Day two at the pear conference began with an identification talk by Jim Arbury the fruit officer for RHS Wisley, and all I can say is that I'm completely in awe of someone with that much knowledge, and a very nice chap he was too! Next Jim Chapman taught us a lot about perry, which surprisingly is supposed to be still not sparkling like that hideous 70's drink Babycham. After lunch the orchard officer for DEFRA, Chris Wedge, gave us a lecture on biodiversity and how best to preserve it, he pointed out that orchard losses in England stand at 75% since 1950, a truly shocking figure. A point well illustrated by the tale of a recently built housing estate, where the different streets are named after the fruit varieties in the orchard that was bulldozed in order to accommodate the properties! And so the conference drew to a close, it has been the first of its kind since 1885 and has brought together not only British and Scottish fruit growers but also a German delegate and two from Australia, all people committed to raising awareness of this venerable fruit and preserving the orchards in which it is grown.
"It is in my view, the duty of an apple to be crisp and crunchable, but a pear should have such texture as leads to silent consumption"
Edward Bunyard
I just had to include a pic of this wonderful stripey pear called a pysanka, it's not a hoax they really do grow like that!
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