74 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



SEPTEMBER 18, 1S33. 



them to the wild fruits of the same species (sous 

 especes des bois), but in countries where the kind 

 does not grow spontaneously, there would have 

 been no point of comparison. 



We admit into this Catalogue only the species 

 which we have been able to send to our corres- 

 pondents, under the form of Grafts, such as the 

 Pear, Apple, Plum and Cherry Tree. We have, 

 however, discovered a method of Conveying under 

 the same form the Peach and the Apricot Tree. 

 It consists in grafting them on the summit, or on 

 the bourgeons (bud's eyes) of the Plum Tree, and 

 sending the grafted branch before or after the de- 

 velopement of the eye, to be grafted en feute (or 

 cleft or slit-grafting) on another Plum Tree. We 

 have never yet found this method to fail. 



There are many numbers which have not yet 

 received names, because we thought it right to 

 name only the varieties, which in our judgment 

 merited the title of tres a propager (eminently 

 worthy to be propagated), which expressed the 

 highest excellence that a fruit can attain, and re- 

 quires it to be superior to a St. Germain, a Beurre 

 Gris, a Chnumeutelle, a Colmar, a Cressane, &c. 

 Respect to the persons to whom we offer the 

 homage of our fortunate acquisitions by bestowing 

 their names upon the fruits, exacts from us this 

 extreme, reserve. 



This distinction between Fruits a propager (to 

 be propagated) and those tres a propager, is solely 

 for ourselves, who are so rich in this last quality 

 of fruits, which unites elegance of form, and am- 

 plitude of size, to the utmost delicacy of flesh and 

 of juice, while we are so poor in subjects for 

 grafting. The words Excellent, Exquisite, Deli- 

 cious, annexed to a great number of our new fruits, 

 are equivalent to the declaration that they are as 

 good as the best old varieties. 



In another position than that in which we are 

 placed, we might enlarge on the origin, the form, 

 the qualities, I will say the defects, the epoch of 

 maturity, and other particulars of the Fruits bear- 

 ing names. In the next supplement, if it be ever 

 published, we may, perhaps, revert to these de- 

 tails ; but at present I can only cause to be tran- 

 scribed the judgments pronounced upon each va- 

 riety, and consigned to my notes. 



It may be asked, how we have been able to ob- 

 tain from our seed-plots so many Fruits, so extra- 

 ordinary in all respects ? We answer that our 

 method has been to renew incessantly the old va- 

 rieties, acknowledged as exquisite. By renewing 

 we mean planting always the kernels and stones 

 of the last produced, regenerating thus from father 

 to son. We said to ourselves once for all, that 

 the more a species, being propagated from seed, 

 and at the same time by shoots or suckers, is re- 

 moved by beiug repeatedly sown, from a state of 

 nature, the more it must approach a state of art. 

 We have since acted in conformity to this princi- 

 ple, and already at the third renewing, the fruit of 

 the Peach and Apricot tree is no longer of ordi- 

 nary merit, and, at its fourth sowing the apple is 

 reproduced constantly exquisite. This has not 

 bsen the case with the Pear tree, which still pro- 

 duces ordinary fruit, though no longer bad. But 

 for this characteristic, of the Pear, and especially 

 ibat of the incessant variation of its form, pomo- 

 logical researches would be already without an 

 object, and the study of fruits would consist only 

 in a dry acquisition of names. 



Our seed plots were differently treated accord- 

 ing to the species. The Pear Trees were planted 



in squares, and the Apple Trees were placed in 

 one of the coiners of the garden : these species 

 were never planted together. The Peach and 

 Apricot Trees, sown confusedly, wire removed 

 only to be placed where they were to remain. 

 The growth of all was restrained by pruning till 

 the moment of permanently placing them ; and at 

 transplantation the branches Were slightly drawn 

 together, and the roots forcibly so, in order 

 to make the latter subdivide, which causes the 

 tree to bear early. After the transplantation they 

 were not touched. In the second year we exam- 

 ined the Pear Trees, leaving only those of good 

 appearance, and choosing the others to graft upon. 

 This grafting could not be performed without re- 

 moval, because the growth of the sauvageons would 

 immeasurably outstrip that of the grafted trees. 

 We therefore raised the trees, just before the frosts, 

 and placed them en jauge [in casks or barrels], in 

 order to graft upon them by copulation, and out of 

 the earth at the end of February ; or we grafted 

 them in this manner before the beginning of win- 

 ter. These grafts have endured with perfect safety 

 the severity of the past winter. This method is 

 preferable to every other for the Pear tree and the 

 Apple tree. The suffering, which in this case is 

 common to the tree and the graft, secures its taking 

 and determines an equal force of developement. 

 [t might be called the graft on one's knee, or the 

 the graft at the. corner of the fire. It is the 

 only one which should be practised, except en 

 feute (slit cleft) for the Paradise and the Quince 

 tree, of which every piece of a trunk, branch 

 or root only, 2 or 3 inches long and 2 or 3 lines 

 thick, may be made useful as a subject. 



This selection of subjects for grafting does not 

 prevent our trees from being so near each other 

 as to shoot into the air, like arrows, and to resem- 

 ble Italian poplars rather-than ordinary pear trees: 

 they were not forced by the knife to lake a direc- 

 tion contrary to nature; and these trees, so high, 

 so straight, with branches so regular, and unap- 

 proached by any insect, were every year covered 

 with fruit from the summit to the foot. The great 

 art in giving to a tree au vent (not trained in any 

 particular shape) a regular form in maintaining 

 the equilibrium between its branches, is to make 

 it take from its birth a right direction by attaching 

 it to a proper support. 



The new fruits have over the old the advantage 

 of yielding a rich and constant crop, and of ex- 

 emption from falling off and from alteration. They 

 are less liable to any malady. 



' When a Peach tree is raised from the stone and 

 au vent, it is as unnecessary to despod it of its 

 branches as to thin it of fruit; in the third year, it 

 puts forth only short branches, which bear with- 

 out intermission, and whatever be the number of 

 the fruits, the smallest is not less savory than the 

 largest ; the flesh of the peaches of seed plots re- 

 maining long transparent and greenish. This is 

 also the case with the Nectarine, whose fruit au 

 vent may be preserved from insects. 



I was at first in the habit of placing a graft of 

 the most distinguished of my sauvageons on a late- 

 ral brauch of a mature tree ; but I have always 

 observed that this branch and the parent stock be- 

 gan to bear the same year, so that while the trees 

 were mutilated nothing was gained in precocity of 

 crop. 



It will be perceived that in our last catalogues, 

 the number of fruits inscribed excellent is much 

 more considerable than in the first : this proceeds 



in part, it is true, from our more extended cultiva- 

 tion, but also from the circumstance that in pro- 

 portion as we advance in renewing the varie- 

 ties, the number of distinguished fruits is multi- 

 plied. 



We also remark, that the more the fruits are re- 

 newed, the fewer early varieties do we obtain ; for 

 example, in the last year few of our apples and 

 pears of the first crop ripened before winter; and 

 even at this moment (March), I have a great num- 

 ber which are not ripe, and which ripen succes- 

 sively as they advance in merit. It is true that in 

 the selection of Sauvageons, we remove all the 

 pear trees that are without thorns and with stout 

 branches and large leaves, as these are signs of 

 precocity, and all the apple trees whose appear- 

 ance resembles too much that of the early varie- 

 ties. 



It will be observed, that we have principally 

 directed our endeavors to the improvement of 

 pears. This was natural, because the pear has 

 not hitherto been reproduced identically, hut un- 

 der astonishing deviations, which have hardly per- 

 mitted comparisons. -We have, in our thousands 

 of results, obtained firms which resembled each 

 other as to the fruits, but the appearance of the 

 tree, the wood, the foliage, were entirely different; 

 and when two trees had some resemblance in ap- 

 pearance, wood and foliage, the fruit was totally 

 distinct. The following was my mode of passing 

 judgment upon the varieties. I invited to dinner 

 a friend, whose taste in fruit was exquisite, and we 

 tasted together ; then I made my two gardeners 

 taste; we discussed for a moment the merit of the 

 fruit, and I consigned the judgments to my notes, 

 with the very expressions which are found in the 

 Catalogue. As fruit whose period of maturity is 

 not yet known must be gathered at different times, 

 and at intervals of ten days, we had never less 

 than 200 sorts to taste. The No. attached to the 

 tree was transcribed upon each fruit. Every va- 

 riety judged very good, and of the highest quality, 

 was afterwards gathered and distributed to con- 

 noisseurs, on condition of returning the stones and 

 the kernels: we have never sent a good new fruit 

 to the market ; we chose to allow it to rot in or- 

 der to preserve the seed, rather than to sell it at a 

 high price. 



I was obliged to quit Brussels when almost all 

 my Sauvageons of the 4th and 5th renewing were 

 about to bear : an object of public utility claimed 

 the ground which my establishment occupied : I 

 shall, perhaps, be compelled to leave my new 

 gardens when nearly all my Sauvageons of the 

 6th and 7th renewing are covered with flower- 

 buds. I see that the more the renewings are mul- 

 tiplied, the earlier the Sauvageons begin to bear : 

 a great many of my pear trees of 3 and 4 years 

 old will produce this year. 



In the inevitable disorder attendant on the de- 

 struction of an immense cultivation, effected dur- 

 ing the severity of winter, it was impossible not to 

 lose some varieties, though we took grafts of all 

 the most precious, and though of these grafts, 

 placed double and in April and May on trees out 

 of the earth and half dry, very few perished. To 

 gather grafts and to abandon the trees was all that 

 we could do at such a moment, and when we 

 could ourselves be present only for a day and a 

 half in the week. We are consequently obliged 

 to request our correspondents to return us grafts 

 of those lost varieties, which are in their posses- 

 sion. 



