ADVICE FOR LACKLAND. 33 



torment yourself with the idea that your children 

 may be plucking unaware your specimen berries ; you 

 don't want to lock them out of the garden. As sure 

 as you undertake such a venture you'll be at odds 

 with your Scotchman ; you'll lose the names of your 

 own trees ; you'll forget the hyacinths ; your * half- 

 hardys ' will all be scotched by the second winter ; 

 your dwarf * Vicars ' that need such careful nursing 

 and high dressing will dwindle into lean shanks of 

 pears that have no flavor. My advice to you is to 

 throw the fine list in the fire ; to limit yourself, until 

 you have felt your way, to some ten or a dozen of 

 the best established varieties ; don't be afraid of old 

 things if they are good; if a gaunt Rhode Island 

 Greening tree is struggling in your hedge-row, trim 

 it, scrape it, soap it, dig about it, pull away the turf 

 from it, lime it, and then if you can keep up a fair 

 fight against the bugs and the worms, you will have 

 fine fruit from it ; if you can't, cut it down. If a 

 veteran mossy pear tree is in your door-yard, groom 

 it as you would a horse just in from a summering 

 in briary pastures put scions of Bartlett, of Win- 

 ter Nelis, of Rostiezer into its top and sides. In an 

 unctuous spot of your garden, plant your dwarf 

 Duchess, Bonne de Jersey, Beurre Diel, and your 

 Glout Morceau. If either don't do well, pull it up 



and burn it; don't waste labor on a sickly young 

 o* 



