2 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



little — -where the general soil of the place is unfit for them, are easily pro- 

 tected when in blossom, ripen their fruit earlier and more perfectly 

 through being near the earth, and in the enjoyment of the warmth radiated 

 from it; and, not least of all, a large variety maybe cultivated in a garden 

 which affords room for but very few standard trees. To the majority of 

 amateur cultivators, a dish of pears at command every month in the year 

 is preferable to a glut at one particular season ; and with bush-trees there 

 is no shading of the ground,, and hence, in that respect, the cultivation of 

 flowers is in no way interfered with. 



Mr. Rivers does well in giving prominence to the pear as the best of 

 fruits for culture in small gardens. All the most valued varieties do well 

 on the quince stock, which renders them accommodating in their habit, 

 and by their moderate growth upon it facilitates the process of biennial 

 removal, on which, in a great measure, will depend their success when 

 grown as pyramids and bushes. But the extreme beauty of dwarf bushes 

 when furnished to within a few inches of the ground, and kept regular 

 by a judicious course of summer pinching, is an additional recommen- 

 dation of the (prince as a stock for small gardens, where such trees may 

 be grown on well-kept lawns, and be as much valued as ornaments as they 

 are for their plentiful production of fruit, and the interest arising out of 

 their management. Beurre Diel, for instance, has foliage almost equal to 

 that of the camellia, and a regular style of growth such as scarcely needs 

 to be interfered with either by the knife or finger-nails, when subjected to 

 a regular process of lifting, and the removal at such times of all tap-roots. 

 Among the varieties enumerated by Mr. Rivers as especially ornamental 

 are the following : — Baronne de Mello, Duchesse d'Angouleme, Urbaniste, 

 Beurre Hardy, Doyenne Robin, White Doyenne, Louise Bonne cf Jersey, 

 Passe Colmar, Susette de Bavay, Bellisime d'Hiver, Zephirin Gregoire, 

 Beurre Leon le Gere, Delices d'Hardenpont, Prince Albert, and Berga- 

 motte d'Esperen. Easter Beurre, as a bush in full bloom, is one of the most 

 cheerful objects to be found in a garden, and indeed there are very few of 

 the valued varieties of hardy fruits, especially pears, plums, and cherries, 

 that are not highly ornamental when treated in the miniature fashion. 



The objects sought by regularly lifting and replanting are the encourage- 

 ment of a plentiful growth of surface fibres and the checking of all 

 tendency to a gross production of wood. So far from injuring the trees, 

 if performed early in the season, say at the end of October or the first 

 week in November, they make fresh roots at once, and instead of starting 

 away next spring in the production of new timber, the greater part of 

 the blossoms set if protected, and it becomes necessary to thin the crop to 

 prevent exhaustion of the trees. If the soil is of a chalky or otherwise un- 

 genial nature, a little good loam may be chopped up with turf, and the 

 hole filled with the mixture. Black moor earth, such as is often met with 

 in low situations, near rivers, may be rendered suitable by being laid up in 

 a. ridge and covered with one-eighth part of unslacked lime, and will be 

 fit for use in five or six weeks. Burnt earth and leaf-mould is another 

 good mixture to improve such moor earth, and in exhausted soils leaf- 

 mould, sand, and a little rotten manure will considerably improve the 

 staple as a compost. 



Another plan adapted to gardens in bleak situations is to plant the trees 

 against walls, not as espaliers, but as pyramids, or bushes cut flat on one 

 side, and at just sufficient distance to allow of a circulation of air behind 



