REPLY TO DR. WARD ON DWARF PEARS. 



CLEMATIS PATENS YAR. AMALIA* AND LOUISA. 



Two varieties of the Clematis patens of Decaisne (C. cserulea, Lindley ?), in- 

 troduced, with others, from Japan by Dr. Von Siebold. Like other varieties of 

 the same species, they are hardy, and are cultivated in the same manner. They 

 will grow in almost any well-drained soil. The Clematis loves the full sun, but 

 does not bear high winds. They grow best trained ai'ound columns, or when 

 employed to cover an old tree. They do not readily produce seed, but are multi- 

 plied by cuttings or by layers. Other handsome varieties of this species, figured 

 in European magazines, are C. patens Sophia, purple, with a shining green band 

 down the middle of each segment of the flower, and C. p. monstrosa, in which a 

 number of the stamens are transformed into petals, making a semidouble flower. 



In an article on climbing plants, the Cottage Gardener (London) remarks : 

 " After these come several new, or rather newish. Clematises, which, like CcBrulea, 

 are suSiciently hardy to stand our climate, but are seen to much better advantage 

 in an orchard-house temperature, and protected by a glass veranda, or some 

 very cool greenhouse. Of these, Clematis lanuginosa is, as far as we yet know, 

 the best. 



" My own opinion is, that Clematis Sieboldi, C. patens (which is the proper 

 name of Ccerulea), and the grandijlora variety of it, together with C. lanuginosa, 

 C. lanuginosa pallida, Sophia, a continental seedling from patens, alias Cceridea 

 grandijlora, C. coriacea, a showy kind from New Holland, and C. barbellata from 

 the Himalayas, and some others of recent introduction, should all be grown on 

 their own roots for pot culture ; but when used for trellis-climbers out of pots, I 

 am certain they would answer better if they were grafted on six-inch pieces of 

 the roots of Clematis montana. Also, I think that, no matter how they " went 

 off" in rapid growth, they ought to be cut back to near the grafted parts the 

 first two seasons, if not the third, so as to get a thoroughly strong bottom, that 

 would hold on for years and years, and still increase in beauty and strength. 



"Another fine-looking Clematis — indivis lohrata — was new to me; but, in an 

 orchard-house, all these hardy house-climbers will assume their native character." 



REPLY TO DR. WARD ON DWARF PEARS. 



BY J. W. FIELD, NEW YORK. 



Some remarks which I ventured to make at the Pomological Convention at 

 Rochester, and which received confirmation from Col. Wilder, L. E. Berckraans, 

 and others, not nurserymen, have been uniformly misrepresented and raisworded 

 in the several reports. 



They were substantially these : That being a lover of truth, and desirous of 

 learning the truth, in order to obey the truth. Dr. Ward's articles on dwarf pears 

 had incited in me the keenest curiosity to know if I had been pursuing a phantom. 

 I had therefore visited his place, and procured the visits of other gentlemen, not 

 nurserymen (which unfortunate class seem to have excited the doctor's suspicion 

 of their exact truthfulness), if happily we might discover the cause of such a sad 

 account of the failure of the pear on quince stock. The queries to be answered 

 were: Was it local disadvantages ? accidental causes ? originally bad trees? poor 

 cultivation ? ignorance of the nature of the hybrid plant ? a poor selection of the 



* See Frontispiece. 



