The gardener's assistant; a practical and scientific exposition of the art of gardening in all its branches

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Identifier: gardenersassista04thom (find matches)
Title: The gardener's assistant; a practical and scientific exposition of the art of gardening in all its branches
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Thompson, Robert, 1798-1869 Watson, William, 1858-1925
Subjects: Gardening Horticulture
Publisher: London : The Gresham Publishing Co.
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Institution Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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d,but is not so abundantgenerally as the Crab, andis more frequently foundin woods and coppice thanin hedgerows. Like theoriginal type of the Apple, the Pear, when really in a wild state, and notmerely an escape from gardens as a seedling fromcultivated varieties, shows but little difference inthe fruits from the earliest known to have beenused by man. The fruits which were collected bythe lake-dwellers in Switzerland, and either usedfor food as gathered, or dried and preserved forwinter use, were small, hard, and untempting,just as those produced by our wild Pear are atthe present time. That variations are inducedby special conditions of soil and situation therecan be no doubt, but though it has been statedvol ii. on good authority that there is little difficultyin distinguishing wild Pears from seedlingsthat have originated from garden varieties, thisis open to question. We have raised seedlingsfrom some of the best cultivated varieties, andhave found among them forms that could not
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Fig. 895.—Pyrus nivalis. (Natural size.) be distinguished in any character of habit,wood, or foliage, and occasionally even of thefruit, from the wild forms. Another interesting form of Pyrus is thatknown as the Snow Pear or Sage-leavedPear, Pyrus nivalis or salvcefoUa (fig. 895), anear ally of P. communis. This is the PoirierSauger of the French, and is cultivated insome of the southern countries of Europe.Most of the perry Pears grown in France seemto owe their origin to it, but it is difficult totrace what influence it has had upon the de- 48 98 THE GARDENERS ASSISTANT. velopment of garden Pears generally. A thirdtype, Pyrus sinensis, a native of China, andcultivated both in China and Japan, possessesa large share of interest in connection withfuture possible development or adaptation ofPears to different climates, and we shall referto this more fully in speaking of the improve-ment of the fruit. The recorded history of the Pear, as far aswe are concerned, may be said to commence

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