Here you are LESCRETS FRUITS ET POMOLOGIE LISTE des variétés de poires existantes .There are more than what’s on this list. The hard part is there is a lot people who dont know that is needed to be known to understand pears. As an example pears are like their own language because it is different languages not just English or French. Lets say your an American pear breeder and your education is in gene modification. Lets say they attended Kansas State. Once they graduate where do they begin and we know they will start with common known types of pears. In France education in gmo is not allowed as it’s prohited in most of Europe. They are proficient in history and language of pears. Someone might say what difference does it make and the difference is huge. The word beurre means butter so when you see a catalong like this NCGR-Corvallis: Pyrus Catalog and your from france you know the pears that taste buttery. You are interested in the list below.
Most Americans do not understand what it means to say beurre bosc so they bosc Bosc pear - Wikipedia .Already lost by the time it arrives in the grocery store this is a butter pear. Same thing when it arrives at the gmo facility bosc is used in breeding to detect certain viruses but its not known there are more butter pears. Corvallis on the other hand teaches about pears and their collection is massive so the focus on analysis. Preservation of species etc. But not so much on breeding. Let me talk history for a second Jean Baptiste Van Mons specifically was a pear breeder whos work to this day cannot be duplicated Jean-Baptiste Van Mons - Wikipedia. This is an accurate statement " He was the most prolific pear breeder known, producing no fewer than 40 superior varieties over a 60-year period,[3] including Bosc and D’Anjou pears. Van Mons readily shared his observations and plants, and developed effective ways of exporting cuttings and seedlings as far away as the United States.[4] After his death his seed collection was acquired by Alexandre Bivort.
The French and Belgians were fanatical about pears, and spent an inordinate amount of time developing new varieties of pear with a buttery taste in the 18th century. A few Belgian varieties show this by having Beurré in the name. Louis XIV doted on pears, his greatest fruit love after figs and, not surprisingly, many varieties were cultivated at Versailles by his gardener Jean-Baptiste de la Quintinie.
He was a founding member of the second Société des douze. "
The last long term pear breeding in modern Canadian history was 1962 and it was harrow. “The ‘Harrow’ (Ontario, Canada) pear breeding program was initiated in 1962 to develop fire
blight resistant pear selections for the fresh and processing markets. Six cultivars have been
introduced for commercial production in Canada, some of which have been protected and
introduced in Europe. Several additional selections have been protected in Canada and will be
introduced in the near future. Two cultivars have been protected, named and introduced to
the European market. All selections and introductions have good to excellent resistance (but
not immunity) to natural fire blight infections.”
270287.pdf (1.9 MB)
There is much more i could say involving pears around the world but i have said much of it already
History of important things like the jesuit pear have all but dissapeared which was brought up here Jesuit Pear