148 Culture of the Pear on the Apple. 



character of his own to show what varieties will grow on the 

 apple, and what most readily strike root, and promise to make 

 standard trees. 



In your review of commercial gardening for the year 1847, 

 (Vol. XIV. p. 11,) you notice an extensive nursery in Wiscon- 

 sin. We have been, for some time, engaged in what wc re- 

 gard a laudable enterprise in a new country like this, viz., in 

 making a collection of all the desirable varieties of fruits cul- 

 tivated in the United States, and if, as it appears, there is a 

 more extensive or a better selection of varieties in Wisconsin, 

 than is embraced in the catalogue we sent you some time ago, 

 we wish you would please inform us where it is located, as 

 we were under the expected necessity of sending to the east- 

 ern cities for our future supplies. 



Bloombigton, Iowa, Feb. 14, 1848. 



We are gratified in offering so good an exposition of the art 

 of horticulture in the far west, where, but a few years since, 

 no fruit trees, save those indigenous to the prairies and wood- 

 lands of that region, were to be found. It is, at once, a con- 

 vincing proof of the ardor of our people in overcoming every 

 obstacle to success, and of the diffusion of a taste for flowers 

 and fruits even at so remote a distance from the great centre 

 of horticultural improvement in this country. 



The hints and suggestions of Mr. Weed are timely, and of 

 importance ; though we must admit that we have not much 

 faith in the apple as a general stock for the pear, even to the 

 extent of the quince, still we would, by no means, condemn 

 it, but, on the contrary, we would urge all amateurs, as well 

 as gardeners and nurserymen, who can spare the time, to try 

 further experiments with a view to arrive at more certain re- 

 sults, and through a greater number of years, than has yet 

 been attempted. We certainly agree with Mr. Weed, that 

 the failure of a few in this early stage of experiment, should 

 not induce us to wholly give up further trial. We commend 

 our correspondent's remarks to the especial attention of every 

 cultivator. The collection alluded to at p. 11, as existing in 

 Wisconsin, was an error. In the multiplication of new states, 

 we had almost forgotten that of Iowa, and, while our corre- 

 spondent's catalogue lay before us, without reflection we 



