NEW PEARS AND PEAR CULTURE. 



would save him from that lowest species of 

 idolatr}', 'the love of money,' and teach him 

 to * love what is lovely,' adorn your dwell- 

 ings, your places of worship, your school- 

 houses, your streets and public squares, 

 with trees and hedges, and lawns and flow- 

 ers, so that his heart may early and ever 

 be impressed with the love of him who 

 made them all." * * * * 



What more can we add to this eloquent 

 appeal from the committee of a farmers' 

 club in a village of New-Hampshire ? Only 

 to entreat other farmers' clubs to go and do 



likewise ; other ornamental tree societies 

 to carry on the good work of adorning the 

 country ; other apostles of taste not to be 

 discouraged, but to be unceasing in their 

 efforts, till they see the clouds of ignorance 

 and prejudice dispersing; and, finally, all 

 who live in the country and have an affec- 

 tion for it, to take hold of this good work 

 of rural improvement, till not a graceless 

 VILLAGE can be found from the Penobscot 

 to the Rio Grande, or a man of intelligence 

 who is not ashamed to be found living- in 

 such a villasre. 



A CHAPTER ON NEW PEARS AND PEAR CULTURE. 



BY THOMAS RIVERS, SAWBRIDGEWORTH, ENGLAND. 



A. J. Downing, Esq. — 3Ii/ Dear Sir : The 

 weather is cold and unusually unpleasant 

 for out of door occupations, generally so 

 pressing at this season ; and so I have 

 taken pen in hand to give you a little gos- 

 sip ablbut gardening matters. 



And first, John Bull like, let me tell 

 you about the weather. We had an ad- 

 mirable winter, — no snow, and April wea- 

 ther in December, the greater part of Janu- 

 ary, (only a short interval of frost — lowest 

 17 to 15 degrees below freezing,) and all 

 February ; March, mild and dry, and this 

 month cold, stormy and disagreeable. On 

 the morning of the ISth inst., after a night 

 of snow storms with violent wind, my 

 thermometer registered 19 to 13 degrees 

 of frost ; (it was suspended six feet from 

 the ground, on the north side of a tree, 

 fully exposed.) Our plum trees were white 

 with bloom, and many of our pears, such 

 as Louise Bonne de Jersey, Beurrt d'Aman- 

 lis and others. They are now brown, and 

 I fear the crop is gone. Beurre de Capi- 

 aumont is much later in unfolding its blos- 



soms ; so that of that and a few others we 

 have hopes. But a frost, even when the 

 bloom is not expanded, is generally fatal 

 to pears. Their blossoms expand, and they 

 look well ; but instead of setting their fruit, 

 it all drops at the critical moment. Last 

 year, on the 27th of this month, we had a 

 hoar frost, but the thermometer only regis- 

 tered 27. The pears were nearly all in 

 full bloom ; but although the frost was so 

 slight, nearly all were destroyed. My ex- 

 perience, as to new varieties, is therefore 

 very limited. 1 will however give you, 

 from memory, a few notes on new pears, — 

 objects, as 1 am aware, uf great interest in 

 your country. 



Just/phuie (it Malincs. I ate my last spe- 

 cimen of this (I had only two,) the 28th of 

 February; it was fully ripe, meiiing and 

 sugary, with a i^eculiar delicious flavor, 

 such iis 1 never before tasted in any pear ; 

 not muoky, or that flavor generally called 

 "periuiiicu," but something quite fcz<:2^e«e- 

 rm ; to a certainty, this will prove one of 

 our leryjincst pears. In appearance, it is 



