426 



FRUITS, &c. 



luable, and contain hints worthy of con- 

 sideration by the growers of pears. 



The list presented, containing, as it does, 

 266 varieties of pears, asserted " to be the 

 best quality here, (Belgium,)" must have 

 been something of a damper upon the Dr.'s 

 " calculation previously made, and regarded 

 as satisfactory." However, it is to be hoped 

 the Dr. will continue his articles in the 

 Horticulturist, as they are read with inte- 

 rest by one at least. 



There is one consideration, presented by 

 the foreign correspondent, that must have 

 weight with any committee that shall un- 

 dertake to prepare, either a list of recom- 

 mended or of rejected fruits. Where shall 

 the line of discrimination be drawn ? Shall 

 those only be recommended that shall prove 

 good in all and every situation ? Then the 

 list must be made small indeed. Shall all 

 be rejected that do not prove good in all 

 soils and situations ? Then many varieties 

 that are first rate in many localities, must 

 be set aside. In Belgium, it seems, (and 

 the remark applies here with much greater 

 force, owing to our widely extended coun- 

 try,) that "some pears are influenced by 

 culture, either on the quince or not. In- 

 deed, some do not give satisfaction, unless 

 on the quince roots ; and some do not thrive 

 on these roots at all. Many only flourish as 

 espaliers ; others, again, only as standards. 

 Some, if on quince, must be in a cool and 

 moist soil ; if on natural stocks, the soil to 

 be warm and rather dry. Some are good 

 in all soils proper for the pear. Some are 

 only fine on the pear stock, and some on 

 either." 



The diversity of soil and culture neces- 

 sary for some varieties, that are considered 

 fine, must influence a committee in forming 

 their list ; and this diversity of soil and 

 culture should be given, so as to enable 

 persons to make a selection suitable to their 



locality. But this will require time, and 

 cannot be done without more experience 

 than we at present possess. In the vicinity 

 of Boston, where the cultivation of the 

 pear has been practically attended to for 

 some years, they are prepared to say what 

 kind of soil and culture may suit particular 

 varieties ; yet we can hardly expect that 

 their experience will suit all sections of our 

 widely extended country, where the soil 

 and other influences may be very different. 

 The facts there ascertained are valuable, 

 and well worthy the attention of all who 

 design to cultivate this fruit ; yet we can 

 only by experiment determine whether they 

 will suit other localities. 



The same observations will apply, more 

 or less, to other fruits. An apple that, at 

 the north, may be a first rate winter fruit, 

 by transplanting it south will probably be 

 only a good fall fruit. There is a degree 

 of temperature necessary to bring every 

 fruit to perfection ; and when this perfec- 

 tion is attained just at the commencement 

 of cold weather, that fruit will keep much 

 longer than if it had reached that state of 

 perfection a few weeks earlier. Some ap- 

 ples that are fine in New-York, and further 

 south, will not ripen sufficiently in the vi- 

 cinity of Boston to be of any value. The 

 Newtown Pippins and Yellow Bellflower 

 are of this class, while south of New-Eng- 

 land they are of the best quality. And it 

 is more than probable that the highly prized 

 winter fruit of New-England, by being in- 

 troduced here, will be only good late fall 

 fruit. Our temperature here will be likely 

 to bring them to perfection too earl}^ ; so 

 that they will be too ripe at the commence- 

 ment of winter to keep long. However, 

 we are going to try them, and that will 

 settle the point whether this theory is true 

 or not. 



Looking at the subject in this light, it 



