1863. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



869 



Fur the New England partner. 

 SEEDLING PEARS— DR. SHURTLEFF'S 

 LABORS. 



Since the a])pearance of a former communica- 

 tion of mine (fcjept. 19,) on the subject of raising 

 seccUiniT pears, 1 have had the pleasure, by invita- 

 tion of the proprietor, of viewing the new native 

 pear trees and their fruit of Dr. Samuel A. 

 Shuktlkff, of Brookline, Ma!>s. It was a wel- 

 come treat, and would have been so to any one in- 

 terested in the subject matter ; for I know of no 

 one else in this country who can show fifty hand- 

 some pear trees, from twelve to fifteen feet high, 

 and from two to four inches through, all g-own 

 from seed planted ten or fifteen years ago, growing 

 as standards upon their own roots, and now in a 

 bearing condition. I say I know of no otehr per- 

 son, who has had the conception, the zeal, the pa- 

 tience aiid perseverance, in the matter of raising 

 new seedhngs, to enable him to gratify the profes- 

 sional horticulturist or tiic amateur with so rare a 

 sight as Dr. S. is enabled to present. If there is 

 such a person, he is morally bound to advertise 

 himself! 



Dr. Shurtleff formerly resided in Boston, at 

 Pemberton Hill; but as his professional duties 

 began to undermine his health, at about middle 

 life he retired to llie place he now occupies. This 

 was something like a quarter of a century ago. 

 He has always interested himself in horticulture, 

 and now, v.hile in the "sere and yellow leaf,"' his 

 zeal is not abated. How can it be otherwise, with 

 fifty new seedling pears in bearing, and still oth- 

 ers coming on ? A taste for horticulture is a 

 source of llie ])urest enjoyment at any season of 

 life ; but particularly hai)])y is he, who, in its de- 

 cline has the leisure and the objects for its perpet- 

 uation. 



The trees referred to are interspersed with oth- 

 ers over about three acres, I think ; and to make 

 room for some of them, a row of vigorous Baldwin 

 apple trees were uprooted ! They are from the 

 seed of some of the most hardy and ap|u-oved 

 kinds in cultivation twelve and fifteen years ago, 

 and no arts have been practiced to induce early 

 bearing, but they have been left to take their nat- 

 ural course and time. The soil on which they 

 stand, is a strong low land, (once the cow-pasture 

 of one 01 the Revs. John Cotton,) and the culture 

 has been only ordinary. Most of tliem show 

 thorns, but a few have none ; yet nolhing very def- 

 inite is decided from this fict. Of course, a di- 

 versity of growth is exhibited, but the proprietor 

 observed that they generally made more wood than 

 his grafted trees. 



Dr. 8. has fruited fifty varieties, but ten of them 

 he woiked over, as they were quite ordinary ; and 

 he will be signally fortunate, if a large portion of 

 the remainder do not deserve the same treatment. 

 He has Ibrtj-four in fruit this year, ten of them 

 for the first time, while thirly-four fruited last 

 year. He remarked thatoneofhis seedlings orig- 

 nated from, or was influenced tiy the St. Michael, 

 Brown Heurre and Bergauiotte, and that the fruit 

 partakes of the qualities of them all. He has 

 aimed to |)roduce a few early pears, but more late 

 ones, liv planting the seeds of early and late kinds ; 

 and liis etlorts have resulted in fruit ripening from 

 August to the first of May, the latter of which he 

 calls the "May Flower." 



Of the particular value or quality of these pears, 



it is perhaps rather too early yet for any one to 

 decide, as they have just begun to fruit; and some 

 of them will probaldy improve. A few favorable 

 notices, however, have been received ; but the 

 Doctor says that some of them are "as fine as he 

 ever tasted." Those that were in eating at the 

 time of my visit, were very good. Indeed, it 

 would be very remarkable if he had no excellent 

 ones among the number he has fruited. Some or- 

 dinary, and others fit for nothing, are of course to 

 be anticipated ; for such was the experience of Van 

 Mons, and is of all others engaged in like enter- 

 ])rises. Some of them, certainly, were very large 

 and handsome; the "President," for instance, be- 

 ing as large as the Beurre Diel, and very much 

 like it in appearance. Xo doubt it is a product 

 from that variety. One named "Gen. Grant" was 

 very handsome, being in size and apjjearance like 

 Sv;an's Orange. On one tree I noticed a bunch 

 of beautifully looking SQckels, as I thought ; but 

 no, they were seedlings — probably from that pop- 

 ular variety as its female ])arent. "But this is the 

 Vicar," said I, at another tree. No, it was only a 

 product of it. The one of these is almost a Seck- 

 el, and the other very near a Vicar. So of the 

 "President" — showing, it is quite clear, that the 

 female parent will sometimes very nearly produce 

 itself; and such has been previous observation. 

 The female parent generalbj seems to exert the 

 greater influence on the progeny. 



The best of these pears will probably be dissem- 

 inated, and then a more decided opinion can be 

 formed of them. Some may stand the criticisms 

 of time. But whatever the proportion (jf good or 

 bad, the man wdio has labored so assiduously as 

 has Dr. Shurtlefl to produce hardy seedling pears 

 of good quality, deserves the gratitude of all who 

 know the fact, and will not be forgotten in the bis- 

 torv of the civilizing art of horticulture. 



West Mcdj'vrd, Oct., 1863. D. W. Loturop. 



OBJECTIOJJf TO THE RAREY PLAN. 



Mr. Editor : — Evidence is rapidly accumulat- 

 ing, going to show that the Rarey plan of train- 

 ing horses is not likely to meet with favor for any 

 great length of time at the hands of horsemen, 

 either in America or England, as it is found that 

 curbs on the hocks of horses is caused by his 

 method of breaking colts. Much was said and 

 written in its favor in both countries, a year or 

 two since. Every other ])lan and device was 

 thrown into the shade. Rarcy's method was the 

 only one by which horses could be safely, speedily 

 and surely made subservient to the will of his 

 master — man. The tide of oi)inion has changed, 

 and horsemen of every shade are as much opposed 

 to it as they were formerly in its favor. This is 

 but what I expected. One extreme will always 

 leail to cniother. Why this change? Let us see. 



Sprain on the posterior straight ligament of the 

 hock, curb, if you please, is the result, in the ma- 

 jority of cases, where horses have been brought 

 under the influence of Rarey's method. The whole 

 weight of the animal is thrown (by Rarey's plan) 

 upon the hocks and luiunrhcs ; hence, if the animal 

 be young, and much struggling, as is nearly always 

 the case, then c)/;-6 is the result. This is perfect- 

 ly natural, when undue weight is thus suddenly 

 and fbrcildy thrown upon the straight ligament of 

 this complicated joint. More of this hereafter. 

 R. McCluke, V. S., in L'uUurist, 



