Looks like Comice.

Comice would not be rock hard - they are one of the most delicious eaters available. And they are not that spherical.

All pears will be hard and sour when picked. They soften and ripen in storage. So pick a bushel or so, split it in two, and ripen some in the (unheated) garage and some in the kitchen, to see what works best.

Its hard to tell much from that picture, a picture of a few of the pears close up would be more helpful. I can't tell if they are round or its just that the picture is from the bottom of the fruits. There are countless old pear varieties that these could be. See below for a link with pictures of many old pear varieties that were popular in the US a hundred or so years ago. The age of the tree would also help identify it if you knew it.

Scott

Here is a link that might be useful: Pears of NY pictures

Wow, scottfsmith, I had no idea there were sooooooo many pear varieties! After looking at all the pics I've narrowed it down to about 30 possibilities. I will get a few more pics with close ups. I thought this was going to be easy.

Over on the trees forum the OP says these pears are 2" -3" so they are definitely not Comice. glib - I was assuming the OP meant these fruit stayed hard.

The French perry (pear cider) industry was the source long ago for seeds for pear rootstock in the US. Other seedlings were used thereafter and are stll used somewhat. The death of the grafted scion type (from fireblight or other ills) has left a lot of seedling pear rootstocks now grown into trees here and there. These will be of no named selection. Some survivors yield wonderful locally adapted trees for deer pears or even human enjoyment and propagation, but some are too hard even for deer.

Pear seedlings are a common occurance around here and they are often about like the ones you show in the picture and describe- hard and pretty much worthless.

Whoever said pears need to ripen off the tree to soften up is mistaken, at least in my experience. They soften up on the tree well enough- the problem is internal rot and grainier texture. Some like Seckel, Bosc, and Highland ripen nicely on the tree in my climate in southern NY.

Instead of trying to identify a pear that seems to have no value and is most likely not a named variety I suggest you graft some useful varieties to the tree and begin harvesting wonderful fruit in 2 or 3 years.

Okay here are some more pictures. Harvestman, if these turn out to be useless (for human consumption) I will leave it at that, and continue using them to feed livestock and wildlife. That equals value in my book, and that has been their use for several years. What sparked my interest in identifying was that someone posted in another forum what seemed like the same tree, that these are good eating if allowed to ripen off the tree for a month. Time will tell, as there is a bucket full sitting in my garage as we speak. In my opinion planting additional trees would be way easier than grafting, but I have limited time. That might be fun project someday down the road, thanks for the suggestion.
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Certainly looks like a selected varieties and not seedlings now that I see the photo. Seems to be purposely trained to open center and they have a clear graft bulge.

If the indoor ripening doesn't work and you ever decide to turn it into something that can feed both livestock and you (the livestock will like it better as well), you can hack the hell out of a south facing scaffold and the following year put a few splice grafts on water sprouts that will result from the severe pruning. I'd reduce the height drastically cutting down to a lower branch. The grafting would take about 20 minutes and is much simpler than replacing a plug on an appliance. A child could do it.

Wow. I want to see you pick that one at the top!

I agree, its probably a named variety. I may be Belle Lucrative, that little bump by the stem is not common and BL is one pear with that. It also looks something like some of the Bergamotte pears. Its definitely an old one judging from the size of that tree, 75 years I would guess.

Scott

Isn't it just that common southern pear that stays hard on the tree and finally gets sweet very late in the season? Here nothing bothers it unsprayed, not even fire blight. Even at it's best is it a bit bland but makes good preserves. I always forget its name but if none of you southerners knows what I'm talking about I'll look it up.

As I recall, it is a beautiful pear in bloom as it flowers before showing any leaf, in the manner of cornus Florida- common dogwood.

"Kieffer" is the most common hard southern "nothing kills it" pear. The one in the photos look a bit too round, but I am not at all sure about it.

It is the right color for Kieffer but you're right, the shape is wrong and Kieffer is a much larger pear, but maybe this is a related variety.

I doubt this is some obscure French variety. It seems more likely it is a local one that had some particular use, as suggested. That's just my hunch.

Hman, back when this tree was planted Belle Lucrative was a common variety in the US. It was on the official American Pomological Society recommended pear varieties list for about a hundred years.

Scott