132 The Dioarf Pear Controversy. [March, 



planted four years, have all done well, and are about the same in 

 bulk ; the only difference in their appearance, is their hight, the 

 standards being allowed to form their heads higher than the others. 

 The ground before plowing, was worked about eighteen inches deep, 

 and had a slight manuring, but none since they were planted. On 

 one side of the row, is a hard beaten path, that has been constantly 

 tramped for four years, and on the other side, at a distance of three 

 and a half feet, is a row of nursery trees that were planted at the 

 same time with them. All the cultivation they have ever had, is to 

 keep the ground loose and clear of weeds, which is done by means 

 of the cultivator and hoe. The only pruning they have ever had, is 

 an occasional stopping of a strong shoot, and taking out any crowd- 

 ed branches that become weak. I do not think there has ever been 

 one hour's labor spent on them since they were planted, other than 

 the cultivation before spoken of, with the cultivator and hoe. Now, 

 if this is high cultivation and petting, I am mistaken in what is 

 meant by those terms. The Dwarfs have all fruited but one, and that, 

 as well as the others, is set very full of blossom-buds ; some of them 

 have borne fruit three years out of the four they have been planted, 

 others two years, and the remainder one. On two or three of them, 

 I have had as many as twenty-five or thirty pears at a time — on oth- 

 ers less. So much for the Dwarfs. On the standards in the same 

 time, I have had just one pear. I have other Dwarfs on my grounds, 

 that have been planted at the same time as the standards, and all 

 treated alike, and in all cases, the Dwarfs have kept pace with the 

 Standards. 



One more case, and I shall close for the present, not that I have 

 said all that I would like to say, but because I think tbis enough 

 for the present ; at some future time I may revert to the subject 

 again. 



One of my hands has a small spot of ground close by my nursery. 

 He takes quite a delight in cultivating his little spot of ground, and 

 is quite a successful cultivator. Four years ago, I let him have four 

 Dwarf Pears, two years old, from the bud ; these he planted in a 

 piece of ground of very moderate fertility, that bad no other prep- 

 aration than a common digging, such as is usual in common garden 

 culture ; they have never had any pains taken with them ; all the 

 cultivation they have had, has been in digging the ground on one 

 side of them, and planting vegetables almost close up to their 

 branches ; on the other side is a little grass bank, that has been al- 



