222 Notices suggested hy a Tour in France, 



Mode of cultivating Pear Trees in Pots, nsoliere the Object, is 

 Economy of Space. — A Frenchman's town garden is often a 

 model of economy of space. You will find a choice collection 

 of roses, budded on short stems ; a collection of valuable rhodo- 

 dendrons, azaleas, and camellias, in pots ; and perhaps thirty or 

 forty varieties of pears, all growing in so small a space, that an 

 English gardener can scarcely believe what he sees. In the 

 garden of M. Smedt, a distinguished amateur at Lisle, the pear 

 trees were literally pyramids of fruit. The summer foreright 

 shoots were tied in so as not to shade the pears, and the follow- 

 ing winter they were removed. I suspect, also, that the roots of 

 the trees are annually shortened, to reduce the luxuriant growth 

 which pear trees are so liable to; but this I could not ascertain. 

 The soil was a loose black sand, and the trees models of pro- 

 ductiveness. Many of their stems, being too weak to support 

 the weight of fruit, were tied to green painted stakes. Much of 

 this extraordinary fruitfulness in such confined limits was owing, 

 no doubt, to a more genial climate than we have here; as the 

 summers and autumns are warmer, and the wood is always well 

 ripened : but many of the best Flemish pears might be grown in 

 our town gai'dens with quite as much economy of space as in 

 France, if any regard were paid to culture. This culture is 

 simply to keep them from growing too fast, by confining or 

 reducing their roots ; blossom buds will then be formed in abun- 

 dance. It seems almost impossible to kill a pear tree; for, 

 though I have opened a circular trench round a ^ar tree, and 

 cut off every root to within 15 in. from the stem, yet it has not 

 suffered, but, the following season, has been covered with blos- 

 som. In some of our rich London gardens, cutting the roots 

 annually would have little or no effect; but I think that, if pots 

 were manufactured expressly for the purpose, of large dimen- 

 sions, we will say 2 ft. deep, and 1 \ ft. in diameter, and plunged 

 to the rim, not deeper, a collection of the new Flemish pears 

 might be grown in any small garden. I mention particularly 

 that the rim of the pot ought to be above ground, on account of 

 the lateral roots, which would otherwise make their way over it, 

 and. give the luxuriance which it is so necessary to check in 

 order to get fine fruit. To keep the trees under control in 

 this respect seems to be the grand object of pear tree culture ; 

 and I feel assured that this may be attained by growing the trees 

 in pots, by keeping the surface well supplied with manure, and, 

 in summer, by watering with liquid manure. I hope ere long 

 to see as many amateurs of pears as there now are of dahlias 

 and roses ; and, in all the principal nurseries, specimen plants of 

 every variety in cultivation, growing and bearing abundantly in 

 plunged pots. One precaution must be strictly urged. Every 

 gardener is aware of the tendency of the pear tree to make what 



