February 17, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAliDENER. 



125 



have, and if so, it I would mention it in " Science Gossip j" 

 but as I bad not noticed tbis myself, can you oblige through 

 your correspondents' columns ? — G. N. 



FRUIT-GROWING IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND. 

 No. 4. — Peaks. 



On no Bnbject has the horticultural battle more strenuously 

 raged than on the vast superiority, as it was alleged, of Pear 

 culture in France as compared with the culture of the same 

 fruit in England. Now, into the merits or demerits of this 

 controversy I have no wish to enter. Many of the points in 

 dispute are of little moment in whatever way they may be 

 decided. My object was not so much to enter into these points 

 as to ascertain the profitableness or otherwise of Pear culture 

 about Paris as compared with that round London, and whether 

 the system of training was such as to necessitate an alteration 

 in our method. To ascertain these points I-visited not only 

 some of the largest fruit nurseries about Paris, but some of the 

 most celebrated gardens of amateurs, especially those of M. 

 Nallet, of Bruuoy, and M. Chardin, of Chatillon. My decision 

 is arrived at, not merely from my own observation, but from 

 the statements of those gentlemen who, I suppose, vrill be 

 allowed to be the best judges on the point. 



Let me, then, describe first theEe two gardens, which are, I 

 may say, places of pilgrimage to all those who, interested iu 

 pomology, care to see what can be seen in Paris regarding it. 

 M. Chardin, to whom my good friend M. Jamain introduced 

 me, is an engraver ; having acquired a competency for himself 

 he has retired to Chatillon, and there, amidst his trees, his life 

 is spent. Nothing more curious than this garden can possibly 

 be conceived. Pears, Pears everywhere ; Pears trained in all 

 sorts of ways — palmette, pyramid, upright cordon, oblique 

 cordon, all are there — on walls, on trellises, alongside of walks, 

 trained over walks, forming arbours, in fact, in every possible 

 way that Pears oan be grown. They are grown alongside of 

 the walks; about 4 feet from the path, iron trellises are run, 

 sometimes reaching 12 or 13 feet in height, and up these the 

 Pears are trained; then some Bhoots are allowed to lengthen, 

 and are trained overhead. It may be at once gathered from 

 this that the garden is iu a very sheltered position. It has, 

 moreover, a thorough Pear soil, that rich unctuous loam in 

 which the Pear rejoices, so that M. Chardin has every advan- 

 tage. Moreover, he is an enthusiast ; his garden is his child ; 

 it receives his first attentions in the morning, his last at night. 

 At i and 5 a.m. he is iu it, and is only driven out by the dark- 

 ness. For neatness, for beauty of training, and for general 

 effect in its own peculiar way, this garden is unique. 



The garden of M. Nallet is somewhat different from that of 

 M. Chardin. The soil is not so good, the situation more ex- 

 posed, and the position of the proprietor is likewise to some 

 extent different. * It was not very easy quite to understand 

 what that was. He gives lessons in fruit-training and pruning 

 at certain times, and he looks to making something out of his 

 garden, and yet he is to some extent an amateur. His garden 

 is much larger than M. Chardin's, and his collection of Pears 

 very numerous. The various systems of training are here also 

 carried out in great perfection. Perhaps the most interesting 

 were the pyramids in the form of a crinoline, where stout iron 

 rods are used to give the shape, and the branches are tied a3 

 they grow to the iron framework. This gives a greater current 

 of air and more light than when the pyramids are grown in 

 the ordinary method ; at the same time I would add that I saw, 

 shortly after my return home, in the grounds of the Duke of 

 Norfolk at Arundel Castle.pyramidal Pear trees which had been 

 obtained originally from Mr. Rivers, of Sawbridgeworth, on 

 which there was a crop of Pears as numerous and as fine as 

 any that I saw at either M. Nallet's or M. Chardin's. The pal- 

 mette Verrier seems to be the favourite form, and, as this has 

 been so frequently described, there is no necessity for saying 

 anything further on it. It is a modification of our English 

 system of training, whether adopted independently or not I do 

 not know ; and I think it has the advantage of ours in some 

 respects, as being likely to afford a more regular flow of ^sap to 

 all the branches. 



When I had gone through these gardens and the nursery of 

 M. Jamain, the questions to be answered were first as to train- 

 ing. The oblique cordon can never, I think, be more than a 

 ready way of at once furnishing a trellis or wall with a variety 

 of Pears ; for such a purpose it is well adapted, but I very much 

 question whether, for all that, we shall see it largely adopted 



amongst us ; when we have walls with a southerly or westerly 

 aspect we are more inclined to cover them with Peaches and Nec- 

 tarines than with Pears, although the latter are a more certain 

 crop. The palmette Verrier is, as I have said, a beautiful form 

 of tree, and from what I Eaw we might advantageously copy it 

 either on trellises or walls ; but after all the question which 

 most concerns us is this, Does this system pay ? Do all the 

 pains, care, and skill bestowed on these trees return to their 

 owner an adequate recompense ? Now, on this I have con- 

 clusive evidence. M. Nallet, when I asked him this question, 

 said, " Decidedly not. If," he said, "Icoull grow only such 

 kinds asDoyenne dHiver(EasterBeune),andB3rgamo;teEspe- 

 ren, which would come in late in the season, then they might ; 

 but I cannot grow these except on the wall. "When I send 

 Pears in early in the season the market is so full that I get 



nothing for them." And in talking to M. in the Rue dn 



Marehe St. Honore, he distinctly said that the finest fruit that 

 be had to sell did not come from these highly trained trees ; 

 in fact, it is not the neighbourhood of Paris that supplies the 

 fine fruit that we see in the fruiterers' shops in Pari3, or that 

 come over to our own Cuvent Garden ; we must go further 

 south, to Tourraine or Adjou. When I was at Angers some 

 years ago, in the month of October, I saw immense quantities 

 of splendid fruit, which were being gathered for transport to 

 Germany, Russia, and even America ; and M. Leroy, I remem- 

 ber, told me some astonishing statistics of the number of tons 

 weight of Pears annually exported from that part of France. 

 There, with a brighter sun and more favoured atmosphere, the 

 finest vaiieties ripen on pyramids and bushes ; and let all those 

 who, captivated by the extreme neatness of appearance of 

 these French trees, think of " going in " for a trellis cr wall on 

 any of these systems, consider that it involves much more trouble 

 and constant supervision than the bush or pyramid system. It 

 will not do to put this up and give it up to your gardener 

 with the idea that he will thank you much for it ; he can 

 tell you already what time it takes to train the trees he 

 already has on his walls, and this entered upon to any extent 

 must inevitably entail additional aid. For myself, I say de- 

 cidedly that I should be quite satisfied with such pyramids 

 and bushes as I have seen a hundred times in English gardens ; 

 and that while we may learn a great deal theoretically and sci- 

 entifically about the pruning of -the Pear, I very much doubt 

 whether this system will supersede ours, and that, not because 

 we are so "entete" as to prefer our own simply because it is 

 our own, but because, taking all things into consideration, it is 

 more likely to be profitable. — ]>., Deal. 



CONIFERS DEPRIVED OF THEIR LEADERS. 



Havixg lately planted ornamental Conifers to a large extent, 

 and being much interested in their treatment, I send a few 

 remarks, which may be corroborated or refuted by some of 

 your readers. 



There is a general prejudice that losing their leaders is a 

 detriment to ornamental trees of the Spruce tribe. No donbt 

 it makes a great difference whether the loss is due to weakness 

 in the tree or to accident, but the question I wish to raise is 

 whether in either case it is any advantage to rear a new leader 

 artificially, and whether trees of this kind may or may not be 

 improved by having their leaders cut off? Perhaps the most 

 ornamental of the newer species of Spruce is the Abies Nord- 

 manniana. This seems to have a disposition to become blind 

 in the leading shoot, and to change its leader. Several trees 

 of it in Kew gardens have at present side shoots artificially 

 trained and tied to make leaders. The species is remarkable 

 for the luxuriant beauty of its lower branches, which are its 

 most ornamental feature. In the garden of Mr. Pearson, of 

 Chilwel), near Nottingham, I lately saw two plants of A. Nord- 

 manniaua, one of about 12 feet, the other about 9 feet high, 

 the smaller by far the handsomer and better-shaped tree. 

 That gentleman told me they were formerly an exact pair, 

 that when about 3 feet high his son had cut one in two with a 

 scythe at about half its height, and that he had left it to take 

 its chance, doing nothing at all to it. It soon spontaneously 

 formed a new leader from the end of a side branch. The 

 branch gradually elevated itself, and now the place where it 

 was cut in two cannot be distinguished. 



Mr. Pearson told me on the same occasion that the garden of 

 the Rev. J. Robinson, Rector of Widmerpool, Notts, is conspi- 

 cuous for its ornamental Norway Spruces, which are remark- 

 able for the luxuriant spread of their lower branches, and 



