MAY. 



223 



known kinds. The desire for mere novelty is wearing off, 

 and the foreign nnrserymen, finding they have little or no 

 demand for only snch as really have some repntation, are 

 more careful in adding to their collections than formerly. 

 Hence the number of new varieties which are yearly coming 

 into bearing is constantly lessening, while their quality is 

 gradually improving ; nearly all possessing more or less merit. 

 Vexing errors still occur, and occasionally a rare and high 

 priced "nowue^Ze" proves to be only an old acquaintance. 

 One of this kind was offered by the Belgian nurserymen last 

 year, under the name of " Beurre Cornice de Toulon," It 

 was highly praised, and indeed pronounced a remarkable ac- 

 quisition. It now proves to be nothing more than the Le Cure ! 

 Such are the disappointments to which pear cultivators must 

 submit if they would possess all the fine varieties. 



There is no remedy, however, but a better knowledge of 

 the character, habits, wood and foliage of trees, which will 

 enable an observing cultivator to detect these errors by the 

 growth of the trees alone ; to wait till they come into bearing 

 is too late to prevent their perpetuation. 



We now describe and figure six additional varieties. 



187. FONDANTE DU CoMICE, 



This new pear (fig. 11) was, we believe, introduced to notice 

 by the Horticultural Society of Angers, France, and the trees 

 disseminated by M. Leroy of that city. Specimens of the fruit 

 were sent to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society three 

 years ago, and noticed by us in our volume for 1854. It 

 proves to be a valuable acquisition. Last year and year be- 

 fore it fruited in our own collection, and in 1855 the speci- 

 mens were large and fine, showing much better its true merits 

 than the first year of bearing. We have no doubt it v/ill 

 become a popular variety, ripening as it does late in the au- 

 tumn. 



The tree is a good, though not rapid grower, with yellow- 

 ish wood, and it appears to succeed well upon the quince. 



^Size, large, about three inches long and three in diameter: 

 Fornij regular, obovate, broad and flattened at the crown, 



