2T,2 Elais Guuieensis. 



in the climate and soil in which they are to grow. Time and experience 

 are the only safe guides for the fruit-grower. 



We might fill a volume were we to indicate the precise varieties of pears 

 adapted to such and such a soil, situation, &c. ; but that is not our present 

 object. The experimenter in pear-growing must decide these points for 

 himself; and it is not necessary that one should have any great amount of 

 experience to understand that a pear which would be delicious grown in 

 the south, or even centre, of France, for instance, would lose greatly in 

 flavor, if not become entirely worthless, in the north, or in Belgium ; and 

 vice versa. And this is true in every country, in pear-culture. 



On the subject of names, we will say only this, that we have seen a 

 committee of horticulturists, very skilful on other subjects, unable to agree 

 on the correct name of some variety of pear, although many specimens 

 had been submitted to them for examination. We would say, then, to the 

 amateur fruit-grower, trust not to names, but select those varieties only 

 (having been careful to taste the fruit before buying) which grew in a soil 

 and climate similar to that in which your own garden is situated. 



L^ Illustration Horticok. 



fLlais Guineeftsis. — The oil palm of Western Africa, an ornamental 

 species, which has been known for considerably more than a centur)\ It 

 is the tree from the fruit of which is obtained the palm-oil of commerce, 

 annually imported into this country to the value of about ^1,750,000. The 

 tree grows from twenty to thirty feet high, and has a stem from twelve to 

 sixteen inches in diameter, and naked for one-third or two-thirds of its 

 height, though deeply marked with the scars resulting from the old leaf- 

 stalks dropping off; and above this point it bristles with their remains, termi- 

 nating in a crown of pinnate leaves, from twelve to twenty in number, and 

 varying from ten to fifteen feet in length. The species also occurs in 

 Tropical America, whither it is supposed to have been introduced, but at 

 what date isuncertain. — Ibid. 



