Desa'iptions of Select Varieties of Pears. 3 17 



a fungus, and still others, that the sole cause has been the 

 propagation upon suckers or diseased stocks. Mr. Downing 

 was an especial advocate of the latter theory, and contended 

 that if trees were obtained from an inland nursery, they 

 would produce as fine fruit as in former years. This notion 

 was strenuously adhered to for a time, until, satisfied it was 

 no longer tenable, he abandoned it and adopted another one. 

 viz., that the cause was to be attributed to the exhaustion of 

 some peculiar constituents of the soil, necessary to the growth 

 of the tree, and that if these Avere supplied, (which they could 

 be with but little trouble,) the fruit could be produced in 

 as great perfection as in former years. To sustain this idea, 

 instances have been given where old trees, Avhich have 

 borne cracked fruit for years, have been wholly or partially 

 recovered by the trenching of the earth around the roots, 

 and the application of a small quantity of peat, ashes, and 

 bones, which furnish the substances wanting in the old soil ; 

 and, from the fact that some of the trees, thus experimented 

 upon, have borne a few fair fruit, the exhaustion theory has 

 been founded. 



We have not time here to follow further this subject, as 

 our object is now a description of this fine pear, but we 

 intend to take up the matter at a future day, after the 

 conclusion of some experiments we are now making, and 

 which are being made by others, and show that to whatever 

 cause the cracking may be attributed, it is not to the ex- 

 haustion of any peculiar constituents of the soil. 



We have said that, upon the quince stock, the White 

 Doyenne produces beautiful fruit ; so that this old favorite 

 may yet be cultivated in all the localities where it does not 

 succeed upon its own stock. 



An impression prevai-ls with many amateur cultivators of 

 this vicinity, who chance to be in New York in September 

 or October, when the Doyenne is offered so abundantly for 

 sale, that the fair and luscious pears called the Virgalieu 

 cannot be the same as the Saint Michael ; and we have 

 known individuals to order trees from the New York nurse- 

 ries, in order that the veritable sort may be obtained. One 



