the popular mind, that now they are everywhere sought after. The amateur and 

 the nurseryman have not only vied with each other in its praises, but multii)lied 

 their experiments in the flattering though vain hope, that our native pears uni- 

 versally declared best, would be improved by working on quince, till such a state 

 of feeling has resulted as to make it difficult for a nurseryman to sell to the unin- 

 itiated anything but a dwarf tree. Good pears are talked of — the press chroni- 

 cles their excellences — now and then a sight or a taste of one is enjoyed, and 

 somehow or other the impression obtains that nothing but a dwarf tree, a verita- 

 ble pear on a quince stock, will produce such fruit. The consequence is that 

 our nurserymen are driven into the necessity of working upon quince everything 

 that can be made to grow upon that stock — and the most refractory varieties by 

 double working are thus made to grow — " whether they will or no." This neces- 

 sity seems laid upon them to fill their orders ; for the charge is peremptory, 

 " Send none but dxoarf trees.'''' Pear-trees cannot be tolerated by the uninitiated; 

 many will not accept them as a gift, for their grounds must be filled with dwarf 

 trees. O Fashion — how inexorable art thou ! Must thy capricious, imperious 

 sway rule in this Eden world of horticulture, as thou art wont to do over thy 

 votaries in the world of pleasure; if so, rest assured thy day of triumph here is short, 

 for the period of reaction is not far distant ; the signs of its speedy coming are 

 even now visible. The disappointment at the result under the culture that nine- 

 tenths of them will receive, after they have taken their place in the extended garden 

 or orchard, will, we fear, bring such an opprobrium upon the few that succeed so 

 much better upon the quince than upon their native stock, and are really so im- 

 proved in character as to demand their perpetual use, as to discredit even them. 



In the spring of 1846 I planted 40 Bartletts, on pear stocks one year from 

 the bud. Of these, all live but such as have been lost from accident — have 

 made vigorous growth, and are from 12 to 18 feet in height ; their average product 

 the past j^ear was estimated at a bushel a piece. In the fall of 1849 I planted 10 

 Bartletts on the quince. Most of them were suffered to bear one or two pears the 

 first season ; they occupy decidedly the richest part of the same field with those 

 first planted, have been highly manured, and enjoyed as good culture as any trees 

 on my farm ; half of the number have died, are less than six feet in height ; their 

 united product the past season was less than a half-bushel, and this the largest 

 yield they have ever given. I will venture the opinion from their present appear- 

 ance, no one of those now living will enter its teens. 



In 1849 I planted 10 Vicar of Winkfields on quince in an adjoining row to the 

 Bartletts ; for four years they made satisfactory growth, and yielded good crops in 

 view of their age and size, since which time most of thera have declined in health 

 and vigoi' — two have died — two others give indications of premature death. 

 Forty other Vicars on quince were planted at the same time on a distant part of 

 the same field, have made most wonderful growth, and have borne more or less 

 year,* and from the rapid development of the wood principle, give promise 

 g lives of usefulness and profit. 



* The average height from 12 to 15 feet. 



Vol. VI.— May, 1856. 15 



