FEBRUARY. 85 



in the treatment of tlieir pear trees," and gives them gratui- 

 tous advice, through one of the daily journals, iu regard to 

 their proper management. 



One would suppose, after reading his remarks, that the 

 Massachusetts pear-growers were a very stupid sort of people, 

 and knew very little about raising this fine fruit. Now, we 

 have been vain- enough to believe that our pear cultivators 

 were considerably advanced in the raising of this fruit, and 

 that our amateurs had produced splendid specimens. But 

 when Mr. M. W. Stevens comes among lis, and gravely re- 

 ports, -'such errors prevail" that we have "almost abandoned 

 their culture," we begin to think we have been altogether 

 too conceited, and know less than we had supposed. 



Among other wise things, Mr. Stevens tells us, what we 

 did not know before, that the "Angers quince will not endure 

 the winters of New England " ; that it is " the only variety 

 on which the pear succeeds," and that it is more subject to 

 borers than the fruit-bearing kinds (!); with other equally 

 sage opinions. 



Seriously, however, we have no patience to deal with such 

 an ignoramus. The probability is that Mr. Stevens does not 

 know one kmd of quince tree from another, that he never 

 visited an extensive pear cultivator here, and knows just as 

 much about pear growing in Massachusetts as the man in the 

 moon. Indeed, we should not have noticed his remarks, had 

 they not been pompously paraded in the newspapers, where 

 they might fall into the hands of young cultivators and lead 

 them astray. 



The Ohio Nonpareil Apple. — Our correspondent. Dr. J. 

 P. Kirtland, describes an apple under this name, which he 

 says, "excels,^ in his opinion, any apple he is acquainted 

 with." In size and color it strikingly resembles the Graven- 

 stein. Its flavor is more akin to the Garden Royal. The 

 growth of the tree is as strong, healthy, and luxuriant as the 

 Baldwin. The fruit ripens just before the Belmont. Dr. 

 Kirtland thinks its superior qualities entitle it to general cul- 

 tivation. It has been long in cultivation, and has been dis- 

 seminated as the Gravenstein. The description answers very 

 well for the Cogswell, described on another page. 



