98 A YEAR IN A LANCASHIRE GARDEN. 



blossom, but scarcely anything has ever come from 

 it. Last year I examined its blossom closely, and 

 found that the pistil is so much longer than the 

 stamens that it cannot fertilise itself, and must be 

 dependent on insects. This is not the case with 

 other varieties of Cherries, so far as 1 can see, and 

 I am curious to find out whether my remedy of a 

 bee-hive will this year have the desired effect. I 

 believe it will be of service to the other wall-fruit 

 too, and I have already seen the affection the bees 

 have for the blossoms of the Apricot. 



How beautiful a garden is when all the fruit- 

 trees are in bloom ! and how various that bloom 

 is ! Each Pear-tree bears a different blossom from 

 its neighbour, and the handsomest of all, in size 

 and shape of flower and form of cluster, is the 

 Jargonelle. But no Pear-blossom can compare 

 with the beauty of blossom on the Apple-trees ; 

 and of all Apple-trees the Pomeroy is most 

 beautiful, when every bough is laden with clusters 

 of deep-red buds, which shade off into the softest 

 rosy white, as, one by one, the blossoms open 

 out. 



Of other fruit I have nothing new to notice, 

 unless it be to ask whether any one now living can 

 smell the scent of dying Strawberry leaves ? We 



