11 



We have long since discarded the inferior fruits of Lu 

 Qiiintinye, the skilful gardener of Louis the XlVth. 

 We have few pears left of the celebrated catalogue of 

 the Royal Garden of Versailles, and by the action of our 

 OAvn association we have rejected more than one hundred 

 varieties as unworthy of perpetuation. At present, who 

 Avould give a place in his garden to such pears as the 

 Chatbrule, the Martin Sec, the Messire Jean, the Bour- 

 don, the Lansac, the Cassolette, and a host of other 

 worthless sorts ? Some good fruits have survived, as the 

 White Doyenne, Madeleine, Jargonelle, and others, but 

 a part of these only are suited to general cultivation ; — 

 yet how limited their number, and how inferior their 

 quality, when compared with our choice modern seed- 

 lings, and the royal profusion of fruits which now crown 

 our tables ! 



When Van Mons, the patient and skilful observer, was 

 successfully experimenting in Europe, our Coxe, Prince, 

 Lowell, Dearborn, Manning, and others, had commenced 

 their course, and obtained some good results. Then 

 most of our pears were propagated on suckers taken from 

 the forest ; now we see millions of young vigorous trees 

 cultivated, sold, and planted in all parts of the Union, 

 and where twenty years since not a single specimen of 

 the Pyrus was to be found. The public no longer ridi- 

 cule the man who plants a tree with the hope of gather- 

 ing its fruit with his own hands, or the saving of seeds 

 to improve the quality of his fruits. True, Von Mons 

 was ridiculed all his life, and only appreciated by such 

 pioneers as Davy, Poiteau, Diel and Drapiez. His 

 nurseries were thrice destroyed, as wild, worthless thorn- 

 bushes, under the false pretence of "public utility," 

 This was an irreparable loss, for however much his sys- 

 tem be discussed and distrusted, it is still true that the 



