History Of The Pear
Author: Pat Malcolm

There is convincing archeological evidence from the excavation
of the ancient lake dwellers in Switzerland that the European
pear, Pyrus communis L., was known by that civilization. It is
believed that the pear was known by prehistoric man, but there
is no agreement on whether the apple came first or the pear.
The ancient pear tree of Europe was fundamentally different
from the Asian pear tree, Prunus pyrifolia.

English records show that in 1629 "stones of pears were sent by
the Massachusetts Company to New England" colonists to plant and
grow into trees at Plymouth, MA.

On March 30, 1763 the famous American, George Mason, made an
entry into his extensive orchard journal: "grafted 10 black
pear of Worchester from Collo… these are a large course
(coarse) fruit for baking" and old French pear variety.

Fort Frederica at Saint Simons Island, Georgia, was established
by the English colonists in 1733, at the same time the city of
Savannah was settled. In order to enable the settlers with self
sustaining food reserves, a plan was developed by General
Oglethorpe to introduce trees and plants for growing both in
temperate and subtropical climates that would prove valuable
for future farms and fruit and nut tree orchards in Georgia.
These objectives were reported according to William Bartram in
his book, Travels, that was published in 1773, 40 years later.
John Bartram, the father and travel companion of William
Bartram, made their research trip to East Florida, Carolina,
and Georgia partly to investigate resources and plant
inventories abandoned by Spaniards to the English as colonial
acquisitions.

Prince nursery was established as the first American nursery
for the collecting, growing, and selling of plants and trees at
Flushing, New York in 1737, Prince nursery advertised "42 pear
trees for sale in 1771."

John Bartram planted the seed of a pear tree in 1793, and this
ancient tree grew and produced fruit until the year 1933.

The great American botanical hybridizer and writer of his epic
and monumental 12 volume account of his observations on plant
development over many years by Luther Burbank stated that
basically, there were two genetic lines of pears that he and
others had used to improve the commercial quality of pear trees
and their fruiting. The European pear, Pyrus communis L., the
Asian pear, Pyrus pyrifolia, also called the Korean pear tree,
the Japanese pear tree, the Chinese pear tree, and the
Taiwanese pear tree. These were intercrossed to obtain a
recombination of genes to sift out the complex character
mixtures that would hopefully produce superior fruit. Bartram
wrote in his 'Fruit Improvement' about a pear chance hybrid
that appeared at a farm near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a
result of a European pear and the Chinese sand pear that had
been planted on the farm as ornamental garden trees. This
hybrid occurred on the farm of Mr. Peter Kieffer, thus bearing
his name for the first hybridized Oriental pear tree. The
"Kieffer" pear has a pleasant aroma; it is a beautiful and
graceful tree with huge white flowers, but this pear is best
when cooked into preserves or pies because of its firmness. The
cold hardiness and disease resistance make this pear a valuable
cultivar that remains a best selling pear tree even today.

Other Oriental pear trees that entered the popular nursery
mailorder catalogs were Le Conte, Garber, and Smith pear trees.
These pear trees became standard cultivars for Gulf State garden
plantings, where European pear trees do not grow well.

Other strains of pears developed in California were described
as huge in size, with delicate colors, fragrance, and excellent
quality. One of these hybrid pears measured nine inches high and
weighed five pounds—a single fruit.

Burbank pointed out that the commercial trade of pear frowns
upon large pears because of boxing, sorting, and shipping
problems, and the average pear fruit buyer does not often
preferentially buy oversize pears. The Northwestern United
States produce the most commercial pears, generally because of
the exceptional dessert quality of the fruit. The oldest pear
market sensation is Bartlett (Williams), that grows in a group
called "Winter Pears," including other varieties. Comice,
D'Anjou, Bosc, Red D'Anjou, and Concorde pears. These cultivars
these cultivars have a very restricted area of successful
growth, because of their fragile European pear parentage, Pyrus
communis, and are not recommended for growing in most United
States regions.

The pear tree is unique as a non-shriveling fruit being easily
recognizable from its normal description referring to the shape
of the fruit, "pear shaped," a specific form that everyone
understands. Buyers of pear fruit are very biased in purchasing
a pear in the shape they are accustomed to, and they will often
reject the Asian pear, 'Pyrus pyrifolia, a round or apple
shaped fruit. The texture of pears is unique among fruits along
with aroma, taste and the idea that pears (European clones)
should be picked off the tree to ripen later; whereas, the
Asian pears are better left on the trees to ripen for full
flavor development. The skin of pears grow in a broad array of
colors, green, yellow, orange, red, and mottled, and this makes
a great protective shield from the eyes of birds and other
animals. Pear trees require longer periods of maturity to begin
fruiting than most other fruit trees, but the tree will bear
earlier if grafted on a dwarfing quince rootstock; however,
most tree merchants offer semi-dwarf trees for sale, and of
course, larger trees begin fruiting earlier than small trees.
Asian pear trees produce fruit sooner than those trees with
European pear ancestry. One factor that has delayed the spread
of pear trees since antiquity is the fact that the seeds show
poor germination success unless they are moist and most
travelers on the ancient "Silk Road" trading routes dried the
seed for selling or exchanging.

Fruit buyers of America have shown a dramatic and increased
interest in purchasing fresh pears at the grocery store in the
past 25 years. The USDA resources state that the per capita
consumption of table quality, fresh pears has increased more
than most fruits, while the buying of fresh peaches has
decreased. Fresh pears can be kept at near freezing
temperatures for as long as 5 months for consumer buying later.
For backyard gardeners, pear trees can grow 20-30 feet on
semi-dwarf rootstock and are well adapted for growing on most
soils, even poorly drained soils, preferentially on a pH range
of 6 to 7. Pear trees will grow and tolerate temperatures of
negative 20 degrees Fahrenheit.

Burbank performed many odd crosses with pear trees. He crossed
pears with apples and quince; however, those hybrid trees did
not grow to produce acceptable fruit.

Pear fruits contain antioxidants and no fat, with health
benefits from Vitamin A, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin C,
niacin, and the minerals Calcium, Phosphorus, Iron, and
Potassium.

Many cultivars of Pears are recommended for planting. Ayers
Pear Tree, Baldwin Pear Tree, Columbus Red Pear Tree,
Floridahome Pear Tree, Hood Pear Tree, Kieffer Pear Tree,
Leconte Pear Tree, Moonglow Pear Tree, Orient Pear Tree,
Pineapple Pear Tree, Sand Pear Tree and the Warren Pear Tree.
Four varieties of Asian Pears are also planted: the Korean
Giant Pear Tree, Hosui Pear Tree, Shinseiki Pear Tree,
Twentieth Century Pear Tree.

There are also four varieties of flowering, non-fruiting pears.
The Bradford flowering pear tree, Cleveland flowering pear tree,
Aristocrat flowering pear tree, and Autumn Blaze flowering
pears.


About The Author: Patrick A. Malcolm, owner of TyTy Nursery,
has an M.S. degree in Biochemistry and has cultivated fruit
trees for over three decades. http://www.tytyga.com