http://www.durgan.org/URL/?BLCQP 4 September 2011 Pears
Pears were picked today, since the squirrels were starting to eat them. The pears are very hard and quite large. The type of pear is unknown. Pears are picked unripe and allowed to ripen indoors, otherwise they tend to be grainy and sort of discolored from the center out. The picked fruit were placed in a large bag with a banana to generate ethylene gas to enhance and stimulate ripening. When ripe they will be made in to juice and pressured canned. There is another smaller pear tree, not shown, in the garden to insure good pollination.
http://pakupaku.info/knowledge/ethylene.shtml A discussion regarding ethylene gas.