292 NOTES ON FLEMISH TEARS. 



years, were from the sowings of the late Dr. Van Mens. Tliis is 

 why I liave written, Collection Esperen ; Collection Van Mons. — 

 Suiutt, cuiqtie. 



De Jongiie. 



XXIV. — How TO Regenerate our Fruits. By Mr. T, PavERs, 

 F.H.S., Sawbridgeworth. 



This branch of fruit culture is so full of interest, so worthy 

 the attention of all pomologists, — above all, has been so strangely 

 neglected of late years in England ; indeed, since the early life 

 of the late T. A. Knight, no attempts to raise seedling Pears 

 have been heard of, — that our thanks are due to M. de Jonghefor 

 having brought the matter before your readers. For some 

 twenty years or more, I have occasionally raised Pears from seed, 

 and must confess that my success has been nothing to boast of; 

 but latterly I have in a measure changed my mode of operations, 

 so as to make raising of seedling Pears far more interesting than 

 merely sowing the pips of a good Pear, without naming them, 

 grafting the young shoots from the seedlings, and waiting till 

 they bear fruit. My method is, I flatter myself, better adapted 

 to our climate than that given in p. 21, and less disappointment 

 is liable to arise from vermin, and the uncertainty of our 

 springs, for seedling Pears are very apt to be pulled up by 

 birds, the pips destroyed by mice, and in a showery and cold 

 April to be eaten up by slugs and snails. As soon as the Pear- 

 eating season commences, I have some two or three dozen nine- 

 inch pots filled with a compost of loam and rotten marmre, say 

 two-thirds of the former to one-third of the latter; some sand 

 added will improve it ; these pots are then placed on bricks or 

 tiles to keep out the worms, in some convenient situation (away 

 from hedges, as they harbour slugs), near the house, and in each 

 pot is a smooth slip of deal, painted, ready to be written on .• I 

 will assume it to be October ; I am eating a fine specimen of the 

 Louise Bonne Pear ; the pips are plump and brown. I take 

 them from the core carefully, go to one of the pots of earth, and 

 with my finger and thumb press in the pips one at a time, to 

 about an inch deep, and level the surface with my hand. I then 

 write on the label, say, "Louise Bonne Pear, Oct., 1855;" a 



