CULTIVATION OF PEARS ON THE QUINCE. 



on pear and half on quince, and the whole orchard contains 1,760 pears, 1,320 

 on quince, and 440 on their own root. By thus planting, I think I gain a double advan- 

 tage. Tliose on quince come in bearing soon, and will produce a good crop while the others 

 arc growing, and tliose on pear will undoubtedly be sufficiently large to produce a good crop, 

 and even to occupy the ground to the exclusion of the others, long before those on quince 

 will decay, if such decay ever should take place. 



Pears on quince require high garden culture, and it is my i)ractice to put upon tliis or- 

 chard two sloop loads of manure every year. The first year after planting, the orchard 

 was cropped with corn, which I found to be injurious to the trees. I have since cropped 

 with potatoes and sugar beets, alternately, and Avith good management, the crop of these 

 can be made to pay for the manure, and sometimes for the labor. With the exception of 

 a single row, all those on their own root are of one varieiy, the Lawrence. This variety 

 originated on Long Island, is hardy, an early and abundant bearer, and a good grower. 

 The fruit of medium size, nearly equal to the Virgalieu (Doyenne) in flavor, is in eating 

 from mid-autumn to mid-winter, and will keep and ripen in a barrel, like apples. Its 

 uniform price in the market in autumn, is five dollars per bushel, and at its latest period 

 of maturity, when no other pears can be found in market, it would probably bring ten to 

 fifteen dollars per bushel. 



Of the varieties on quince, I have only planted six. Glout Morccau, Vicar of Wink- 

 Jidd, Louise Bonne dc Jersey, Winter Nelis, Laiorencs and Beurre d'Aremherg. "With 

 the two latter the orchard is not quite finished, owing to the difficulty in obtaining them. 

 It is always quite as uncertain to form an estimate of a crop of fruit, as it is for our Bos- 

 ton friends to calculate the amount of money they can make from the 250 chickens hatch- 

 ed from the 2G0 eggs, laid according to guarantee, in 276 successive days, by the pure 

 white Shangha3 hen, M'hich may have cost fifty dollars. But after making all reasonable 

 allowances, and finding to-da}^, upon some of my A^icar of Winkfield trees, planted in the 

 spring of 1849, from fifty to scventj'-five fruit buds each, I shall be somewhat disappoint- 

 ed if those on quince, in the fifth year fi'om planting, should not produce one dollar per 

 tree. The same result I hope to obtain from those planted on their own root, in the tenth 

 year, after making all reasonable deductions from loss by blight. It will not be safe to 

 estimate that the crop between the trees will always pay the expense of cultivation. With 

 good management, it may do so the first few years; but as the trees grow, the roots will 

 gradually occupy the space betM'een them, when no crop can be grown, although high ma- 

 nuring will still be required. 



There may be, and we know in the experience of some there have been, obstacles in the 

 cultivation of this fruit, which have not yet obstructed the advancement of my trees, and 

 it may not be safe for all to estimate according to the preceding statements. Such, how- 

 ever, are the results of my ex-perience; and while it may be expedient to make large al- 

 lowances for difficulties which may hereafter present themselves, I cannot doubt, that with 

 the present almost entire destitution of good pears, in all the markets, and the facilities 

 of transporting them to England, I should be fully justified in planting much more large- 

 ly than I have yet done. S. B. Parsons. 



Flushing, Dec. 10, 1850. 



