314 Memoirs of the Caledonian Horticultural Society. 



fruit fit only for cider, yet these are more valuable to the inha- 

 bitants than the finer sorts, as they can find a ready sale for 

 the cider, which they could not do for the apples, were they 

 ever so finely flavoured. 



There are several fine healthy old fruit trees in Lower 

 Canada ; and among the apples, the Pomme grise, Bourassa, 

 and Fameuse, esteemed French varieties. 



" I was informed that the Island of Montreal, about thirty 

 years ago, was much famed for the quantity and excellent 

 quality of its pears; but now there are very few of that fine 

 fruit in the country, the old trees are fast disappearing, and 

 the greater part of the young ones are in an unhealthy state ; 

 and no person could assign any cause for this general decay 

 of their pear trees." 



" Apple trees I have frequently seen in an unhealthy state, 

 both in Upper Canada and the United States, where they had 

 been planted on land that had been several years cleared, or 

 in cultivation ; whereas, on the contrary, when they are planted 

 on ground newly cleared, and amongst the stumps and roots 

 of forest trees, there they never refuse to grow, and that 

 most luxuriantly; so that, in a few years, they become large 

 trees much sooner than they would in the same space of time 

 in Scotland. For that reason, most of the settlers that emi- 

 grate from Scotland to that country are led into an error : 

 they generally commence raising apple trees from seed, and 

 defer planting an orchard until the stumps and roots of the 

 forest trees are nearly all decayed, and the land frequently 

 ploughed ; whereas, much time could be saved by planting 

 the trees as soon as the land is cleared; and trees can be pur- 

 chased at a moderate expense from small nurseries, which are 

 now pretty general in the country. 



" The Kentish Cherry succeeds better in America than any 

 other, and produces better-flavoured fruit than in Britain; it is 

 chiefly propagated from suckers. Good crops of Blackhearts, 

 Maydukes, and other varieties, are produced in Kentucky and 

 Virginia, but the trees are much injured by the intense heat of 

 the sun. 



" Peach trees succeed tolerably well in Lower Canada on 

 walls, with a little protection from mats in winter. In Upper 

 Canada, particularly on the Niagara river, they succeed very 

 well as standards. They grow with great rapidity, but very 

 little attention is paid to them. They are all raised from 

 seeds, and many will produce blossoms, if not fruit, the third 

 summer. A few are large and fine-flavoured fruit, and many 

 tolerable. 



