138 THE PEAE UPON THE QUINCE STOCK. 



an ancient date, and has been so long and so suc- 

 cessfully practiced in that great pear-growing country, 

 France, that it appears somewhat absurd to see it 

 attacked at this late day, as it has been by individuals 

 who, either from want of experience or other causes, 

 have not succeeded well in its cultivation on this 

 stock, and hence would deny to a great portion of oui- 

 community, for a series of years, so delicious a fruit 

 as the Pear ; for in no way can it be obtained in any 

 abundance, for half a generation after planting, exce]3t 

 upon the Quince. 



An intelligent correspondent has shown the fal- 

 lacy of the arguments made use of to disparage the 

 quince stock, and it would be useless to go over the 

 ground again. As he has truly said : " Let gentlemen 

 botanists have their own way in disputing. On we 

 shall go, reaping an abundance of fruit while they 

 are cavilling in regard to a fact long ago established 

 by the experience of men, not mere tyros in the work, 

 but those who have made the question a study for life." 



EULES rOE GEOWING THE PEAE ON THE QUINCE. 



From these just and lucid statements of distin- 

 guished horticulturists, it is easy to learn that the 

 requisites for successfully cultivating the Pear on the 

 Quince are : 



1. That the pear should be budded on the Angers 

 Quince, a free-growing variety — a tree rather than a 

 shrub, like the Portugal Quince. Several specimens 

 of this variety, on my grounds, have grown, in two 

 seasons, seven feet in height, and one inch and a 

 quarter in diameter. 



