358 Notes and Gleanings. 



seedlings from the unfertilized or uncrossed flowers of the Seckel pear, so smooth 

 in its shoots and so upright in growth, which are as full of thorns as the com- 

 mon hawthorn ; and also some from Beurre d'Amanlis and Beurrd Hardi, both 

 vigorous growers without the least spiny tendency, yet all the seedlings from 

 them are beset with long, sharp, thorny spines. It has been often questioned 

 if a young seedling pear tree could be brought into giving fruit prematurely by 

 grafting a scion from it on an aged tree. At one time I thought this quite feasi- 

 ble ; but from having been lately more careful in my experiments, I am inclined 

 to think that both the seedling growing on its own roots, and the graft taken 

 from it, advance step by step — their culture being equally cared for — towards 

 bearing fruit. Some few years since I had some choice seedling pears placed in 

 pots, and when they were one year old I had their leading shoots cut off, and 

 grafted into some pear trees on quince stocks, two or three years old, also in 

 pots. These trees, their pots plunged, stand in a warm position, and seem to 

 advance pari passu. No difference whatever can be seen in the formation of 

 their buds, now large and apparently incipient blossom buds. The two most 

 noticeable sorts are seedhngs from Prince Albert and Josej^hine de Malines. 



I have thus far described a few, a very few, of the seedling pears here that 

 have not yet borne fruit, and I may now perhaps be allowed to devote a few 

 words to trees of various sizes, from ten to twenty years old and upvvards, that 

 have borne fruit in abundance. They are trees raised from good kinds, from 

 unfertilized flowers, and have proved of much interest, although not of much 

 commercial value. Good kinds of pears may be raised from seed with great 

 facility, but it is not an easy matter to raise better pears than we already pos- 

 sess ; the great advance to be made will, I think, be in seedling pears raised 

 from flowers judiciously crossed. This has been done here by growing the 

 trees in the orchard-house in pots, and then, under the direction of some one 

 careful and calculating, by having the different kinds crossed. This has been 

 done here, not by my own head or hands, but by one young and full of pleasant 

 enthusiasm as I once was. Reflecting on the culture of pears in pots, under 

 glass, till their blossoms and young fruit are safe from atmospheric influences, I 

 venture to prophesy that, ere many years are passed, it will be found to be the 

 only safe mode of cultivating choice pears with perfect success in England. 



I will now proceed to describe some of the seedling pears alluded to that have 

 borne fruit here. The first group deserving attention consists of about one hun- 

 dred trees, about fifteen years old, all of most vigorous growth. They proved, 

 last season, of great interest, for, in spite of the severe frosts at the end of May, 

 nearly all of them bore large crops of fruit. 



The first rows of the above group are seedlings from the Louise Bonne of 

 Jersey, and are full of interest, for not only is their habit robust and distinct, but 

 their fruit was remarkable for its beauty and goodness, — all like the parent 

 sort, none better in quality, but differing in their seasons of ripening, so as to 

 prolong the Louise Bonne season for some weeks ; and they were all apparently 

 more hardy than the parent ; for while the May frosts destroyed all the fruit on 

 three thousand trees of the parent sort, the seedlings were unscathed. One 

 tree of this batch attracted my notice to a great extent : it is about fifteen feet 



