298 Review of Loudon's Gardener''s Magazine. 



lection of valuable rhododendrons, azaleas, and camellias, in pots ; and, 

 perhaps, thirty or forty varieties of pears, all growing in so small a 

 space, that an English gardener can scarcely believe what he sees. In 

 the garden of M. Smedt, a distinguished amateur at Lisle, the pear 

 trees were literally pyramids of fruit. The summer foreright shoots 

 were tied in so as not to shade the pears, and the following winter they 

 were removed. I suspect, also, that the roots of the ti'ees were annu- 

 ally shortened, to reduce the luxuriant growth which pear trees are so 

 liable to ; but this I could not ascertain. The soil was a loose black 

 sand, and the trees models of productiveness. Many of their stems, 

 being too weak to support the weight of fruit, were tied to green paint- 

 ed stakes. Much of this extraordinary fruitfulness in such confined 

 limits was owing, no doubt, to a more genial climate than we have here; 

 as the summers and autumns are warmer, and the wood is always well 

 ripened: but many of the best Flemish pears might be grown in our 

 town gardens with quite as much economy of space as in France, if any 

 regard were paid to culture. This culture is simply to keep them from 

 growing too fast, by confining or reducing their roots ; blossom buds 

 will then be formed in abundance. It seems almost impossible to kill 

 a pear tree: for, though I have opened a circular trench round a pear 

 tree, and cut off every root to within fifteen inches from the stem, yet 

 it has not suffered, but, the following season, has been covered with 

 blossom. In some of our rich London gardens, cutting the roots annu- 

 ally would have little or no effect ; but I think that, if pots were man- 

 ufactured expressly for the purpose, of large dimensions, we will say 

 two feet deep, and one and a half foot in diameter, and plunged to the 

 rim, not deeper, a collection of the new Flemish pears might be grown 

 in any small garden. 1 mention, partictilarly, that the rim of the pot 

 ought to be above ground, on account of the lateral roots, which would 

 otherwise make their way over it, and give the luxuriance which it is 

 so necessary to check in order to get fine fruit. To keep the trees under 

 control in this respect seems to be the grand object of pear tree culture ; 

 and I feel assured that this may be attained by growing the trees in 

 pots, by keeping the surface well supplied with manure, and, in sum- 

 mer, by watering with liquid manure. I hope ere long to see as many 

 amateurs of pears as there now are of dahlias and roses ; and, in all 

 the principal nurseries, specimen plants of every variety in cultivation, 

 growing and bearing abundantly in plunged pots. One precaution must 

 be strictly urged. Every gardener is aware of the tendency of the 

 pear tree to make what is called a taproot. This the plants in pots will 

 most assuredly do, if not checked, through the hole in the bottom. I 

 therefore recommend that, in November or December annually, a 

 trench be dug by the side of the pot, which must then be turned on one 

 side, and every vestige of a root which may appear through the hole 

 cut off with a spade. In the course of a few years a bunch of fibrous 

 roots will be formed, that will require no other trouble than being an- 

 nually disturbed ; that is, the pot turned completely on one side, to pre- 

 vent their giving too much luxuriance tO' the tree, by spreading mto 

 large feeders." 



At Versailles are numerous small nurserymen, who principally 

 grow plants for the flower-markets of Paris. Grapes are ripe 

 there in the open border by Sept. 6. Magnolia tripetala was 

 ripening seeds at the same date. Hundreds of yellow China 

 roses, budded on short stems, were covered with flowers. What 

 a splendid sight ! The principal plants grown are Kcilmia lati- 



