Method (if training Pear Trees on Trellises. 259 



qiience of the action of the wind, more especially in Scotland. 

 See remarks on this subiect, applicable to Dorsetshire, in Vol. 

 IX. p. 548., and Vol. X. p. 496.] 



Art. VI. A Method of training Pear Trees tvhich might be advan- 

 tageouslij adopted in Gardens where Walls cannot be afforded, and 

 Standards uiill not thrive ; with preliminary Observatioiis respecting 

 the List of Pears in the last Edition of the " Encyclopcedia of 

 Gardening." By J. B. W. 



The list of pear trees in the Encyclopcedia of Gardenings 

 edit. 1835, containing varieties of first-rate excellence, ripening 

 in succession from the earliest to the latest period to which that 

 fruit can be kept without becoming valueless, is perhaps the best 

 that could be made for tliose parts of England where the climate 

 is not inferior to that of London. Here, in the north, however, 

 I find that several sorts, which, in the vicinity of London, are 

 amongst the most hardy, do not, on standard trees, acquire 

 sufficient maturity to produce that quality in their flesh dis- 

 tinguished by the term " buttery ;" without which, in my 

 opinion, and in that of many others, a pear is not worth eating. 

 This is especially the case with the beurre de Capiaumont and 

 the white doyenne, although the fruit of both kinds attain their 

 medium size, and have, externally, the appearance of being 

 perfect and well ripened. The trees, likewise, are healthy and 

 prolific. In the same piece of ground, and without the slightest 

 advantage of soil or situation, the Louise bonne, Marie-Louise, 

 passe-Colmar, and glout morceau, produce melting and well- 

 flavoured fruit, although not equal, either in size or flavour, to 

 what I have seen from standard trees in the garden of the 

 Horticultural Society. The Duchesse d'Angouleme does not 

 succeed here against an east (stone) wall : like the white 

 doyenne and beurre de Capiaumont, the fruit looks well to the 

 eye, but does not become melting. The Bezi Vaet is utterly 

 worthless as a dessert pear, even with the advantage of an east 

 wall. The Colmar, commonly considered a shy bearer, produces 

 good crops of fine fruit with us, trained against a south-aspected 

 stone wall : generally, it is fit for table in January and February ; 

 but I have kept it in sand till the end of May. The best 

 autumn pears we possess are, the Jersey Louise bonne and the 

 Seckle. For standard trees, in the north of England, I consider 

 the Louise bonne (of Jersey) decidedly preferable to the Marie- 

 Louise, being fully its equal in flavour, beauty, and size, and a 

 much better bearer. 



In making a selection of standard pears, then, for a northern 

 climate, a bleak situation, or any other unfavourable locality, 

 those sorts only should be selected which have been found to 



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