POMOLOGICAL NOTES. 



109 



POMOLOGICAI. NOTES. 



BY THE LATE SAMUEL G. PERKLXS, BOSTON. 



[We noticed, in our July number, the death 

 of our venerable and respected correspon- 

 dent, S. G. Perkins, Esq. Since that time, 

 we have received from his amanuensis, Mr. 

 Rhoades, two articles dictated by Mr. Pek- 

 KiNs before his death, and laid aside for 

 publication in the Horticulturist. One of 

 these follows ; the other shall appear in our 

 next ; and it is with no little regret, we 

 must then close this series of valuable pa- 

 pers, no less remarkable for their real prac- 

 tical value, than for the fact that they were 

 the last ebbing of a gardening zeal warm- 

 ly kept up till ripe fourscore. — Ed.] 



There is a notion prevalent with many cul- 

 tivators of fruits, that the cankered state of 

 many of the old pears is owing to their 

 approaching extinction, in consequence of 

 the death of the original or parent tree from 

 which^the first scions for grafting were taken; 

 they believing that the progeny of fruit trees, 

 called " Wildings," never outlived the ori- 

 ginal stock, or, if they did live, were never 

 thrifty growers. 



This is what they call " running out," as 

 they consider the St. Michael, the St, Ger- 

 main, the Virgoulouse, the Winter Colmar, 

 the Winter Good Christian [Bon Chretien,] 

 the Summer Good Christian, the Brown 

 Beurro, and many other kinds. 



The same idea attaches to some of the 

 old favorite apples, such as the Golden Pip- 

 pin, the Pearmain, and other sorts, the cul- 

 tivation of which has been neglected many 

 years from the prevailing prejudice. This 

 opinion has been abroad for near five and 

 twenty years, and, I think, grew out of some 

 observations of Mr. Knight, late President 

 of the London Horticultural Society, who 

 speaks of the Golden Pippin of Great Bri- 



tain as going to decay ; and says he consi- 

 ders it run out, and that it cannot be culti- 

 vated any longer. But, if my memory 

 serves me correctly, for it is many years 

 since I read his works, he attributes it to a 

 very different cause. He says, if I am not 

 mistaken, that every fruit carries within it- 

 self the limitation of its own existence, and 

 that he presumes the Golden Pippin has 

 arrived at that limit, because he has tried 

 to perpetxiate the kind by grafting with 

 scions, apparently vigorous and healthy, into 

 young and thrifty apple stocks without efl^ect, 

 the grafts invariably becoming mouldy 

 and shrivelled. This, or something like 

 this, I think, is the assertion of Mr. Knight, 

 whose skill and experience in the cultiva- 

 tion of fruits is, as I believe, acknowledged 

 by all who know him. This proposition ap- 

 pears to me a safe and natural one ; for 

 every organized material substance what-, 

 ever carries within itself the limitation of 

 its own existence — every thing must, I pre* 

 sume, perish — the spirit alone survives. 



But is it true that any of these fruits have 

 terminated their existence ? The St. Mi- 

 chael, the St. Germain, the Brown Beurre, 

 the Virgoulouse, etc., are all growing now 

 in certain places in Boston, as strong, as 

 handsome, as free from blight, and as good 

 in degree, as they ever were since they 

 were first planted there by the French Hu- 

 guenots, who introduced all the good pears 

 for ^yhich this city has so long been cele- 

 brated.* 



* Our Boston frieinls, who t'.iink tlieir old favorite, the Doy. 

 enne or St. Michael [known in New- York as the Virgalieu,] 

 "run out," should examine the gardens and orchards about 

 Syracuse, Rochester, Oswego, etc., in this State. If we are 

 not greatly mistaken, they will be furpri.sed before a long 

 time with so abundant a supply, via the Wusiern Railroad, of 

 this delicious old pear, from \\ eslern New-York, of such size 

 and coiriple.\ioii, as \\i\\ make iheni all turn potno-resurrection- 

 isia. 



