10 



MANAGEMENT OF PEARS. 



ly twenty years' growth canker at the tips 

 of their shoots, and their fruit is in most 

 seasons, spotted and misshapen. On the 

 quince how different ! I have trees, from 

 three to five years old, full of fruit, and 

 these have hitherto every season heen large, 

 remarkably high coloured, beautiful and of 

 the highest flavor. " Constant Reader " 

 will, I think, see that I have some confi- 

 dence in the Quince stock, when I state 

 that I have a young plantation of this va- 

 riety, on the quince, of 1500 trees, which I 

 hope to make up in the autumn to 3000 ; 

 these are to bear to supply the London mar- 

 ket. At the expense of being thought a 

 little egotistical, I must tell him that I am 

 not only a pear-tree grower, but also a pear 

 grower ; Providence has kindly blessed me 

 with fifty acres of good land, on which 

 roses and pears, and I know not what, seem 

 to be " very happy ;" this is a favorite 

 phrase with one of our best gardeners, who 

 when he sees a tree in fine order, or one the 

 contrary, designates them " happy and un- 

 happy trees." 



No. 27 bears here on the pear stock a tre- 

 mendous quantity of fruit ; these are often 

 inclined to speck, and they seldom ripen 

 well in the fruit room. On the quince stock 

 the fruit are clear, always ripen well, and 

 are of the highest flavor. I have, as above, 

 given my remarks on a few well known and 

 preferable sorts ; they may be applied, with 

 slight modifications, to all the varieties in 

 List L 



LIST II. 



Pears that require double working, be- 

 fore they will succeed on the quince ; this 

 is merely grafting or budding some free- 

 growing sort of pear on the quince, and 

 then regrafting the graft the following sea- 

 son with the "refractory sort," to use the 

 expression of your friend " Dodman." 



1 . Bergamot, Autumn. 



2. " Gaiisell's. 



3. Beurre Bosc. 

 4 " Ranee. 

 5. Broom Park. 

 G. Brougham. 



7. Crassaiie. Althorp. 



8. " Wiiuer. 



9. Dunmore. 



10. Hacoii's Incomparable. 

 U. Inconimc, Van Mons. 175. 



12. Jean de Witte. 

 1.3. Marie Louise. 



14. Monarch, Knight's 



15. Nelis, Winter. 



16. Ne plus Meuri.s. 



17. Sai^it Marc. 



18. Seckel. 



19. SulTolk Thorn. 



20. Thompson's. 



21. Urbaniste. 



No. 3 is exceedingly " refractory," and 

 I am not quite sure that it will live and 



flourish for any lengthened period, although 

 double worked on very thrifty stocks. In 

 some soils this fine pear does not ripen well 

 on standards ; it is therefore very desirable 

 to get it to do well on the quince, as it will, 

 I have no doubt, bear when the tree is 

 young ; at present it is, while young, a shy 

 bearer. 



No. 4. My standards of this sort on the 

 pear stock, too often bear misshapen fruit, 

 inclined to speck and crack, and in some 

 seasons, not ripening well on the quince. 

 Its fruit is clear, fine, and remarkably high 

 flavored. 



No. IL I notice this Pear, as I remarked 

 a short time since one of your correspon- 

 dents inquired of you its origin, Avhich you 

 could not give. I received it Avith several 

 other sorts, from M. Van Mons, about eigh- 

 teen years ago. I understood him at the 

 time, that they were seedlings not then 

 named ; this is a very hardy and excellent 

 late pear, about the size of Beurre d'Arem- 

 berg, but larger, first-rate in quality as a 

 melting pear, and fit for the table from Feb- 

 ruary to April. The sorts then received 

 were placed in the nursery catalogue, as 

 "Inconnue, Van Mons," and numbered. 

 They all still stand under the same name, 

 with different numbers attached. 



The sorts I use to form a stock on the 

 Quince for regrafting, are Beurre d'Aman- 

 lis. Jargonelle d'Automne, Fondante de 

 Brest. These all form the most luxuriant 

 stocks. Grafting on the quince often fails. 

 I have known eighteen out of twenty to 

 succeed in sume seasons, and the same num- 

 ber to fail in others. It is an uncertain 

 mode ; budding is preferable. For double 

 working you may always graft, that is, if you 

 prefer it, or if your buds fail. Grafts suc- 

 ceed perfectly on the shoot of the pear pro- 

 duced from the quince stock the preceding 

 season. I earth up my trees to encourage 

 them to root close up to the junction of the 

 graft with the stock, but not with the view 

 of making the graft root. I wish to avoid 

 this, as the effect of the quince stock is then 

 lost. If you wish for cultivated pears on 

 their own roots, there is much time and la- 

 bor lost by this mode ; for any variety of 

 pear may be layered, and good plants ob- 

 tained in about two seasons. And now for 



