CROPS AND PROFITS 



of fruit— which is not in the books. It is 

 very much as if a gentleman of the Univer- 

 sities, full of his book lore, were to stroll into 

 my library,— talking of his Dibdins, and Elze- 

 virs, and Brunets ;— with what a blush I should 

 see his eye fall upon certain thumb-worn copies 

 of Tom Jones, or the Vicar of Wakefield, or 

 Defoe! 



Yet these gentlemen of the special know- 

 ledges have their uses— the pear-mongers with 

 the rest. Not a season passes, but they dis- 

 cover and label for us a host of worthless varie- 

 ties. I only object to the scornful way in 

 which they ignore a great many established 

 favorites, which people will persist in buying 

 and eating. I remember that I once had the 

 hardihood, in a little group of pomological 

 gentlemen, to express a modest opinion in 

 praise of the flavor of the Bartlett pear. 



The gentlemen did not deign a reply; but I 

 was looked upon very much as a greenhorn 

 might be, who at a political caucus should ven- 

 ture a word or two, in favor of — honesty. 



Quince stocks for pear trees have their ad- 

 vocates ; and there has been a very pretty war 

 between the battlers for the standards, and 

 the battlers for the dwarfs. Having made trial 

 of both, and considering that most human 



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