EXPERIMENTS IN HORTICULTURE. 



415 



the predictions of my gardener, who de- 

 clared that he was wasting too much time 

 upon " dead Frenclimen, " seventeen of 

 them lived, although one of them did not 

 show any active signs of life for upwards 

 of a year ; and most of them made but little 

 growth the first season. Last summer, 

 however, they took a fine start, and made 

 a growth of two or three feet. Two of 

 them ripened fruit. One of these was a 

 Williams' Bon Chretien, (Bartlett,) which 

 bore three of the most beautiful and excel- 

 lent pears I ever saw. They were a clear 

 yellow, with a slight blush on one side, and 

 weighed twelve ounces each. The other 

 bearing tree was marked "Beurre d'Aman- 

 lis," and bore three pears a little larger than 

 the others, but not so handsome nor so 

 good. If these latter are fair specimens of 

 the products of dwarf pear trees, I shall 

 never plant anything more of that variety. 

 Last spring I put out some three hundred 

 pear trees, chiefly on quince stocks. The 

 ground was first trenched twenty inches 

 deep, and well manured with street sweep- 

 ings,* (which, by the waj^ I consider the 

 very best manure for fruit trees.) The 

 holes were then dug eight feet apart, and 

 one-fourth of them filled with trees on pear 

 stocks, and the residue with quince stocks. 

 Thus, the pear stocks are sixteen feet apart, 

 and are designed to occupy the whole 

 ground when the dwarfs shall have spent 

 their comparatively short life in the inter- 

 mediate spaces. They have all grown re- 

 markably well, — our season having been 

 peculiarly favorable. I noticed three Bart- 

 ietts which ripened fruit. One bore six, 

 another four, and another one, fair, good 

 pears. This no doubt frequently occurs ; 

 it is the first instance within my observa- 

 tion, where a pear tree, but two years from 

 the graft, has ripened fine fruit the season 



* Street manure, — sweepings of the streets of towns. 



it was set out. They were on pear stocks, 

 and obtained from my neighbor, Mr. North. 

 The dwarfs were chiefly obtained from the 

 nurseries of Messrs. Ellwanger & Barry, 

 Rochester. The trees, although mostly but 

 one year from the bud, were fine and 

 healthy, and came to hand in excellent 

 condition. Not one of them, I believe, has 

 been lost by transplanting. There is, how- 

 ever, a great diversity in their growth ; 

 some kinds having grown four feet, and 

 others have not grown as many inches. 



The only varieties that have made scarce- 

 ly any growth are Louvain panache and 

 Swan's Orange. From present appearan- 

 ces, I am inclined to think the last of these 

 will not succeed with me. 



Of those which have made a very mode- 

 rate growth, I enumerate the Beurr j Easter, 

 Passe Colmar, Angora, Madeleine, Dear- 

 born's Seedling, Seckel, Bartlett, &c. 



The following have made a growth of a 

 foot and upwards: St. Germain, Forelle, 

 Napoleon, Fortune, Bloodgocd, Belle de 

 Bruxelles, Doyenne d'Ete, Countess de 

 Lunay, Rostiezer, Fig d'Automne, Colmar 

 d'Ete, Glout Morceau, Summer Rose, and 

 Dutchess d'Angouleme. 



The following have grown very strongly, 

 havinof made an average of from three to 

 four feet of new wood, viz: Beurra Diel, 

 Martin Sire, Chaumontelle Gratioli, Glory 

 de Cambrone, Louise Bonne de Jersey, and 

 Nouvelle iV Oe2(f. This last is a pear with 

 which I am wholly unacquainted, — not 

 having seen it described in any book, or 

 named in any catalogue of recent date. If 

 it should bear as well as it grows, it will be 

 well worthy of cultivation. 



The blight gives us some trouble ; occa- 

 sionally taking off a tree or part of a tree 

 in a mysterious and unaccountable manner. 

 My observation and experience leave me 

 in profound ignorance of its cause and cure. 



