188 AMEKIC.VN MODE OY PKOPAGATING DWARF PEAR-TKEES. 



we in the west of Europe have a mild season, and vice versa. 

 One remarkable circumstance happened in 1821-22: the great 

 volcano on Mount Hecla (Iceland) broke out in December, 

 1821, as did Vesuvius a short time after. Mount Hecla also 

 broke out into active eruption on the second of September last, 

 as noticed in my register ; and again I have recorded, from the 

 Copenhagen papers of the 22nd of December last, an account 

 stating, " that Mount Hecla, after a few weeks following the 

 eruption of the 2nd of September, had ceased, but that a more 

 violent eruption had lately (Copenhagen, 22nd December) hap- 

 pened, with a vast discharge of red-hot liquid lava, which had 

 overrun an extensive surface.'* 



Soon after the turn of Christmas last I attended a public 

 meeting at Worcester, to enter into a subscription for food and 

 coal for the poor of the city and suburbs. I remarked to those 

 who sat near me, that I expected a mild winter, and was asked 

 why I thought so : my reply was, the late prevalence of south- 

 westerly and westerly winds during October, November, and 

 December, and the consequent warmth of the Atlantic Ocean. 



XXVII. — An Account of an American Mode of Propagating 

 Dwarf Pear-Trees. In a letter to N. Longworth, Esq., 

 President of the Cincinnati Horticultural Society. By W. 

 Smith, M.D. 



(Communicated by the Cincinnati Society, June, 1845.) 



In October, 1842, I had a number of quince-bushes dug up and 

 put in trenches in a horizontal position, all the branches were 

 placed a few inches under ground, the young shoots only being 

 left above ; these grew very freely in the spring and summer of 

 1843, and were budded in July and August ; two or more buds 

 were placed on each, according to the length, a few inches 

 apart. In the spring of 1844, when the pear-buds began to 

 shoot, the young branches in which they were inserted were 

 pegged to the surface of the ground, and as soon as the pears 

 attained the height of three or four inches these branches were 

 covered with earth, and in the end of October were rooted along 

 their whole length, aflbrding a sufficient supply for the separate 

 growth of each, and at this time a number were planted out 

 (these are now fine growing trees). In 1843-44, the branches 

 of the buried bushes sent up innumerable healthy shoots ; in 

 May we began budding these, and continued to bud every 

 favourable day when sap flowed freely in June, July, August, 

 and September. In April, 1844, all were again pegged to the 



