320 THE TEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



till the beginning of Jane. They may then be planted out in light, rich soil; and the proba- 

 bility is they wiJl be three feet high by autumn. 



We have October and November peart without end; their names are legion, and serve to 

 ite distaste rather than a wish for a collection of pears. To raise new ami fine late pen-. 

 a word or two as to the selection of proper kinds as parents may not be amiss. That fine, 

 large, late pear, Leon le Clerc de Laval, reckoned a baking pear, but which in May and June 

 becomes soft and agreeable, should be crossed with the Winter Nelie, the most delicious of all 

 our winter pears. The Eastern Beurre may be crossed with JJutrre <V Artmhcrg, always vinous 

 and racy ; the Triompht de Jodoiyii' mas be crossed with the Josephine de Malintx; an I so on. 

 There are two methods by which fertilization may be brought about, in one of which chance 

 is in a certain extent trusted to. This is by training the bearing branches of two pear-1 

 on a wall so that the blossoms are mingled, or planting two pyramids of the two kinds of 

 pears Belected in a situation far removed from any others. The certain method is to select a 

 blossoming spur, or rather say a bunch of blossoms, and a day or two before they expand re- 

 move all the anthers, cover the blossoms with a fine piece of muslin, and the following day 

 fertilize the flowers with the pollen of the variety fixed upon to cross with. This is done sim- 

 ply by finding some (lowers in full bloom, with the pollen perfect, and placing them on the 

 blossoin> under the muslin cover, closing it immediately, and tying it securely, so a- to pre- 

 vent the ingress of bees. To those who have inclination or leisure, this occupation will be 

 found of much interest ; and to those who have not, the chance method will be equally 



The theory and practice of the late Van Mons, which for so many years has made such a 

 noise on the Continent, has been given in American works on fruits; but I may. I trust, be 

 allowed to repeat it in as few words as possible. He commenced by sowing tl -ome 



hardy, inferior pear, and. as BOOD as the trees bore fruit, he sowed the pips from them, wait- 

 ing again till the second generation bore fruit, from the pips of which he raised tree-, and so 

 on for Beveral generations. He gave out to the world that by this method he raised all his 

 best pears, and that those of the last generations were nearly all good. This seems to be in 

 uni-on with the well-known fact that cultivation brings on amelioration: but hie assertion 

 that by thus raising successive generations his last seedlings became so fruitful as to bear 

 sonn arlier than the first, or those raised in the ordinary way, was a delusion, brought 



on, I suppose, by enthusiasm. That some out of his many thousands of Beedling pears would 

 bear fruit Bome years before others, I have no doubt; but that it resulted from the system, 

 was an error. 



I am also inclined to think that his system of amelioration by -u I8t ive generations, 



although on paper attractive and interesting, was slow and uncertain, for the following reaSOO : 



Borne B ■■•■ ince, I n lling in Belgium, and paid a \i-it to the garden of the late 



Major Esperen. I learned that he had no system of raising pear-, but that he SOWOu Beed 

 according to his fancy, and trusted to chance. I was surprised to find that he had raised, in a 



lively small garden, and out of a small number of seedlings, such pears as Joeephine 

 \molU cPEtperen, Fbndante de Noel, Fondante de Matinee, and some others. I 



afterward- -aw the va-t collection of Van M..u-'- thousands of large trt I from seed 



after torn, and among them all it may be safely said that there was not one variety to 



surpa--, or even equal, the two first-named varieties raised by chance. To chanoe also, and 



i.-li vauntod-of system, we owe such peart as Varie Louiee, . B urri 



. B VAremberg, and, above all, Winter \ . so that we may console ourselves with 



the idea thai chanoe Is very liberal, and the system of Van Mons not so; for, after a whole 

 me devoted to it, it (ailed to give him five peart to surpass the above, ox one to equal the 

 oai I. I remember feeling assured, when first I heard Van Mons talk of bis theory, 



that it was cot tenable; for, if amelioration was progressive in seedlings raised in successive 



generation- without fllOSSlllQ, and if in like manner fertility was increased by it. the peach- 



orefa would give fruit all perfect In quality, and of wonderful fertility. - 



the | n some of the state- are raised, generation after generation, from the stoi 



What wondert the fortieth generation of peach-treee ought to be I They should bear fruit 

 even the first year from seed. Among the hundreds of varieties of peart with the name of 

 Van Mods attached to them, there arc some very good, although by far too many are sorts 



