PROCEEDINGS OF THE HORTICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 713 



fact, however, cannot be disputed, account for it as we may, that the pear of 

 their day was not fit in our judgment to be eaten, while our most delicious 

 pears arc prized too highly to be eaten by the common people. So the peach 

 of ancient Persia wc are told was originally a poisonous alinoiid ; 'its flesh 

 used to poison arrows, and therefore introduced into that country, while the 

 peach of our day is so universally appreciated that we wonder at the man 

 whose gustatory sense (if he ever had aii}-) is so perverted as not to know 

 this the most delicious of fruits. To what else than to cultivation do wo owe 

 this transformation ? But to close our remarks on this part of our subject, 

 and by way too of recapitulation, we would say, if there be any one of the con- 

 ditions requisite for successful cultivation of the pear, and which we should 

 be inclined to lay more stress upon than any other, it would be depth of soil 

 for the production of the finest varieties, whatever may be the nature of the 

 soil or the quantity or quality of manure. In our varying climate of burning 

 sun, and cloudless. sky, and long continued drouth, especially with the extreme 

 drouth suddenly broken, and the orchard deluged with water, and the air for 

 succeeding weeks surcharged with moisture, you cannot secure the requisite 

 conditions without it. During the prevalence of the drouth the required mois- 

 ture cannot be supplied, unless your deepened soil constitutes an immense 

 reservoir inexhaustible ; or on the other hand when that drouth is suddenly 

 succeeded by drenching rains it will be an outlet for the too abundant supply. 

 If on the one hand the moisture be wanting, vegetation will be arrested and' 

 development cease ; if on the other hand it be too abundant, and if especially 

 that excess be in contrast with a previous deficiency, the sap vessels concerned 

 in the formation and development of the fruit cannot dispose of that excess, 

 the fruit cracks or is deteriorated in flavor. From this cause, under just these 

 climatic and hydrometric changes in the atmosphere are we to find a solu- 

 tion of the question, why so many pears of great excellence of foreign origin 

 have disappointed the expectation of American horticulturists ; so that few 

 of them under the trials made, are pronounced " first class ;" why so few that 

 begin to compare with our own. What becomes of the great number of French 

 and Belgian pears proclaimed delicious in their native soil, unless deteriora- 

 tion results from climatic influences. 



KIND TO PLANT, NUMBER, ETC, 



The question as to the character of the soil, the preparation of it for the 

 tree, having been considered, you are ready to ask, how many and what varie- 

 ties shall we plant. If the embarassment in the selection of a dozen varieties 

 of pears, is at all proportioned to the magnitude of the numbers from which 

 that selection is to be made, it would be regarded by the uninitiated as truly 

 herculean. Pliny in one of his letters says, " the varieties are exceedingly 

 numerous." In modern times Van Mons, added to those previously known 

 over one hundred and fifty, since which time there have been received from 

 Belgium and France more than three hundred. P^ngland has also contributed 

 to swell the number, and our own country has brought her quota of not less 

 than two hundred, so that it is not improbable that there are at the present 

 time over a thousand varieties known to horticulturists. Years since the 

 numberii found in some private collections in our country exceeded five hun- 



