58 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1898. 



on the sandy soil which I have used in my maturer years, that 

 in no other way can we get such fine pears, quality and quantity 

 both considered, as we do in double-working. 



In the early fifties, when Mr. Hadwen was a young man and 

 I was a boy, there was a pear which I think you will agree 

 with me in saying was one of the finest pears we have ever had, 

 and that was the Flemish Beauty. A disease called the pear 

 crack attacked it and it became for a long time and perhaps 

 forever, with here and there an exceptional case, valueless ; 

 that is to say, the pear cracked up to that extent that they were 

 good for nothing but to feed to the stock, but we do not raise 

 pears for that purpose but rather for dessert. Now we have 

 found that the Flemish Beauty is one of our most valuable trees 

 for double-working. It is a fact that it will produce, so far as 

 my observation and experience go, better pears than budded 

 trees or single-worked trees. Particularly is this true in the 

 case of the Bosc which is, perhaps, next to the Bartlett, our 

 most popular pear. Now the Bosc, budded or single-worked, 

 is a tree of very slow growth. It takes a long time to grow the 

 Bosc on the standard stock and when you get the tree the 

 results are such that many people get discouraged and give up 

 trying to grow it. But take the Flemish Beauty of a size that 

 can be properly handled, and another good stock is the old 

 Vicar and another is the Bousock, — pears that we used to grow 

 forty years ago, but which are very little grown now, — and they 

 make excellent stock for double-working, especially for the 

 Bosc. Some of the finest specimens I have ever seen came 

 from the Vicar and the Flemish Beauty. 



On the same soil, within five rods of each other, I set out a 

 very handsome Bartlett tree, a tree that was sold to me by a 

 nurseryman as one that would come into immediate bearing, and 

 a Flemish Beauty that was grafted with the Bartlett. Those 

 two trees I have had about ten years, and I have come to this 

 conclusion, that the Bartlett which was single-worked was no 

 good as a Bartlett. On the contrary, the Flemish Beauty which 

 was grafted with the Bartlett produced very handsome Bartlett 

 pears with a very fine flavor. I think you will agree with me 



