Catalogue of British Pears
Publisher: Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
Published: 1976
Place of publication: Faversham, United Kingdom
Language: eng
First sentence: Pears have been grown in this country for many centuries. An indication of the number of varieties then in existence was given by R. Austen (1665) in his book "A treatise of fruit trees". He wrote that "A late author says he is persuaded that there are 400 or 500 several kinds of Pears". This number is approximately the same as we now have today in the National Fruit Trials collection at Faversham.