A FEW WORDS ON FRUIT CULTURE. 



parts of the west, almost an absolute distinct species of husbandry. Dried apples are a 

 large article of export from one part of the country to another, and the shipment of 

 American apples of the finest quality to England, is now a regular and profitable branch 

 of commerce. No apple that is sent from any part of the Continent will command 

 more than half the price in Covent Garden market, that is readily paid for the New- 

 town Pippin. 



The pear succeeds admirably in many parts of the United States — but it also fails 

 as a market fruit in many others — and, though large orchards have been planted in 

 various parts of the country, we do not think the result, as yet, warrants the belief that 

 the orchard culture of pears will be profitable generally. In certain deep soils — 

 abounding with lime, potash and phosphates, naturally, as in central New- York, the 

 finest pears grow and bear like apples, and produce very large profits to their culti- 

 vators. Mr. Pardee's communication on this subject, in a former number, shows 

 how largely the pear is grown as an orchard fruit in the state of New-York, and how 

 profitable a branch of culture it has already become. 



In the main, however, we believe the experience of the last five years has led most 

 cultivators — particularly those not in a region naturally favorable in its soil — to look 

 upon the pear as a tree rather to be confined to the fruit-garden than the orchard ; as 

 a tree not so hardy as the apple, but sufficiently hardy to give its finest fruit, provided 

 the soil is deep, the aspect one not too much exposed to violent changes of tempera- 

 ture. As the pear tree, (in its finer varieties,) is more delicate in its bark than any 

 other fruit tree excepting the apricot, the best cultivators now agree as to the utility 

 of sheathing the stem from the action of the sun all the year round — either by keep- 

 ing the branches low and thick, so as to shade the trunk and principal limbs — the best 

 mode — or by sheathing the stems with straw — thus preserving a uniform temperature. 

 In all soils and climates naturally unfavorable to the pear, the culture of this tree is 

 far easier upon the quince stock than upon the pear stock ; and this, added to compact- 

 ness and economy of space for small gardens, has trebled the demand for dwarf pears 

 within the last half dozen years. The finest pears that make their appearance in our 

 markets, are still the White Doyenne, (or Virgalieu,) and the Bartlett. In Philadel- 

 phia the Seckel is abundant, but of late years the fruit is small and inferior, for want 

 of the high culture and manuring which this pear demands. 



If we except the neighborhood of Rochester and a part of central New- York — (proba- 

 bly the future Belgium of America, as regards the production of pears,) the best fruit 

 of this kind yet produced in the United States, is still to be found in the neighborhood 

 of Boston. Neither climate nor soil are naturally favorable there, but the great pomo- 

 logical knowledge and skill of the amateur and pi'ofessional cultivators of Massachu- 

 setts, have enabled them to make finer shows of pears, both as regards quality and varie- 

 ty, than have been seen in any part of the world. And this leads us to observe that the 

 very facility with which fruit is cultivated in America— consisting for the most part 

 in planting the trees, and gathering the crop — leads us into an error as 

 lard of size and flavor attainable generally. One half the number of trees 



