Our Pea?- Culture all ^lackcry. 9 



knowledge was nothing gained from f;icts or based on scientific princi- 

 ples, but mere empiricism. What Sir T. A. Knight said, what Van 

 }\ions accomplished, what Mr. R. Thompson systematized, what 

 Dccaisne published, what Leroy compiled, what Mr. Rivers wrote, 

 what Air. Manning did, what Mr. Dow'ning promulgated, go for 

 nought. A wiser than cither of these now tells us, in the language of 

 the old nursery rhyme, — 



" * * * Get out I You're all a set of quacks." 



That this is so must be fact, without doubt, for tlie oracle of the Gar- 

 deners, established for their especial benefit, tells us so. What more 

 can be said ? Hear him. 



" The public idea of pear culture for profit has been an utter failure ; 

 that the knowledge and skill which has directed it to this day is merely 

 empirical, having no foundation in science and no success in practice to 

 recommend it ; and that we have the wdiole subject to begin anew, and 

 the hard lesson to learn over again." 



This is a settler. King Canute never did better. Deep, indeed, 

 must be the disappointment of sucli men as Colonel Wilder. P. Barrv, 

 Charles Downing, and many others, after a whole life devoted to 

 the improvement, cultivation, and introduction of pears, to be told bv 

 such an oracle that this supposed skill is " merely empiricism." A late 

 distinguished horticulturist carried on all his culture of the grape, during 

 the latter years of his life, under the influence of his father's spirit ; and 

 when our good friends wdiom we have just named shall have shufiled ofl" 

 this mortal coil, undoubtedly other cultivators wall seek to base their 

 practice upon the reputation and success of their spirits. We trust, 

 however, after the wise sayings of the Gardeners' oracle, that their em- 

 piricism will be exposed, and 'that they will not be allowed to dictate 

 anything, until they shall have " begun anew-, and learned the hard 

 lesson" of their life over again. 



Can it be.^ Is it true that all our pear cultivators are mere pretend- 

 ers, quacks, and charkitans? for that is the meaning of the language. 

 Did Colonel Wilder consider, w hen he was lecturing before the stu- 

 dents of Yale on pear culture, that he was a mere quack in the business? 



