MY FARM OF EDGEWOOD 



opinions are fallible, I plant myself upon neu- 

 tral ground, and venture to affirm that each 

 mode of culture has its advantages. There 

 are, for instance, varieties of the pear, which, 

 in certain localities, will not thrive, or produce 

 fair specimens, without incorporation upon the 

 quince stock. Such, in my experience, are the 

 Duchess d'Angouleme, and the Vicar of Wink- 

 field. The finest fruit of the Belle Lucrative, 

 and the Bonne de Jersey, I also invariably take 

 from dwarf growth. 



The dwarf trees, however, demand very 

 special and thorough culture; if the season is 

 dry, they must be watered; if the ground is 

 baked, it must be stirred. I look upon them 

 as garden pets, which must be fondled and 

 humored; and. like other pets, they are sure to 

 be attacked by noxious diseases. They take 

 the leaf -blight as easily as a child takes the 

 mumps; they are capricious and uncertain — 

 sometimes repaying you for your care well ; and 

 other times, dropping all their fruit in a green 

 state, in the most petulant way imaginable. 

 And worst of all, after two or three years of 

 devoted nursing, without special cause, and 

 with all their leaves laughing on them, some 

 group of two or three together— suddenly die. 



Early bearing, and brilliant specimens favor 



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