, 

 YALE AGRICULTURAL LECTURES. 47 



eties of the pear, so that we would scarcely recognize them as 

 the same as we had eaten in propitious seasons. Fourth, Ma 

 nures and their application. Analyze your soil and your crop, 

 and .manure according to what you find the plant needs. 

 Mulching is an excellent practice. Manure should be applied 

 at or near the surface. An orchard should always be kept free 

 from grass or weeds, and no other crop should be raised except 

 when the trees are small, and even then only a few vegetables 

 midway between the rows. When the trees arrive at matu 

 rity, cultivation should not exceed a depth of more than three 

 or four inches ; the roots should never be disturbed with the 

 plow or spade. Fifth, The producing from seed new and im 

 proved varieties suited to each locality. Dr. Van Mons dis 

 couraged hybridization. He believed it tended to degeneracy 

 and imperfection, but he must have overlooked the fact that 

 many of his choicest varieties may have been the result of 

 natural impregnation, the pollen being conveyed from one kind 

 to another by the breeze or by insects. Mr. Knight, late 

 President of the London Horticultural Society, was in favor of 

 it. The improvement of plants by this art is illustrated by im 

 provement in the turnip crop of England, of whose importance 

 Daniel Webster remarked : " England would fail to pay the 

 interest of her national debt if turnips were excluded from her 

 culture." But nature's theory is, that like produces like, and 

 the lecturer recommended the planting of the most mature and 

 perfect seed of the most hardy and vigorous sorts. Sixth, The 

 cultivation of the pear upon the quince stock. Some pomolo- 

 gists object to this, but some varieties succeed better on the 

 quince than upon the pear, but they should always be planted 

 upon a luxuriant soil, and be abundantly supplied with nutri 

 ment. They should be set deep enough to cover the place 

 where they were grafted three or four inches. In this way 

 the pear would frequently form independent roots, and would 

 combine the early fruiting of the quince with the longevity of 



