1/6 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



IJune, 



Man, flowers and fruits in their present degree 

 of perfection have been elevated through cultiva- 

 tion ; exhibiting a constant tendency to revert to 

 their former state — they are only kept above that 

 level by continued effort — cultivation, the power 

 that raised them above it. 



If the orchardist would eat wild fruit, let him go 

 there to gather ; neglect his orchard, and he may 

 also gather there. All reward is earned. "Asa 

 man soweth so shall he reap." 



Design is a principle of creation manifest in all 

 God's works— the potter shapes the clay while soft 

 to suit his design — the orchardist should also heed 

 the principle. The care of the orchard begins 

 with the purchase of the trees — then is the time to 

 shape the tree— the orchard— cultivating it, re- 

 membering profit's reward is for those who toil. 

 Mines yield their golden ore only to those who dig, 

 and according to your dues, so shall come the re- 

 ward. Greencastle, Ind. 



new name given, and sold as a new variety. We 

 enclose a copy of our contract, and will send a 

 similar one, with the history of the original tree, to 

 all persons who apply for it. 



Parry P. O., New Jersey. 

 [The object of our note was chiefly to note that 

 there were two names given to the same pear by 

 different firms ; and the public had a right to know 

 this, in order to be kept from buying the same tree 

 twice over. As to the right of the question, there 

 can be no question that the owners of the original 

 tree have the right to name it. They say its name 

 is Lawson, and Lawson it must be. — Ed. G. M.] 



OLD APPLE TREES. 



BY G. ONDERDONK. 



THE COMET PEAR. 

 BY WILLIAM PARRY. 



This pear, referred to in the May number of 

 Gardeners' Monthly, was introduced as a new 

 pear, which it is not, but is a very old variety, be- 

 lieved to be more than loo years old. The origi- 

 nal tree is still standing on the estate formerly 

 belonging to John Lawson the elder, descended to 

 his children and grandchildren, who now own and 

 occupy the premises, have several orchards in 

 bearing, and have marketed 1 50 crates of pears a 

 season, and to whose generosity the person who 

 apphed the name of Comet to this pear is indebted 

 for grafts. 



When we purchased the exclusive privilege of 

 propagating and selling them to others, being the 

 first sale ever made of this variety, a clause was 

 inserted in the contract that it should be " under 

 the true name of Lawson pear." So that if our 

 firm is the one alluded to as distributing the pear 

 "as the Lawson," we reply that we are under obli- 

 gations to do so. Those were the terms of our 

 purchase. We have no right to do otherwise. It 

 was agreed in the contract in writing, signed by all 

 the parties, that it should be propagated and dis- 

 tributed as the Lawson pear. The children and 

 grandchildren of said John Lawson the elder were 

 not willing that the name of their revered father 

 and grandfather, who had purchased the premises 

 (their old homestead) on which the original tree 

 was then in full bearing, more than fifty years ago, 

 should now be discarded by a propagator and a 



When I was a young man I was at school at 

 Albany, in the State of New York. I there learned 

 of the existence of an " Indian orchard," about 

 twenty-five miles or so from the city — somewhere 

 back of the little town on the Hudson now called 

 Baltimore, I believe. 1 visited the spot to see ihe 

 curiosity. The trees were scattered about promis- 

 cuously in a small creek flat or bottom. They 

 bore the appearance of great age — had a few scat- 

 tering samples of rather common fruit. They re- 

 minded me of pictures which I have seen of "old 

 olive trees near Jerusalem." In 1874 I again saw 

 those old apple trees. They then looked to me 

 exactly like the old live oaks so common in South- 

 ern Texas, where 1 have lived for the last thirty- 

 five years. In fact, quite all of the new-comers 

 from New York mistake our live oaks for apple 



j trees. 



Now, about the age of those apple trees. The 

 oldest men of that region said that the trees then 



] (1S48) looked to them just as they did when they 

 (the men) were boys. The traditions of the region 

 say that these trees were there when the white 



I men settled there. The region is one where the 



I population has changed but little, being largely 

 occupied by descendants of the original settlers — 

 so that the tradition concerning their antiquity is 

 likely to be correct. I first saw them in 1848. In 

 1874 they still had, to me, about the same appear- 

 ance that of twenty-six years before ; and I 



j presume that if some Vandal has not destroyed 

 them, they yet may have about the same appear- 

 ance. I have not the historical data by me, but 

 must not these trees be nearly three hundred years 

 old ? Afission Valley, Texas, March, 1SS5. 



[It is understood that the apple trees of these 

 Indians came from seeds given them by the French 



