Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(UK Und.) enrolling in a regiment, taking the offered bounty and then deserting; the process can be repeated several times.

1811		Lex. Balatronicum n.p.: The cove was fined in the steel for pear making; the fellow was imprisoned in the house of correction for taking bounties from different regiments.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum 65: pear-making The act of drawing supplies from both sides.