POMOLOGICAL MEMORANDA. 



POMOLOGICAL MEMORANDA. 



BY L. F. ALLEN, BLACK ROCK, N. Y. 



The Brown Beurre Pear. — Why it is that this delicious old pear is so little noticed 

 of late, when so many new and as 5'et untried (thoroughly,) varieties are receiving the 

 praises of our pomologists, is to me strange. I have cultivated the Brown Beurre for 

 many years. It needs good culture, I admit; and what don't, if j^ou intend to get its 

 best productions? 



Its qualities are these : It is a good grower — irregular and twisting, to be sure — but that 

 matters little; it is, in the main, a graceful tree. 



It is very hardy, and ripens well its wood. 



It is a great bearer, and matures its fruit in October, keeping well into November^ and 

 sometimes into December. 



Its size is large medium; its flavor is vinous; and grown under the influence of a full 

 sun, most sugarj' and delicious — indeed I know of nothing more piquant and yet de- 

 licate, in the pear family; and with its rich, golden russetyhue, the fruit, as a mere show, 

 is a rich ornament to the table. 



Grown either on the pear or quince stock, and planted in a rich and dry stijf' soil — and 

 not much matter how stiff either — one who wants the very best October pear can do no 

 better than to cultivate the Brown Beurre as a prominent variety. [We entirely agree 

 with Mr. Allen as to the merits of the Brown Beurre. But it has failed of late in all the 

 old soils of the east, and its cultivation has therefore gradually declined. In a new soil, 

 like that of western New-York, its fruit is of the finest quality— and any person who 

 wishes to raise it further east, must restore the potash, lime and phosphate abstracted 

 from the soil by long culture, before he can succeed well again. Ed.] 



The Northern Spy Apple. — In writing about the culture of this excellent fruit, our 

 pomologists say much of its requiring careful pruning and rich cultivation, but without 

 telling the public wAi/ or how it requires such pruning and cultivation; thus confusing 

 those who do not understand its habits, and creating doubts as to the expediency of grow- 

 ing it all. If those who set about informing the world would go into particulars, it would 

 be better. 



The fact is, the Northern Spy is a vigorous and upright grower, inclined to throw its 

 wood closely together, like a currant bush. Indeed, the head of a Northern Spy tree, left 

 to itself, looks more like an enormous currant bush than like an ordinary apple tree. But 

 the branches are rather slender, and when in bearing incline to bend over outward with 

 the weight of their fruit. The head must be thinned— and that severely. I have several 

 hundred of them planted in my orchard. Their heads grew compactly together, contrary 

 to my expectations, from what I had heard of them, and last year, for the first time- 

 years after some of my other varieties of apple planted at the same time with them, for 

 the Spy is tardy in arriving at a bearing state— they bore well. I saw the difficulty in the 

 compact growth of the head, and the past spring I went through my trees, and with the saw 

 and knife, gave them a thorough cleaning out of the central leading branches, giving an 

 open, wine-glass shape to them, and in some cases more like an inverted umbrella. But 

 the process was the right one. They are bearing finely; the apples already bending over 

 the branches, and the vigorous young shoots taking a more lateral direction. 



In describing fruits, our authors almost all fail in giving the habits of the tree, its mode 

 of growth, best manner of pruning each particular variety to induce fruitfuUness, &c., 



