6 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



all was the fact that these fancy trees, if planted early, 

 often produced fruit the first year of planting. Unfortu- 

 nately, there were Paradise and Paradise stocks, and as 

 the idea was French, many firms quite naturally purchased 

 French Paradise stocks. This variety is a bad, short-lived 

 stock, and, as proved by Barron at Chiswick, it often died 

 even before it had been budded. Luckily, Mr. Rivers found 

 among his seedlings two fine, surface-rooting Apples, which 

 are to-day unsurpassed for working with choice Apples 

 the Nonsuch and the Broad-leaved Paradise. Trees upon 

 these two stocks give promise of a life equal to the vener- 

 able standards of our orchards, and they are the only re- 

 liable stocks for the purpose of cordon, pyramidal, and 

 bush trees. In the nurseries we have also a few grand 

 standards on the Paradise ; even these are safe in sheltered 

 positions. 



Mr. A. F. Barron carried on the work begun by Robert 

 Thompson at the Chiswick Gardens ; he made many 

 valuable contributions to fruit culture, and the trials he 

 carried out were most instructive. In some respects it may 

 be said that the chief starting-point in hardy fruit culture 

 was at the Fruit Conference held in the Chiswick Gardens 

 in 1883, when a much-wanted opportunity arose to correct 

 the nomenclature, which was sadly defective in country 

 districts. It served also to bring forward many little- 

 known fruits, and at the same time to indicate useless 

 varieties which it was not worth while to grow when greatly 

 improved sorts were available. 



The Report of that Conference issued in 1884 furnished 

 a valuable work of reference. The success of the Exhibition 

 led to the holding of a Conference on Pears, and a General 



