Return of the Pear

Pears were among the many fruits hanging in the gardens of King Alcinous, grandson of the sea god, Poseidon, according to the songs of the Greek poet, Homer. They had come to Greece from their ancient home far east of the Caspian Sea.

Since then, the pear (Pyrus communis) has traveled even farther, both in miles and in character. However, the luscious, handsome fruit of European and American orchards little resembles the small apple-like pear, crisp and gritty, that Odysseus tasted.

As a matter of history, the pear traveled northward with the Romans, not changing greatly from the 40 varieties that Pliny knew. Its real development awaited the rich soil and favoring climate of Belgium in the early years of the 18th century.

Belgian Contributions

At Mons, about 1728, the Abbe Hardenpont planted pear seed in quantity. Thirty years later, he was introducing a dozen varieties having soft, buttery flesh. At Louvain, Jean Baptiste Van Mons began his work with pears about 1785. By 1825, he is said to have had more than 80,000 seedlings growing in his nursery. Sev-eral hundred of these were named or numbered and promptly reached America.

Then, in the United States, pears became “the rage” among horticulturists and proprietors of large estates along the Atlantic seaboard. Eastern Massachusetts became the center of this activity, with the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, founded in 1829, as the clearing house of information and exhibits of the fruit. Marshall P. Wilder tested no fewer than 1200 varieties and introduced many new kinds, including the Beurre d’Anjou. In 1840, Dr. William Hamilton of Philadelphia imported 500 varieties of pears in one shipment.

In 1853, according to the noted pomologist and nurseryman, Patrick Barry, Duchesse d’Angouleme pears were bringing one dollar apiece in Philadelphia markets. In the ’50s, Prosper Julius Alphonse Berckmans, at his nursery at Plainfield, New Jersey, grew and offered for sale over 1000 varieties of pears. The well known Fruitland Nurseries (home to Augusta National Golf Course) located in Augusta, Georgia, which he founded, lists a mere handful of varieties, chiefly Bartlett and sand pear hybrids.

Since 1870, our eastern pears have been so menaced by fire blight that commercial growing of the fine varieties from Europe retreated to a few selected areas having fairly cool summers and mild winters. These were narrow strips on the south and east sides of Lake Michigan, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and the Hudson Valley.

Elsewhere, warm, humid summers encouraged the spread of the bacteria (Bacillus amylovorus) which causes young growth and fruit to blacken and die. It enters through flowers and insect punctures and, unless checked by drastic pruning, penetrates the entire plant. It attacks also apple, quince and a number of ornamental shrubs. Frequently, fire blight kills susceptible trees outright. In the past, there has been little defense against it beyond removing affected trees (in whole or part) and chemically disinfecting the wounds.

Problem of Fire Blight

Pear history was made during the summer of 1953 at the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, when, for the first time, fire blight was controlled by spraying with antibiotic streptomycin. This was found to function by penetrating the plant tissue itself, inactivating in the plant cells the fire blight organism which usually entered natural openings in blossoms, leaves and stems. The spray remains effective for at least 24 hours and has to be repeated during blossom time.

Experiments conducted in several experiment stations during the season of 1954 continued to show that spraying or dusting with antibiotics successfully controls fire blight. A commercial preparation of streptomycin appears under the trade name “Agrimycin.”

Despite this success, the control of fire blight has proven to be tedious and difficult, requiring the season-long attention of a skilled operator. As a result, it has constituted a major expense in pear orchards, even when trees were grafted on the most blight-resistant rootstocks available. So even the matter of rootstocks is still under intensive research.

Consequently, commercial growers everywhere are still on guard. They recommend keeping up the old control measures along with the spraying or dusting. Also, they maintain their trees in only a moderate state of vigor in order to discourage the growth of the succulent shoots which are an easy entrance for the devastating Bacillus amylovorus.

Chinese Sand Pear

Until the advent of antibiotics, the most powerful ally against fire blight was the Chinese sand pear (Pyrus serotina), which arrived in this country about 1840. Coarse-fleshed, gritty, and inferior in quality, this pear is nearly blight proof. Use of it spread widely.

Presently, hybrids between P. serotina and P. communis began to appear – Le Conte (about 1850); Kieffer (1863); Garber (before 1880). Although these varieties were not to be compared with the best European pears in quality, they were blight-resistant. For this reason, the Kieffer pear became one of our most widely grown pears in both the north and south.

Problems of Production

Today’s problems of large scale production and marketing strictly limit the number of pears commercially grown. In 1921, “Hedrick’s Pears of New York” listed nearly 100 major and more than 2500 minor varieties. Today, in California (the leading state in pear production), commercial growing is limited to 15 varieties, with most of the acreage confined to only six kinds.

In the West, as in the eastern parts of the country, the Bartlett variety leads by a very wide margin. This “success” pear (the Williams, or Williams Bon Chretien, of Europe), has been with us since it arrived in Roxbury, Massachusetts, about 1798. Not of truly top quality, but remarkably adaptable to different soils, climates and situations, it bears heavily and regularly many large, attractive fruits. These keep and ship well, also making an excellent canned and dried product. Bartlett is very susceptible to blight, but northern nurseries, as well as leading southern firms, continue to list it.

A century and a half may be a long run for a fruit variety, but all the present standard varieties are old. The small, delicious Madeleine, for instance (grown to some extent commercially in California), dates back to the France of 1628. Also, the popular little Seckel, which comes from a chance seedling found near Philadelphia about 1800, is actually more blight-resistant than most pears.

Under such circumstances, it is not surprising that Bartlett should serve often as a parent in pear breeding programs. Its efficiency, combined with even better quality, plus blight-resistance, could create a pear that in time would displace present favorites. Launching a new variety, however, that will meet today’s market requirements, takes years.

by Eve Beard

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