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,,J0UBNAl4 OF HOBTICUIiXUBB AND C03?TAGE; GABDENKR. 



307 



have leisure will perhaps look into the Horlicultural Society's 

 " Transactions, " and put this matter right. I had no thought 

 of being discourteous ; but one o£ my age has seen so much 

 of culture, that a firm expression often comes to hand when 

 writers on horticultm-e give expression to opinions not founded 

 on experience, the parent of truth. 



Paragraph 4. I did mistake Mr. Eobson with respect to the 

 Quince tree. In this county it is a tree of humble growth, 

 and owing to its dwarf habit it dwarfs the Pear, making it a 

 garden tree rather than an orchard tree. Mr. Eobson gives 

 qualified praise to Pear trees on the Quince stock. I pray his 

 pardon when I say that his experience in this matter seems to 

 me very limited. If he had studied the cirltiire of Pears on 

 the Quince he would see how much there is in the future. 

 In my opinion — and it is not given without much thought and 

 practical experience — we are mere tyros in Pear culture, and 

 twenty years hence our present imperfect management will be 

 looked at with contempt and surprise. It is only within a 

 few years that some new kinds of Pears, which were probably 

 raised from fruit gathered from Pears grafted on the Quince, 

 have shown a tendency to a perfect union with the stock — 

 more so than any of the old varieties (this is a most interest- 

 ing question for the physiologist) ; and in my opinion, owing 

 to this, their growth is vigorous almost beyond beUet, often 

 putting forth shoots from the bud thick as a stout finger, and 

 from 6 to 7 feet in height in one season. This is the advan- 

 tage to be seized upon by the observant cultivator ; for if these 

 varieties are grafted with kinds difficult of culture when 

 grafted directly on the Quince stock, a healthy, vigorous, pro- 

 lific habit is given to the graft. I may instance that most 

 excellent but shy-bearing sort, the Gausel's Bergamot. I have 

 known a tree of this sort double-grafted — i. c, grafted on a 

 stock as described above, to bear three dozen of fruit the third 

 year after being grafted ; and I am fuUy convinced that it 

 might be made a profitable article of culture by that simple 

 operation. Moreover, by cultivating it as a bush or pyramid, 

 so as to be within reach of the cultivator, its blossoms may be 

 fertilised with the poUeu of some common free-bearing sort, 

 as its blossoms are often deficient in poUen : hence its tendency 

 to be what is called a shy bearer. I may also point out here 

 the great advantage of careful culture as exemplified in this 

 variety. I have known a Gansel's Bergamot Pear tree grafted 

 on the Pear stock to be ten years before it produced blossoms. 

 There are other sorts of Pears equally benefited by this method 

 of cultm'e — one in particular, which I feel would be a fortune 

 to a poor man. Some thi-ee years since I took occasion to 

 regraft some large vigorous trees of the Vicar of Winkfield 

 Pear on the Quince. Last year they bore a fine crop of the 

 largest and most beautiful Pears I ever saw. They were 

 sent to market in December, and made 10s. and lis. per 

 half sieve, or a guinea a-bushel, my salesman at the same 

 time sending me word that I had kept them a fortniglit too 

 long, or they would have made considerably more. Now, any 

 clever persevering cultivator might plant 700 trees of this sort, 

 4 feet apart, on a rood of ground, keep them pruned in as 

 close pyramids, and make a little fortune. Like all good things, 

 some trouble must be taken to arrive at a good result. Quince 

 stocks must be planted, budded with the proper sort, and then 

 double-gi-afted. This will be the work of three seasons, and 

 seasons well employed. 



As to the prize fruit Mr. Eobson writes about, they are all 

 "leather and prunella," being gathered from wall trees, the 

 fruit carefully thinned for the purpose. I wish to see good 

 Pears in the gardens of the people as well as in those of the 

 great and grand, and 1 shall continue to try and teach how 

 they may be cultivated. 



In paragraph 7, Mr. Eobson is just as erroneous in his 

 calculations as was a "Kentish Fruit Grower" last year, in 

 a contemporary. If he wished to buy ten thousand Spruce 

 Firs, would he think of buying them at the retail price, 3<Z. 

 each, charged in small nurseries when a few are wanted ? — as 

 much trouble to take up as they are worth. I think not ; he 

 would buy them wholesale at SOs. or 40s. per 1000. This is 

 not, however, germane to the matter. A clever fruit-grower 

 would plant stocks, and graft or bud them himself. The ex- 

 pense of preparing one acre of land for planting Quince stocks 

 is not heavy, it should not be trenched but forked over with 

 Parkes' steel forks. (I am presuming that no careful man would 

 Lave anything to do with inferior land.) This could be done 

 at 6r?. per rod, the price here. The annual forking and hoeing 

 would be something under £4 per anniun ; and judging from 

 the rapid way in which thousands of trees here have their 



summer pruning attended to, an active man fond of the thing 

 would do two thousand trees in " over hoiurs " in the summer. 

 I have always in my mind a oultivator with an active mind 

 and active hands. I may add, that I have proved all that I 

 assert. 



In paragraph 8 Mr. Eobson is frolicsome, something after 

 the manner of Dr. .lohnson when he trifled with BosweU. 

 I mentioned the facility with which Pear trees in gardens 

 could be protected, I did not allude to market-garden trees. 

 The remainder of this paragraph is an attempt at wit, and I 

 am sorry to say there is a something deserving an ugly name. 

 I can forgive the attempt at wit, but not the other thing. Mr. 

 Eobson says, " Eather than told us he had several thousands 

 of such trees to sell." Is this to be found in the article I have 

 written ? Have I mentioned having " several thousands of fruit 

 trees for sale ?" Oh, fie ! Mr. Eobson. 



Paragraph 9 is about as weak an illustration of what may 

 be done in fruit-cultm-e for market as it is possible to imagine. 

 The case as stated by Mr. Eobson is quite unsatisfactory ; not a 

 word is said about the soil, the climate, or the kinds of fruit 

 planted. One is able to understand that Mr. Eobson never 

 saw the trees or knew the kinds selected ; or, in short, one can 

 see that his information is from mere hearsay. Still I have 

 no doubt that it is to a certain extent true, for the following 

 reason : — A gentleman would, in planting a fruit garden, with 

 an idea of sending his surplus fruit to market, consult his own 

 taste, and select choice kinds, planting a few trees of each so 

 as to produce much variety of fruit in smaU quantities, called 

 by the market people " cotchels." Now, these from a distance 

 will not pay the cost of carriage, and your readers wiU, perhaps, 

 be surprised to learn that om- most delicious winter Pears 

 — such as Winter Nelis, .Josephine de Mahnes, and Bergamotte 

 d'Esperen, are nearly valueless as market Pears, unless grown 

 of extra size on trees against walls. The truth is, that only a 

 few market and gentlemen's gardeners know what kinds of 

 winter Pears to grow for Covent Garden, and how to grow them. 

 There are, also, but few fruit-growers who know the most 

 ehgible kinds ; many of them, like the person Mr. Eobson refers 

 to, as to his fruit from 170 trees making 17s. 3d., plant too 

 many kinds, and not the proper ones. They, in short, are 

 deficient in that sound practical knowledge in fruit-cultivation 

 which takes many years, and, above aU, acute observation to 

 acquire ; such gardeners as one of my friends happens to have 

 in his employ, and whom, because of his inflexible opposition 

 to orchard-houses and root-pruning, he calls " Mr. Passive 

 Eesistanee," never can and never will obtain this appendix to 

 " useful knowledge " — How to grow fruit for market profitably. 



In giving my experience in fruit-growing, I fear that I shall 

 make myself liable to the charge of egotism, that eternal " I," 

 which so sorely afflicts articles on gardening, will rise to the 

 surface. In spite, however, of the obtrusive " ego," I will tell 

 a little more about fruit-culture. 



To commence with Pear trees on Quince stocks, I must go 

 back some thirty odd years. About that time I was a great col- 

 lector of fruits, and more particularly Pears. I had ransacked 

 the whole of Europe, and whenever I saw a new name in some 

 catalogue I ordered a tree. By these means I had formed a 

 collection which I find on reference to my old catalogues, 

 consisted of 918 sorts, besides many that had not been 

 entered, so that I had upwards of a thousand nominal varieties 

 of Pears. One tree of each sort I had planted in a large 

 border of calcareous sandy loam resting on sand and marl 

 with chalk stones. Well, the trees grew freely, and in process 

 of time many of them bore fruit — the fruit of disappointment. 

 What wretched Pears I have tasted from those trees, and how 

 few were found worthy of trying again ! As far as I can now 

 calculate, I foimd one hundi-ed varieties worthy of propa- 

 gation. It is some twenty odd years since that I became 

 deeply interested in planting Pear trees for market purposes. 

 I thought I saw a pleasing prospect of "majestic trees " fuU 

 of fruit, myself lying under their shade, with some pleasant 

 book, enjoying the " dolce," &c.,and full of agreeable antici- 

 pations as to the value of my choice Pears. To carry out my 

 first scheme, I bought of Messrs. Buchanan & Co., then 

 nurserymen at CamberweU, many hundreds of the grandest 

 standard Pears ever seen, many of their stems measured from 

 6 to 7 inches in circumference. They were, in nursery par- 

 lance, overgrown trees, and were destined to the wood heap. I 

 happened at that time to have made a purchase of some free- 

 hold land, and I remember bribing the farmer to allow me to 

 plant my large Pear trees in rows among the_ young Wheat, 

 agreeing to pay for every square yard taken up in planting my 



