354 Notes and Gleanings. 



large have been procured), would probably have prevented a considerable portion 

 of it from being seen by any ; and, the houses being mostly of glass, ample light 

 was afforded for viewing it distinctly. The general arrangement was like similar 

 exhibitions that I have witnessed in the United States ; and it seemed to be 

 conducted in very much the same manner as is there usual. Most of the arti- 

 cles were displayed upon tables or shelves ; the fruit in dishes of from half a 

 dozen to a dozen specimens of each kind. The exhibition of fruits was mainly 

 of grapes, pears, and apples, with a few peaches and plums. 



The show of grapes was very large in quantity and number of varieties, and 

 exceedingly fine. Partly by actual count, and partly by esti'mate made very care- 

 fully, I am confident that I am within bounds in stating that there were consid- 

 erably more than a thousand dishes of this fruit upon the tables, besides a great 

 many branches loaded with fruit, that were hung up on the sides of the building 

 where the display was, for the purpose, as I supposed, of exhibiting the bearing 

 properties of the variety so shown. The grapes were of both the white and purple 

 varieties, the latter largely predominating. It was not, of course, to be presumed 

 that from vines grown, as I suppose these were, in the open air, specimens could 

 be selected where either the bunches or berries would be as large and fine as from 

 vines carefully cultivated in grape-houses, not seldom with a view of exhibition, 

 as could not here have been the case ; yet the bunches and berries in this exhi- 

 bition of some few of the varieties that I thought that I recognized, as the Black 

 Hamburg for instance, were of good size, and all seemed ripe and well colored. 

 This exhibition of grapes very far exceeded any that I had ever before seen, or 

 even imagined, in extent, quality, and variety ; and seemed to me to be highly 

 creditable to the growers of them. 



Pears were shown in great profusion, and seemingly in endless variety. From 

 such notice as I could bestow, it appeared to me that every variety whose name 

 is borne on the nursery-men's catalogues must have been here present by its 

 representative. The exhibition of this fruit as here made seemed to me to be 

 exceedingly good. So far as I observed, there were no poor or indifferent speci- 

 mens on the tables ; but all were smooth, fair, and handsome : but at the same 

 time I thought, that, of some varieties, I had before seen specimens that were 

 larger or more overgrown than any here exhibited, though here sufficiently large 

 to satisfy any reasonable expectation ; the uniform excellence of the specimens 

 being that which largely contributed to the superiority of the exhibition. I 

 should have liked, if it had been in my power, to have gone carefully over this 

 show of pears, with a view to making a comparison of such of the varieties as 

 I knew with my recollections of the same varieties as I had seen them in the 

 United States ; and thus, perhaps, arrive at more correct conclusions with 

 respect to the comparative merits of some kinds when grown in France or the 

 United States. But this, from the extent of the exhibition, was entirely out of 

 the question. Among the specimens that struck me as particularly fine were 

 those of the following varieties ; viz., Buerre Six, Prince Imperial, Soldat, La- 

 boreur, Conseiller de la Cour, Docteur Lentier, Josephine de Malines, Prince 

 Camille, Clemence, Emile d'Heyst, and others that it seems unnecessary to 

 name, being in a collection of fifty varieties that received the award of a first 



