficient quantity of fruit according to their strength and size. We will not detail the rules governing accurate pruning, since the nature of this work does not permit it. See Pruning.

Pears grow more slowly than apples but are more indifferent to soil condition; they are more long-lived and their wood is more useful.

Wild pear wood is hard, heavy, compact, fine-grained, and russet. [3] It polishes well and is not subject to attack by insects. Carpenters use it for the side-pieces of printing presses and the small parts of mills. It is sought after by turners, cabinetmakers, violin makers, wood engravers, and bookbinders. This wood blackens so well that it resembles ebony and the two are scarcely distinguishable. However, pear wood has the defect of being somewhat prone to warp and makes poorer firewood than apple wood.

A drink may be made from pear juice which is called perry: it is quite pleasant when fresh, but does not keep as well as cider. Sods of peat can be made from the marc.

No known genus of tree has produced so many different pears: French gardeners writing at the end of the last century mention more than 700, with at least 1,500 French names. But one needs to be far more selective when identifying good-quality pears, of which there are forty at most. The same number pass for being mediocre, while the remainder are scarcely better than those growing in the woods. It is not feasible for us to describe these pears, which, moreover, are listed in nearly every gardening manual: see in particular the catalogues of the R.R.P.P. Chartreux de Paris, and abbé Nolin.

Some pears are of ornamental interest, such as the double-flowered form, a cultivar which is called ‘Double Flower’ but differs from the first, and the variegated pear, of which the greatest merit is its rarety.

Notes

1. There are about thirty species of Pyrus (Huxley et al., 1992, iii. 772).

2. Cf. article ‘Espalier’, where Daubenton argues against clothing an espalier wall entirely, since this may impede the production of fruit.

3. The wild pear is Pyrus pyraster.