SUMMER PEAKS. 



on Pear stock ; we have trees eight or nine years old that have not yet fruited, but Ave 

 have had fine crops from young trees on the Quince stock. A small pyramidal tree, 

 only four years old, was last season covered from top to bottom with fruit. The tree 

 was healthy and vigorous, and the fruit of full size and highly colored, making alto- 

 gether the most beautiful object of the kind we have seen. We think we have seen it 

 stated that it comes into bearing the fourth or fifth year on Pear stock ; but this must 

 be a mistake, unless forced by summer pruning or some other operation calculated to 

 subdue its naturally vigorous and rapid growth. The habit of the tree is erect and 



pyramidal. Young shoots — vigorous, dark brown, darker than the Seckel. Leaves — 

 dark green, above medium size, finely serrated, and remarkably persistent. Fruit — 

 medium size, two to two and a half inches long and one and a half to two inches wide, 

 pyramidal, tapering regularly to the stalk. Skin — dull yellow, becoming clear at full 

 maturity, with a dark red cheek. Stalk — nearly two inches long, rather slender, and 

 inserted Avithout depression. Calyx — large, open, in a shallow basin. Flesh — fine- 

 grained, melting, sweet, and aromatic, like the Seckel. Ripens from the middle to the 

 end of August ; should be picked ten days to a fortnight before maturity. Last sum- 

 mer our best specimens Avere gathered on the 14th of August, and eaten on the 23d. 

 It succeeds particularly Avell on the Quince, judging from trees of seven or eight years' 

 growth. This variety appears to us to be a cross between the Madeleine and the 

 Seckel ; it has the form of the first, Avith the color and somcAvhat of the flavor of the 

 latter, and the growth of the tree partakes of the characteristics of both. Possibly it 



