FRUITS. 277 



would suggest to the trustees the propriety of confining pre- 

 miums to these alone, giving gratuities simply to those grown 

 as dwarfs ; and as we wish to encourage the growing of the 

 pear upon its own root rather than upon the quince — the last 

 belonging to the small garden of the amateur rather than to 

 the orchardist — we would again commend these suggestions to 

 the trustees. It is often asked, "why pear trees do not flourish 

 equally well in every locality ?" This we would say has been 

 attributed by some to their proximity to the ocean. But we do 

 not apprehend this to be the cause ; on the contrary, it is 

 probably owing to the want of proper soil first, and also in 

 applying too much animal manure not composted. Regarding 

 the proper soil for fruit trees, our practice has been for many 

 years to follow nature in her mode of enriching the soil ; or, in 

 other words, use vegetable manure more generally by the appli- 

 cation of leaves in compost with wood ashes, peat, and shell 

 lime. 



The supposed influence of climate or locality on certain 

 pears, as said by Downing in his book of fruits, he could not 

 sustain, and hence a few years after he gave up this theory, and 

 said : " That a larger observation of the effect of the composition 

 of soils convinced us that much of what we attributed to climate 

 was simply owing to a want of inorganic or mineral manures in 

 the soil." Another objection we have to the use of unfermented 

 animal manure, is that it stimulates, and as a consequence of 

 this over-supply, induces a sort of plethora or tenderness in the 

 tree, from a too rapid and forced growth. We prefer to see a 

 moderate and regular growth ; hence we believe that good pas- 

 ture land is better fitted for fruit trees than that which has been 

 long under the plough, because it is not exhausted of that 

 decomposed vegetable and mineral matter which is well fitted 

 to be the food of trees, the wood also ripening better. We have 

 long observed that young trees, particularly the cherry, if mak- 

 ing a great growth in the summer, was extremely apt to die out 

 the following winter, owing undoubtedly to its succulent growth 

 and want of ripeness in the new wood. 



Pear Culture. — There is no fruit cultivated that is so vari- 

 able in different localities in growth and fruit as the pear. It 

 would seem that, with the exception of the Bartlett, (which 



