Vol. VIII.— No, 39. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



309 



IIORTICULTUKE. 



Mr Fessenden — I send an extract in relation 

 anieliorateil Pears, which contains much his- 

 •ical and other interesting information, on the 

 rious modes of culture, whicli have been prac- 

 id for obtaining new kinds of fruits, and the 

 urse pursued, by the Horticultural Society of 

 ris, to establish their characl»r. 

 It will be perceived, that the theory developed 

 Mr Poiteau, and the facts he alleged in sup- 

 rt of it, are so far sustained by Du Petit Thou- 

 i, that he earnestly reconiuiends thcextension of 

 perinients, for obtaining valuable fruits from the 

 ids. 



Accept assurances 

 Of my unfeigned re.=pect, 

 Bnnteij Place, > H. A. S. DEARBORN. 

 ^jirit 6, 1830. \ 



EXTRACT NO. XVII. 

 From the Annales D'Horticulturc. 

 !PORT made by M. Da Pdil Tlwuars, in be- 

 half of the Commiltee on Fruit Trees, upon three 

 kinds of Pears, submitted to its examination. 

 Since the foundation of the Horticultural So- 

 ty, three Pears have been submitted to its ex- 

 lination : tlie first by M. Vilmorin, the second 

 M. gi:;'.;l!' , and the third by M. Alfroy. 

 That of M. Vihnorin, furnished by M. de la 

 reml)laye, an • : , aded as new, in the environs 

 Chat:'lon-sur-lndre, is, perhaps, identical with 

 e Pear of Saint Vezin ; still it presents some 



Yds 



heats, and two of them were dead heats, each of which 



i conlested by the winner of the plate. 

 In 17G3 at Salisbuiy, and over a four-mile course, there 



re four heats between two horses, the Duke of Gfat- 

 3 Hnvannak and Mr Wildman's Pam. 

 The following tible of the abbreviations used in desis- 

 ting the differentcoursesatNewmarliet.and the length 



these courses, may not be unacceptalile. 



Abbrev. Miles. Furl. 

 le Beacon course B, C. is 4 I 



ist three miles of ditto L. T. M. 3 



om the Ditch in D. I. 



om the turn of the lands in 'IM-.I. 

 lilt course C. C 



the Flat A. F. _ 



ATo-year old course T. Y. C. 



arling course V. C. 



lund course H. C 



tch Mile D. M. 



nnsdon mile A. M. 



iwley Mile R. M. 



vo middle miles of B.C. T. M. M. 1 7 115 



A Distance is the length of two hundred and forty 

 llirds from (he winning post. In the gallery of thewin- 

 ng post, and in a little gallery at the distance post, are 

 aceil two men holding crimson flags. As soon as the 

 ■st horse has passed the winning post, the man drops his 

 ig ; the other at the distance post drops Ids at the same 

 oment, and the horse which has not then passed that 

 ist is said to be distanced, and cannot start again for the 

 me plate or prize. 



A"Feather-weight is the lightest ^ight that can 

 : put on the back of a horse. 



A Give and Take Plate is where horses carry 

 eight according to their height. Fourteen hands are 

 ken as th" standard heisht, and the horse must carry 

 ne stone (the horseman's stone is fourteen pounds.) 

 sVen pounds are taken from the weight for every inch 

 ilow fourteen hands, and seven pounds added for every 

 ch above fourteen hands. A few pounds additional 

 eight is so serious an evil, that it is said, seven pounds 



a mile-race are equivalent (o a distance. 

 A Post Match is for horses of a certain age, and the 

 larlies possess the privilege of bringing any horse of that 



je to the post. 

 , A Produce Match is that between the produce of 

 ?rt;iiii mares in foal at the time of the match, and to be 

 ;ciil;;d when they arrive at a certain age specified. 



points of difference, audits identity is yet doubtful 

 in the opinion of M. Vilmorin. 



It is believed, that the one oft'ered by M. Sieulle, 

 should be reported as a species, which has been 

 known for a long time. 



There remains that ofM. Alfroy, whieh ho per- 

 sists in regarding as new, that is to say, he be- 

 lieves, that not any of the names, heretofore 

 known, can be applied to it. 



To enable you to decide this |)oint, the commit- 

 tee on Nurseries, and the Cultivation of Fruit 

 Trees, which had been directed to make a report 

 to you on this subject, has found t\^■o questions to 

 decide. 



1st. Has this fruit been known before ? 



2d. From its qualities, docs it merit propaga- 

 tion by culture ? 



The first question ap|)ears the most diflicult to 

 resolve, because, even at the present time, there is 

 not sufficient precision, in the descriptions to estab- 

 lish the distinctive character of each garden spe- 

 cies. 



The second question appears to be more easy 

 to settle, because having the object in view, it is 

 not diflicult to determine its good or bad qualities. 

 Taste seems to be the most sure way ; but, this 

 is immediately ojiposcd by the common saying : 

 There is no disputing about taste. Besides, it is 

 known bow many isolated circumstances may 

 affect its flavor, as the degree of maturity, the 

 nature of the soil, &c. Nevertheless, these two 

 questions, whicli are applicable to all the species 

 of fruits, are of deep interest to proprietors and 

 cultivators. 



In 1628, Lectier, a magistrate of Orleans, pub- 

 lished a catalogue, in alphabetical order, of the 

 fruit trees cultivated in his garden, and jirobably 

 of those in the celebrated nurseries of that city. 

 This was the first that was printed. The number 

 of Pears contained in it was about 300. In 1651, 

 this Catalogue was reprinted \n\he Jardinier Fran- 

 cois, but according to the order of the maturation 

 of the fruit. 



It is, in general, under one of these two kinds 

 of enumeration that the names of our garden spe- 

 cies have been propagated to the ])resent time. I 

 have traced in a Historical Sketch, the changes and 

 the ameliorations, which subsequent authors have 

 effected ; it has appeared to merit the attention of 

 the Society, since its insertion has been desired in 

 in the Annales D'Horticulture. Although this 

 kind of approbation is very flattering, I have re- 

 fused it, because I have thought that this essay 

 belonged to the history of the Art of Culture ; that 

 is to say, to the exposition of what had been done 

 anteriorly for the establishment of a foundation, 

 and that we should leave the space open in the 

 Journal, for the insertion of the discoveries of the 

 moment. It is sufficient to say here, that these 

 names, more or less reduced, form the jirincipal 

 materials of all the particular and general Cata- 

 logues, like that of the nursery of Luxembourg. 

 The greatest number of them have jiassed into 

 England as appears by the seventyseven names of 

 Pears, which Philip Miller, the most able 

 English gardener, enumerated in 1731 ; they have 

 continued to appear in all the catalogues which 

 have been since (lublished in London, by various 

 individuals, — chiefly nursery-men. The last is the 

 most authentic ; — it is that which has been pub- 

 lished by the London Horticultural Society : 622 

 Pears are enumerated, among which are found 

 100 which are contained in the Catalogiie of Lec- 



tier. The greatest nund)er of the others are re- 

 ported under the French names as sub-species. 

 Thus, thei-e are thirty Bon-Chretiens, forty Beur- 

 rc'es, fcc. 



This catalogue gives the plain indication of the 

 garden species which have been collected in the 

 nurseries of the London Ilorticullural Society, 

 following the alphabetical order, with the .syno- 

 nymes, and these .synonymes are repeated in the 

 general seiies, but distinguished by italics. I think 

 that in a volume of the same size as that, a double 

 enumeration could be jiresented, Vv-hich would on 

 many nccoimts, be more useful, by exhibiting only 

 those kinds, which can be cultivated in the open 

 ground. 



It should be composed of two distinct Cata- 

 logues ; the one in alphabetical, the other in the 

 order of the time of the maturation of the fruit. 

 Thus, one would have for its basis the Catalogue 

 of Lectier, of 1628, in which should be interca- 

 lated, all the discovered varieties : the other 

 should be that of Bo.nnefo.ns, of 1651, parallel 

 with the intercalations. An entire line should be 

 given to each garden species, and this space filled, 

 by indicating the principal authors who have 

 spoken of it ; their initial letters would be sufli- 

 cient for this. Other characters quite as simple 

 could indicate the figures of the fruit which had 

 been published. Tliis would be then a lucid ex- 

 tract of all that exists in books, upon the nomen- 

 clature of fruit trees. These two Catalogues once 

 established, all those who arc concerned in the 

 cultivation of fruit trees, whether as amateurs or 

 as practitioners, could be invited to distinguish all 

 the species, which they know as existing, on their 

 own estate.'', or in the environs. 



Then we shall be able toconunence successfully, 

 the second ])ortion of this labor, — the application 

 of these names to real objects. However, it may- 

 be commenced immediately ; for ih.nt, it is suffi- 

 cient to put in execution, what was proposed at a 

 preceding meeting, vi^ : to place in the Hall of the 

 Society, a basket of exposition, and inviting all 

 the members to deposit in it, the fruits which uovr 

 exist, and about which there are some doubts as to 

 their position in the nomenclature. 



I shall not be astonished, that it should bs 

 proved by these researches, that the greatest num- 

 ber of the species indicated in the first Catalogue 

 of Lectier, still exist, but that some of them are 

 confined to a single canton. 



Nevertheless, the number of known fruits in the 

 time of Lectier has been continually augmenting 

 by the addition of new productions. Marlet 

 has the credit of signalizing the most remark- 

 able, such as the Virgouleuse, the St Germain, the 

 Lansac, the Bezy de Chaumontel, near Luzar- 

 ches. Duuamel, an age after, declared that these 

 trunks .still existed. He has added a small num- 

 ber of others ; but he has not given any inlbrma- 

 tion upon their origin. They are found in the 

 Catalogue of the nursery of the Luxembourg. 

 Some are still seen, whose name determines the 

 epoch of their discovery ; — among others, the 

 Chaptal Pear. 



But since, an immense number has appeared, 

 which threatens to annihilate all our old admired 

 varieties ; their place is reclaimed by the new 

 kinds, and the Hon. President of the London Hor- 

 ticultural Society, Sir T. A. Knight, ] erceiving 

 that in England, the greatest number of the most 

 celebrated fruit trees, yielded only very deteriora- 

 ted productions, has derived from it, a very bold 



