PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 129 



upon Long Island. It is one of the best bearers, and the 

 strongest growers. In planting a pear orchard he would plant 

 more of them than of any other kind, excepting perhaps the 

 Bartlett. This is not the nsual Jargonelle pear. 



Mr. Carpenter. — This is known as the Jargonelle by all the 

 nurserymen in the United States and in England, and is so called 

 by all the books, without an exception, 



Mr. Bergen. — We had the matter up in the Convention, in 

 Philadelphia, last fall, and this was admitted by Mr. Wilder and 

 others to be the Windsor Bell. 



Dr. Trimble considered the Jargonelle, as he had seen and 

 cultivated it, worthless. It may appear fair and fine upon the 

 tree ; but knock it down from the tree, and it is not a i^ear but 

 a squash. 



Mr. Bergen said that that might be true, if the pear is allowed 

 to ripen on the tree ; but if the Windsor Bell is picked green 

 and put into the cellar, and allowed to soften there, it will ripen 

 without becoming rotten at the core. If they are destroyed by 

 being left too long upon the tree, it is not the fault of the pear. 



Mr. Burgess. — This is not the English Jargonelle at all. It is 

 nothing like it. It is a great fault of the Jargonelle that it will 

 not bear gathering. It should be eaten from the tree, one day 

 before it gets ripe. It is a fine pear, if you can find it just right. 



Mr. Bergen read Downing's description of the Windsor Bell, 

 in which the tree is mentioned as of straggling growth. 



Mr. Carpenter. — This is not straggling. It is upright, 



Mr. Bergen. — Then I may be mistaken in the identity of this 

 pear. 



THE GLADIOLUS. 



Mr. Andrew Bridgeman exhibited some beautiful specimens of 

 the Gladiolus, in spikes, mostly however secondary flowers, the 

 season for them being nearly over. From the bulb planted in 

 the spring there will shoot up four or five stalks, according to 

 its strength. Each stalk produces three spikes of flowers, a 

 principal spike growing from 18 to 20 inches long, and flowering 

 gradually up to the top, and a secondary spike on each side of it 

 which are much shorter. The bulb that is planted dies, and 

 each of the stalks thrown up expands at the base and forms a 

 new bulb to be planted the following season. These bulbs 

 iLiiiw themselves indefinitely, and there is no occasion to renew 



[Am. Inst.] I 



