Just down the road from Walter Reed’s birthplace in the Belroi area of Gloucester, a pear tree proudly stands tall and erect. It’s producing more pears than one family could possibly use in a season.

So, as he has always done since he developed his mini-farm, Paul Updike shares his bounty with neighbors, family and friends. During this year there have been blackberries and more produce to share with pecans coming up. Fruits and vegetables are not the only beauties among these trees and plants. Paul also has Texas roses blooming in profusion.

These pears that Paul so graciously shares are the fifth most widely produced fruit in the world. They are among the two dozen plants that are known to have been cultivated for over 4,000 years. The pear, belonging to the genus Purus, has a very extensive history reaching back to about 1000 B.C.

Some believe pears originated in western China, but a second theory states that the pear originated in Asia Minor to the Middle East in the Cauca...