Pear culture seems to have reached its height, if it be judged by its literature and by the number of varieties cultivated, early in the nineteenth century. The Belgians' passion for pears was no doubt the chief stimulus, for the Belgian breeders spread their offerings with generous hand throughout England. In 1826, the catalog of the Horticultural Society of London listed 622 pears. Pomology in England was then, and is now as compared with America, an art of the leisure classes. This has been an advantage and a disadvantage to the pear in England. The advantage is that when fruit is grown for pleasure many varieties are grown to add novelty to luxury so that the fruit is thereby more rapidly improved and its culture brought to greater perfection. The disadvantage is that those who grow fruit for market find a poorer market for their wares since those who should be their best customers supply their own wants. For the reason, therefore, that the English take delight in growing their own fruit, pear-growing is not the great commercial enterprise that it is in America. Pear-growing in England differs from that of America in another respect. The pear-tree in England is built as much as planted. In many plantations each tree has a precise architectural form. The plants are trained into fans, cordons, espaliers and u-forms on walls; or as pyramids, globes, or vases in the open; sometimes in fantastic shapes to suit the fancy of the grower; and now and then as a hedge or border. The undisciplined standards of America are hardly known, though what the English call a standard seems to be increasing. This difference in training is due in part to the necessity of meeting different climatic conditions, and in part to greater devotion on the Englishman's part to the art of gardening--the use of the shears, the knife, and the billhook give the gardener greater scope. The pear-tree in England is often decorative as well as useful. THE PEAR IN AMERICA