I\otcs and Gleanings. 163 



not stated them, and will not now state them. However, this implies that he 

 will tell us at some time, and I hope it will be soon, for I haven't the slightest 

 doubt that, with his extensive experience, he has found out some things that we 

 did not know before. Put them in a book, doctor ; or, at least, put them in a 

 Horticultural Journal, so that we may all have the benefit of j'our experience. 



Well, I cannot attempt to go over the whole field of the discussion, any more 

 than Dr. Houghton can, but there is one point that I must notice ; for when he 

 says that his essay was " not a dolorous wail over the failure of pear culture," 

 and implies that he did not even intend to be understood that pear culture was a 

 failure, why, I must think that his language was extremely unfortunate, to say 

 the least. Certainly, Mr. Editor, I received the same impression from his essay 

 that you did, and so did every one with whom I have spoken on it ; and so did 

 the editor of the Gardener's Monthly, who says the "whole essay was a com- 

 plete jeremiade of failui'es : sobs and cries seemed to break out from every 

 sentence ; everything has been done, but no fruit follows ; " and so did the care- 

 ful and judicious editor of the Country Gentleman, who, after asking whether 

 pear culture is a failure, says that Dr. Houghton has answered the question in 

 the affirmative. "On standard trees," says Dr. Houghton, "even in their best 

 condition, scarcely half of any crop is marketable at one dollar per bushel, and 

 not over one quarter of any crop is suited for the first class fruit-stores."" Now, 

 if these statements, made without exception or limitation, do not mean that pear 

 culture is a failure, pray tell me, what do they mean ? 



Certainly Dr. Houghton has found his first assertion rather too sweeping, or 

 he would not have modified and guarded it as he has ; and if his first essay had 

 contained only such ideas and statements as his second article in the Gardener's 

 Monthly (I refer to that in the number for December, 1869), or that now under 

 consideration, he would not have provoked the opposition which the views 

 expressed in his essay met. I must, however, do him the justice to say, that he 

 is quite right as to the effect on the pear market of a plentiful supply of other 

 fruits, especially peaches. It is difficult for any fruit to compete with peaches, 

 even in Boston, where the abundant supply last year, with the freights on top of 

 Delaware prices, interfered sadly with the pear trade ; and in Philadelphia, 

 where peaches are so much cheaper, the effect must have been still worse. 



The Campairula again. ^\ had my say on this subject last month ; and so, 

 lest you should think me garrulous, I will only remark of the beautiful, delicate 

 little harebell, that it is a wonder that it has not been brought into more general 

 cultivation. I have a few plants growing in the garden, and it succeeds per- 

 fectly ; and I wish I had more. I know not whether to admire most the grace- 

 ful blue flower or the fine delicate foliage. I have found it growing abundantly 

 more than half way up Mount Washington, the plant a little dwarfed, but the 

 flowers of a deeper blue than I have ever seen them anywhere else. But wild 

 or cultivated, it is one of the choicest gifts of Flora. 



The Josephine de Binche Pear. — A fine, rich-looking, good-sized, and good- 

 shaped pear, though your wood-cut, excellent as it is, cannot give the beauty of 

 the colored plate. Do not, however, pronounce the name Binch, but Binkeh, or 

 Bink. It is very seldom that we are able, as with this variety, to trace the 



