LONDON HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY'S GARDENS. 



405 



it,) or headed-back, until they are forced to 

 make a growth of woody shoots from every 

 part of the tree ; which shoots are in their 

 turn to suffer from the knife in the follow- 

 ing spring. This process gives the trees 

 a. bushy and unfruitful appearance, not 

 creditable to the skill of the gardener. A 

 portion of the pears worked on quince 

 stock have also received similar treatment, 

 but do not seem to have suffered so much 

 from this method of pruning. They were 

 of considerable age (25 or 30 years,) and 

 were very thrifty and fruitful. Those 

 trained upon the walls were particularly 

 fine, and produced splendid specimens of 

 fruit. But to a western New-Yorker, who 

 is accustomed to fruits equally fine, gathered 

 from trees which " take care of them- 

 selves," this looked like paying too much 

 for the whistle. Peaches, also, are raised 

 here only by great care and expense in 

 trenching the soil, and training the trees 

 to brick walls, heated with flues, — quite a 

 contrast to our method of planting a shil- 

 ling tree, in common soil, and, after three 

 or four years, gathering a bushel of peaches 

 per annum from each. In the fruit room, 

 I found (Oct. 9th,) the collected produce of 

 the trees ; except, of course, those which 

 had passed their season of maturity. The 

 fruits were neatly arranged, and would 

 there be called good specimens of the par- 

 ticular varieties. 



The pears were decidedly good, and 

 would compare favorably with fruits of the 

 same varieties grown here, both as to size, 

 colour and flavor. In fact, I do not think 

 this fruit is so easily affected by differences 

 of soil and climate as the apple. I found 

 many of those varieties which are most es- 

 teemed with us, are equally fine and highly 

 valued there ; while, on the contrary, the 

 most conspicuous varieties of apples upon 

 their shelves were for the most part un- 



known to me ; and those which I found 

 with familiar names, would never be re- 

 cognized by us unless their natural pecu- 

 liarities were remarkably distinct, — so 

 changed, and, almost without exception, so 

 much inferior were they to those which we 

 see in this part of the world. This fact 

 should make us careful of receiving the 

 judgment of this society, upon the merits 

 of any variety of this, to us, important 

 fruit. 



Among the pears in the fruit room, the 

 following varieties, well known in this 

 country, were prominent as universal fa- 

 vorites, and holding the same rank among 

 lovers of good fruit there that they do here, 

 except, perhaps, the White Doyenne, which 

 seems more variable in quality than most 

 others. 



Beurre Bosc — fine, great bearer. Beurre 

 Diel — fine. Beurre Capiaumont — good, 

 great bearer. Belle et Bonne — 2d quality. 

 Duchess d'Angouleme — fine. Seckel — fine. 

 Forelle — beautiful and good. Beurre Ranee 

 — large and good. Glout Morceau — fine. 

 Beurre d'Aremberg — fine. White Doy- 

 enn' — fine flavor, but cankers. Knight's 

 Monarch — fine. The fruit labelled Gan- 

 sel's Bergamot was a large pear, quite dif- 

 ferent from ours, and not ripe at that time. 

 Their Autumn Bergamot is probably our 

 Gansel's. 



The arboretum, adjoining the fruit de- 

 partment, was much more attractive to the 

 eye, if not to the palate, than the fruit room. 

 In fact, I can scarcely conceive anything 

 more beautiful than the grounds there laid 

 out, and kept, in the best of style, — having 

 a carpet of green, made as short and as 

 soft as a rug by frequent mowing and 

 sweeping, to form an appropriate ground- 

 work for beautiful groups, and detached 

 specimens of the most noted hardy trees, 

 shrubs, &c. Among the most beautiful of 



