282 Notes mid Recollections of a Tour. 



The grounds are nearly a mile from the house, occupying 

 an elevated spot of ground. The soil is a rich, deep, strong 

 loam, in which trees, particularly pears, thrive admirably. 

 No fences mark the bounds of any proprietor, and after pass- 

 ing through several vineyards, now just ripening their delic- 

 ious fruit, we arrived at the premises of M. Chatenay. The 

 trees were all growing in separate lots of a few thousand 

 each, planted in rows about two and a half feet apart, and 

 twenty feet long. In scarcely any instance did we notice a 

 label, and on inquiring how the varieties could be accurately 

 distinguished, we were answered, mostly by the color of the 

 wood, form of the tree, shape of the leaves, &c. In addition 

 to this, however, a book is kept, in which each lot is number- 

 ed ; when the trees are budded, the year is noted, and also 

 the number of rows, beginning at one end, with which each 

 variety is budded. In this Avay they are kept with great ac- 

 curacy, and if an error accidentally occurs, it is very readily 

 detected by the wood. 



M. Chatenay's stock of trees was rather large, and all most 

 excellently grown. The greater portion of the pears were 

 grafted on the quince, and in two years they form trees six 

 to nine feet high, ready for sale. The course of cultivation 

 is to bud the stocks the second year after planting out ; the 

 first year one single shoot is made, five or six feet long; the 

 next spring all the smallest ones are headed down, within 

 three inches of the ground, and these form dwarf trees, for 

 espaliers or walls; the stronger ones are headed down about 

 two feet from the ground, and these form pyramidal trees, or 

 quenoidlles ; the largest and strongest are headed off, five or 

 six feet high, and these form standards, the lower branches 

 being allowed to grow till August, when all are pruned off 

 but three or four at the top. Scarcely a tree is allowed to 

 stand in the nursery rows after the second year. 



The great success which attends the mode of cultivation 

 as here adopted, is the vigorous state of the stocks, all of 

 which are seedlings, or, if the quince, layers,' — the proper 

 preparation of the soil, by a course of cropping for one year, 

 — the very liberal use of good compost manure, and, lastly, 

 spade cultivation. Compare this with the method adopted by 

 many American nurserymen. Poor stocks, often suckers, — 



