THE PEAR CONTROVERSY. 



On page 63, February number, it is written : — 



" With some varieties I have been eminently successful. The crop during the past season 

 has not only been gratifying to my pride as an orchardist, but has proved eminently remu- 

 nerative ; indeed, the facts will warrant the remark, no crop grown upon the farm has paid 

 so well, in view of the labor bestowed, as a crop of Duchesse d'Angouleme, on the quince. 



" The sight of a hundred trees, closely planted in rows, about twenty in a row — each tree 

 resembling its fellow in size and form, and each sustaining as much of a crop as it could 

 prudently be trusted with ; the eye here and there lighting upon a specimen with its blush- 

 ing cheek turned towards the sun, and the whole, when gathered, yielding over twenty 

 bushels — was an argument in favor of dwarf-trees, the force of which the most incredulous 

 could not well withstand." 



Again, on page 350, August number : — 



" Our experience in this country certainly demands that the Duchess d'Angouleme should, 

 of all others, be cultivated on the quince — the more vigorous growth of the tree — together 

 with the improvement in the quality of the fruit, secures to it, in my judgment, above all 

 others, a substitution of the quince for the pear stock." 



Could I have said more in favor of this variety on the quince without exciting 

 a suspicion that I was actuated by other motives than simply giving expression 

 to my honest conviction of its worth ? 



On page 218, May number, read : — 



" In the same year, I planted twenty Louise Bonne of Jersey on quince, all of which are, 

 as to thriftiness of growth, symmetry of proportion, healthfulness of aspect, and productive- 

 ness of habit, all that could be desired. These stand contiguous to the failing Bartletts on 

 quince — indeed, all the above are on the same plat of ground, and the physical condition 

 of the soil, as far as the eye can judge of it, being similar." 



On page 211 : — 



" 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 every year, and 

 from the rax)id development of the wood principle, give promise of long lives of usefulness 

 and profit." 



Is not my testimony as to the adaptation of this variety sufficiently explicit ? if 

 not, I can add, at the close of another season, that the last year's crop of fruit 

 exceeded twelve bushels, very many specimens weighing over a pound apiece. 



On page 218, speaking of the three varieties above named, it is said of them : 

 "Which, in their thriftiness and productiveness, have far exceeded all expecta- 

 tion." After quoting the testimony of Mr. Rivers — that most accomplished 

 English pomologist — viz : that out of one thousand varieties of pear in cultiva- 

 tion, he grows but four for the Covent Garden Market ; three of these are on 

 pear stock, the Louise Bonne de Jersey alone on quince. I added, page 350, 

 August number : — 



" No judge of pears will dare to lift his voice disparagingly to the character of that most 

 rapid growing variety, uniformly bearing abundant crops of well-formed fruit, which, though 

 not of the highest flavor, is yet such a pleasant subacid, as to be a universal favorite." 



IS'ow, with such testimony in favor of ray successful culture of these varieties 

 of pear on quince stock — testimony corroborating that of our most distinguished 

 pomologists — with what justice should I be arraigned as imperatively "pro- 

 nouncing against the experience of French cultivators for one hundred years, and 

 the English and American for twenty years?" What advantage will it be to the 

 cause of horticultural science, in searching for the causes of the failure of other 

 varieties, to drag the inquirer after truth through the mazes of suppositions and 

 insinuations as to whether the stocks used were not the native instead of the 

 Angiers Quince, when it had been distinctly stated (on page 218) that they 



