308 



JOURNAL OF HORTICrrLTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ April 34, 1868. 



trees. I had tbe heads of mr trees cnt off, and jilanted the 

 stems in the autumn of 183C. They all grew admirably, and 

 in the spring of 1838 thoy were grafted with the following 

 sorts, which I then thought would make a fortune — Easter 

 Beurru, BcurrC Diel, Beurr(j Ranee, Glou Morccaa, Eacon's 

 Incomparable (how odd it is, that this Pear, then one of the 

 handsomest and finest Pears known, should now be a bad 

 grower, a bad bearer, and the fruit veiy inferior ; it has been so 

 here for many years), and Knight's Winter Crassane. The 

 grafts soon formed fine healthy trees, blossomed abundantly, 

 and I was on the eve of pleasant expectation ; but my hopes 

 were in the course of a few years all crushed. I had fair crops 

 of fruit, but mj- soil (or climate), was too cool, and the fine 

 Korts above named did not ripen their fruit properly; some 

 were spotted, some cracked, and but very few indeed were fit 

 for the Covent Garden shops, where I had so often seen Pears 

 of the same kinds from walls so fine and imposing. Still my 

 trees were a beautiful sight, they were so healthy. The only 

 Bort that fulfilled my expectations as to bearing abundantly, 

 was the Winter Crassane, of which I had one season upwards 

 of one hundred bushels of fine clean fruit. A few were sent 

 to Covent Garden in January to ascertain their value, which I 

 found to be nil, for they had no flavour ; the remainder were 

 crushed for their pips, and very fine stocks they made, and 

 thus ended my first experiment in giowing Pears for market. 



It was, I think, in September, 1843 or 1, that on returning 

 from a long journey on the Continent, I paid my specimen 

 Pear trees a visit to look over the numerous varieties, and taste 

 and trj- them. To my great delight I soon observed two trees, 

 pyramids, remarkable for the abundance and beauty of their 

 fruit ; one was the Louise Bonno of Jersey, the other the BeurrC 

 de Capiaumont, both on Quince stocks. Among hundreds of 

 sorts there was not one that looked so full of promise as those 

 two kinds. My mind was immediately made up. The former 

 I determined to plant largely, and the latter to gi-aft all my 

 choice kinds with, for I observed that it bore equally well on 

 the Pear stock, and gave fruit of a rich red, yellow, and russet, 

 peculiar to this sort in the soil here, and which it still retains, 

 being veiy unlike those from trees near London, which are 

 generally covered with rasset. 



In the autumn of 1845 I commenced my plantation of two 

 thousand Louise Bonne Pears on the Quince stock, planting 

 trees three and four years old. The rows were 2-1 feet apart, 

 to give room for the crops in the spaces between them, and the 

 trees 5 feet apart in the rows. They commenced to bear the 

 second season after planting, and produced the most beautiful 

 fruit I had ever seen. From 1849 to 1853, both inclusive, we 

 had here a series of spring frosts, destroying aU my Pear blos- 

 soms. I began to think that my dreams of profit from Pear- 

 growing were castles in the air. In 1854 a change in our spring 

 climate took place, and my hopes revived ; in 1855 my crop 

 was magnificent, the Pears the finest in the market, and the 

 price they brought very satisfactoiy. In 1857 I was more than 

 ever gratified, for such an assemblage of pyramidal Pears loaded 

 with fruit of the most beautiful colour was never before seen, 

 they were large, and without exaggeration their colour was 

 crimson and gold — this I have since found was owing to the soil 

 being full of calcareous matter. It was this season that I had 

 a visit from two experienced market gardeners from Fulham, 

 the classic region of market gardens; "they came to look at 

 my Pears," they said, having heard about them the previous 

 year in Covent Garden. I felt, of course, great dehght in 

 showing them. They looked and looked at the Pears, were 

 very reticent ; but I detected some significant glances ex- 

 changed. After lunch and a glass of wine, I expressed my 

 anxiety to know whether my Louise Bonne Pears were equal in 

 quality to those at Fulham, knowing as I did the superiority 



of the soil and climate there. I addressed myself to Mr. M , 



a most experienced cultivator. In reply, he said, as nearly as 

 I can recollect, " My Louise Bonne Pears, the trees on Pear 

 stocks, are a week or ten days earlier than yours ; I shall go 

 home and send them all to market before yours arrive, for no 

 Pear I have ever seen can compete with them." I need not 

 add that I felt much gratified. I sent to market that season 

 upwards of 700 half sieves (half bushels) of Louise Bonne Pears, 

 which made from 6s. to Ss. per half sieve, the first price for 

 " seconds," the latter for the piime. My numerous trees re- 

 grafted with Beurrf- de Capiaumont, were equally successful, 

 for in one season I sent GOO bushels of this sort to market, 

 which made from 4s. to ax. per bushel. I felt fully rewarded 

 for my years of eai'e, and thankful that I had been so ob- 

 servant. 



Since the above period I have removed all my Louise Bonue 

 Peors, although the trees were large. Finding that they in- 

 terfered with cultivation, and many of them having chlorosis 

 from the soil being shallow, resting on calcareous sand, they 

 are now in dose quarters, and full of blossom-buds. To exem- 

 plify the fertihty brought on by removing fruit trees, 1 may 

 mention that half a dozen of the first Louise Bonne Pear trees 

 planted are left in their original positions, they are large trees, 

 but this season blossomless. I have, I fear, too lengthily thus 

 far given you a full and particular account of my experience in 

 growing Pears for market. 



In paragraph 12 Mr. Kobson admits that the Quince stock 

 "is of service in more ways than the Paradise has been for 

 Apples." Thanks, Mr. Eobson, for the admission. Is it be- 

 cause the Quince is more distantly related to the Pear than 

 the Paradise to the Apple, so that the foreign blood invigorates 

 the tree? This is not quite in accordance with vegetable 

 physiology. To his question. Has fruit from Pears on Quince 

 stocks " over excelled that grown on the Pear stock in size, 

 flavour, or abundance?" the history of my Pear-culture is a 

 sufficient reply. The truth is, it is answered hero every 

 autumn, and has been annually for many years. 



From what I have seen of the fruit-growers of Kent, I have 

 reason to believe them kind, good men, liring on a soil so good 

 as to make them satisfied with their lot, and not inclined to 

 try any new mode of culture or new thing. I can illustrate 

 this feeling in fruit-growers well-placed. It is now some thirty 

 or forty years since I raised from a stone a Plum, which I soon 

 found was of great value, being a constant bearer, of good 

 colour and size, and, above all, the earliest Plum known. After 

 the lapse of ten or fifteen years, finding it so valuable as a 

 market Plum, and not having at that time more than thirty 

 acres under cultivation, so that I could not plant out my large 

 stock of young trees, I made known its quaUties to the fruit- 

 growers of sunny Kent, &c. ; they would not plant it to any ex- 

 tent, feeling satisfied with an inferior early Plum, called the 

 Early Violet and the Early Orleans. Soon after this, somewhat 

 less than twenty years since, I was enabled to add to my estate 

 by some fortunate purchases. One field of five acres, with a 

 fine calcareous soil and south-western slope, I dedicated to 

 Plums, and knowing well the custom of fruit-growers who 

 planted only well-known sorts, such as that popular and ex- 

 cellent Plum, the Victoria, and others, all mid-season Ploms, 

 I followed my own judgment and planted three kinds, one the 

 early seedling I have mentioned, the others Belle de Septem- 

 bre and Keine Claude de Bavay, both very late ; the result has 

 been the perfect success of my calculations. For some years 

 j past I have sent hundreds of bushels of the early Plum to 

 1 market before there were any to compete with them, conse- 

 quently they have made double the price of mid-season kinds. 

 Of the two late sorts the BeUe de Septembre, one of the largest, 

 best, and most beautiful of culinary Plums, has also realised 

 a vei-y high price, because it was so late that no other Plums 

 were in the market ; and my late Green Gages, alias Reine 

 Claude de Bavay, have been sent to market when Green Gages 

 were forgotten, so that 10s. the half seive, or 20.«. per bnshel, 

 has been no uncommon price for my two late sorts of Plums. 

 I enter into these details to show Mr. Bobson that I am not a 

 visionaiT, and that I have de-\-iated from the fruit-grower's 

 groove to some pur]5ose. One thousand bushels of Plums 

 were sent from here last season, and owing to their going to 

 market early and late, the glut, owing to the abundant crop, 

 was avoided, and I had my reward. 



I may add that the five hundred trees of the early Plum are 

 all pyramids, kept so by slight annual pnming, and that they 

 are planted 24 feet apart, row from row, and 10 feet apart in the 

 rows. When I planted them I was not so wise a planter as I 

 now am, or I should have had more than double the number of 

 trees on the same space of ground. I never remember seeing 

 anything in fruit-culture more beautiful than these trees were 

 last season, every tree a pyramid of purple fruit more numer- 

 ous than the leaves, and, to my surprise, they are this season 

 covered with blossom-buds, seeming likely to bear a fine crop. 

 Spring frosts have but little effect on this kind of Plum, hence 

 its value. Now, it wiU scarcely be believed that till within 

 these two or three years Mr. Eobson's neighbours knew nothing 

 of this valuable sort, although, according to his account, they 

 visit other paits of the kingdom, and Belgium, A-c, in search 

 of good fruit. I have never heard of any new good kind of 

 fruit being introduced by these gentlemen, or a new kind raised 

 from seed. If they had read '• our Journal " they would have 

 been before their time in this matter, instead of behind it. I 



