162 J/F GARDEN. 



Poiteau is but middling, but the Nouvelle Fulvie is so exquisitely 

 delicious that its properties should be immediately more carefully 

 studied. Amongst the newest pears I have lately added is the 

 Brockworth Park. Opinions differ as to its quality, and I have 

 not myself tasted it. I have tasted the Autumn Josephine, 

 which appears promising, and Powell's Premier, 

 which has merits. There is another very handsome 

 new pear, called the Benedictine (fig. 298), which has 

 not yet borne with me. Although I am unable to 

 speak at present with confidence of its merits, yet 

 it is manifestly a pear to study, the better to test 

 the advisability of its general culture. All the later 

 kinds of pear are more or less capricious in their 

 flavour and texture, as well as in the precise time at 

 FIG. ^.-Benedictine. which they Y[pGn After Christmas the quantity of 



pears dwindles, but this depends a great deal upon the thorough ripening 

 of the fruit in autumn. In the spring of 1870 I was in Italy, and we 

 had pears there till the beginning of May. The kind in use was the 

 " Epine d'Hiver." It was juicy, and eatable in the absence of any 

 other fruit, but most assuredly would have been cast aside for any of 

 the kinds which I have recommended. 



All pears in some seasons are apt to be gritty ; that is, have pieces 

 of hard woody tissue in their texture, which Quekett states to be 



an aggregation of a number of cells composed 

 of a material called sclerogen (fig. 299), which 

 gives the hardness to the stone of the plum, 

 to the shell cf the cocoa-nut, and to the ivory- 

 nut. 



A^t Wallington my pears are almost ex- 

 clusively grown on the quince stock, and are 

 FIG. 299. Ont of Pear. worked close to the ground. Some few varie- 

 ties, such as Gansel's Bergamot and Marie Louise, are worked upon a 

 pear which has itself been grafted upon the quince ; and a very few, 

 such as Jargonelle and Ne Plus Meuris, are grown on the pear stock 



