But three of these wild species are now under common cultivation, though it is possible that through hybridization the blood of one or two more are to be found in cultivated varieties. Several others have horticultural possibilities either for their fruit, as means through which new characters may be introduced into cultivated pears, or as stocks upon which to grow orchard varieties. The three species of chief horticultural importance are _Pyrus communis_ Linn., _P. nivalis_ Jacq., and _P. serotina_ Rehd. The pear of common cultivation in ancient and modern orchards is _Pyrus communis_, native of southern Europe and Asia as far east as Kashmir. The species is now to be found naturalized in forests and byways of northern Europe, as it is in parts of America, so that it is impossible to tell precisely what its ancient habitat was. While most often to be found in mountainous regions in the great area which it inhabits, wild pears are common enough in the forests of Europe and western Asia so that it is probable that most of the early inhabitants of this part of the Old World enlivened their fare, obtained with the spear or the bow, with ready-made food from the pear. The species runs into at least three botanical forms, a dozen or more horticultural divisions and between two and three thousand orchard varieties. _Pyrus nivalis_, the Snow pear, is a small tree native of southern Europe, more particularly of Austria and northern Italy, from which region it has spread in modern times as an escape from cultivation into neighboring countries. It is called Snow pear because the fruits are not fit to eat until after snow falls. The French call it the "Sage-leaved pear" (_Poirier sauger_), from the fact that the under side of the leaves is covered with down so that the leaf resembles that of garden sage. The Snow pear is cultivated in southern Europe, particularly in France, for the making of perry for which purpose several varieties are grown. Probably the Greeks and Romans used fruit of this species for perry so that it may be said to have had attention from man, if not care under cultivation, from the earliest times. It is doubtful if it has been hybridized with _P. communis_, parent of nearly all cultivated pears. The Snow pear is not cultivated in America but is to be found in botanical collections. From _Pyrus serotina_ came the Japanese, Chinese, or Sand pears of pomologists. The species is a native of central and eastern China and is found wild in Japan, but whether as a native or as an escape from cultivation it is impossible to say. There are three botanical forms of the species and possibly a score of horticultural varieties cultivated for their fruits and as ornamentals. Of all the species of Pyrus found in western Asia, this, in the light of present knowledge, is most closely related to the common pear, with which it hybridizes freely.