MIDDLESEX SOCIETY. 107 



danger of splitting down. Trees well transplanted, and tended 

 well, in good soil, on the fifth year after the setting out, pro- 

 duce fruit in considerable quantities. 



The cultivation of the pear may be made very profitable. It 

 is now the generally received opinion of cultivators, that an 

 acre of land set with pear trees upon the quince stock, will pro- 

 duce more fruit than when set on the pear stock. The pear 

 tree on the quince may be safely set eight feet apart, and in 

 this way, many varieties may be raised in a small enclosure. 



A moderately dry soil, though perhaps not producing so 

 rapid a growth of wood, will produce pears of higher flavor. 

 The pear demands large quantities of well-rotted manure, if 

 applied in the fall, in order to produce ready and good crops. 

 In dryish soils, the best manure is barnyard manure, mixed 

 with unleached ashes and peat mud. Street wash has been 

 used with success by cultivators of great experience. Various 

 reasons are assigned for the effects of this manure. It is sup- 

 posed by some, that the iron contained in it may supply a 

 necessary aliment to the tree. Doubtless, where there is a 

 deficiency of this element in the soil, that would fully explain 

 the success of the application. Probably a better reason is 

 that there is considerable manure in the wash, and the public 

 use of the road has pulverized and made very minute the par- 

 ticles that compose such wash, and in this way the tree most 

 readily takes up the comminuted particles. The fact of its 

 availableness as a nutriment to the pear tree, is beyond dis- 

 pute, and has been in use to some extent for many years. 



In the cultivation of the pear, regard should be paid to one 

 thing in particular. Many varieties, it is well known, have 

 failed wholly, or in part, except in very sheltered situations, 

 when set upon the pear stock. Many of these varieties, thus 

 effete, still flourish with undiminished vigor on the quince 

 stock. In this category are the following varieties, to wit : — 

 Napoleon, Doyenne, blanc, (old St. Michael,) Doyenne, gray, 

 Duchess of Angouleme, and Beurre Diel. 



As to the nature of the soil best adapted to the pear, your 

 committee had intended to have drawn out somewhat in de- 

 tail, whatever on this subject experience in culture and obser- 

 vation had supplied. But running it out in detail, it was at 

 once perceived, that it would require a volume instead of the 



