PEAR GROWING. 51 



What surprised me in Mr. Fenno's case, was, that he could 

 raise that fine fruit without manuring. I said to him, "While 

 you raise very fine fruit without manure, I guess if you put 

 on about a hundred cords, you would get very much finer." 

 I think he has come to the conclusion that, perhaps, a little 

 manure would do a great deal of good there. But I was per- 

 fectly astonished that he was able to raise pears, without any 

 manure, fine enough to take first premiums almost every week 

 from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 



I have quite a number of pear-trees, and can raise ordinary 

 fruit, but I have been exceedingly annoyed because I could 

 not raise just as good as anybody else. What the reason 

 was, I could not make out. I had manured the trees enough, 

 I had taken good care of them, and I got so out of patience 

 that I let the trees go, and made up my mind, some three or 

 four years ago, that I would never set another pear-tree ; I 

 would have nothing to do with them. But since water has 

 been introduced into the town, I have an abundance of 

 water in my garden, which is a sandy loam, and use it as 

 freely as I please, and I have been able, the last two years, 

 to grow some fine pears, and beat some of these men. I 

 had everything before, except water. I did not have water 

 enough. 



Something has been said about the poor trees that are sold, 

 and all that. Trees are largely sold here now by men pur- 

 porting to be the agents of Western nurseries, or Western 

 New York nurseries. Well, to begin with, you may set it 

 down as a fact that not many of them are agents ; the}' are 

 simply speculators, doing business on their own account. I 

 have watched their course pretty carefully, and I think you 

 may set down nine-tenths of them as scoundrels, and the 

 other tenth will bear looking after pretty sharply. If you 

 want any trees, go to an honest, square nurseryman, and 

 pay a fair price for them. You will get them cheaper and 

 better than you can of these men. As Dr. Fisher says, buy 

 young trees. Buy of a man who is located somewhere, and 

 to whom you can go for redress, if he sells you poor trees. 

 You will never see one of these speculators around in your 

 vicinity again, after he has cheated you and your neighbors 

 once. 



