HORTICULTURE IN WESTERN NEW-YORK. 



York." Thus it is we find that all fruits are more or less local in their qualities. The 

 next in the list come pears. Ah! Pears. What a vision comes over us in the category 

 here presented. The Belgian, the French, and the German, and a host of other foreign 

 Bonchretians, besides no small number of natives meet us at the onset, to puzzle and per- 

 plex the novice in these latter days. Who does not revert with peculiar gusto to his lus- 

 cious fill in boyhood days, of fox-grapes and sugar pears, aye, and will not soon forget 

 it. Your correspondents have lately been sparring over the " Orange Bergamot.'^ How 

 strangely whimsical are opinions at different periods of men's lives. Early associations, 

 boyhood tastes, and even contingent circumstances, all conspire to form and fix opinion — I 

 will not say judgment, in more things than years. 



Here I must tell a story, in point, too good to be lost; it occurred some ten or dozen 

 years ago, when the dwarf and standard Beurres of the present day, had not got thus far 

 in the west. A former desired to plant a collection of pears, having occasionally tasted 

 this fruit in older towns, but without a knowledge of their names, and applied to his 

 neighbor the nurserj^man for his 6esi trees and advice. "Why, yes sir," he replies, 

 " you want a dozen of my Orange Berganiot, there is no other pear worth cultivating." 

 " Well, I will get my ground prepared and call for them." Half a dozen years slipped 

 b}^ before this was accomplished, when the farmer again calls upon the nurseryman for 

 his dozen Orange Bergamot. But lo! the spirit of the age has been moving, the " Hor- 

 ticulturist" had dawned, the orb of pomonal lore had risen higher in the scale of intelli- 

 gence, and the Orange Bergamot was an out-cast from that nursery. To contend with 

 the worthj'' Col. and recapitulate his former opinions, his marked enthusiasm for its fame 

 and luscious qualities, was to no purpose, — that pear could not be got there!! 



Co-existent with the horticultural press, and the pomological works which have in rapid 

 succession appeared, horticultural societies have sprung into active existence, in nearly 

 every well organised community; and to these associations mainly, may the electric 

 changes in the astonishing increase of fruit grounds, and the enthusiasm evidenced in flora 

 culture, be attributed. These exhibitions are in fact schools, where all maj^ see and learn 

 the mysteries and practices of the art. Here taste is formed, and instructive, free dis- 

 cussions and comparisons are made by every member ; points of excellence or faults in fruits, 

 flowers, or vegetables, are shown; and he who runs majM'ead, and although, occasionally, 

 some one maybe disposed to apply to himself his neighbor's thunder, and detail it through 

 the press as his own fulmination, 3^et the error is of that pacific nature that no moral 

 harm is done, while the masses may be benefitted. 



A novel feature, as adopted by our Buffalo Horticultural Society, I beg leave to mention 

 for the benefit of other kindred societies. During the winter season — that is, between the 

 auttimnal and the following spring exhibition, and while the orchard and garden are en- 

 joying that repose which nature demands as a restorer of exhausted fruitfulness, our soci- 

 ety meets semi-monthly at the residence of a member, adjourning from one to another, as 

 then agreed upon — assembling at 4 P. M., and partaking of a collation during the evening. 

 Fruits in their season, are contributed by the members generall}', which are cut and fully 

 discussed, as also the experience and practice of the grower. The subjects of debate are, 

 of course, those only pertaining to the objects of the society, and it is remarkable how 

 quickly the novice becomes enlisted in the subject, and is forthwith posted up on the cur- 

 rent pomonal literature of the day. Among these gentlemen communers, may be found 

 our friend of the apple dilemma, as also he of the Orange Bergamot experience, neither 

 of whom any longer entertain a doubt as to fit selections for their grounds, or their co-rel- 

 ative merits. These meetings are always full of interest, entertainment, and instruction; 



