4-02 Transactions of the Lo)ido)i Horticultural Society. 



therefore my wish that some biuls should be taken from it in the next season, 

 and inserted into the branches of more mature trees." 



9. Abstract, of a Alonoir on the Cultivation of French Pears 171 Scotland, and on 

 the Foundation and Management of Fruit Borders, with the View of bringing the 

 Trees into a bearing State at an early Period of their Growth, and increasing 

 their general Productiveness. By Mr. George Drummond, Gardener to Sir 

 Robert Preston, Bart., communicated by the Council of the Caledonian 

 Horticultural Society. Read April 7. 1835. 



We give this long article entire, because we consider it one of the most 

 important which has appeared in the Horticultural Transactions. We should 

 have had some hesitation in doing this without the permission of the Council, 

 had the paper not already appeared in another journal. 



" The attention of Mr. Drummond seems to have been particularly directed 

 to the subject of this memoir by the following circumstances. The property 

 of Valley Field, which belonged to the late Sir R. Preston, is situate on the 

 north side of the Frith of Forth, and possesses a fine southern aspect. The site 

 of the cottage-garden, in which Mr. Drummond's experiments were first made, 

 is placed close on the Frith, and was previously occupied by pans, and all 

 the other buildings required for the manufacture of salt. In 1815 and 1816, 

 these buildings were removed, the ground was enclosed by a wall, a cottage 

 erected, and one part of the enclosed area was laid out as a flower-garden, 

 and the remainder formed into a marine fishpond. 



" When the ground was levelled for the garden, it consisted almost entirely 

 of coal ashes, brick-bats, and lime rubbish, to which were added about 15 in. 

 of fresh soil to prepare it for the flowers and shrubs. As it was proposed to 

 plant French pear trees in the borders next to the walls, the fresh soil was 

 there trenched down about 18 in., and mingled with the rubbish. Another 

 foot of fresh soil was then laid over the whole surface of the border, and the 

 trees planted. 



" It was predicted that a border so formed would never answer, but would 

 assuredly canker the roots of the trees ; this, however, has not happened. 

 On the contrary, the crassane. Saint Germain, chaumontel, colmar, brown 

 beurre, bergamotte de paques, and jargonelle, all produced fruit the third 

 year after they were planted, and have continued to yield excellent crops 

 ever since, far greater than similar trees planted in the deep rich borders 

 of the other gardens. Of these latter trees, many had been planted twelve 

 years before they produced any fruit : they grew however vigorously, 

 ran greatly to breast-wood, and continued to grow so late in the season that 

 the flower-buds were frequently but ill-formed, and the young wood imper- 

 fectly ripened. The fruit also, which they produced, was borne chiefly at the 

 ends of the branches, and was frequently hard and gritty at the core. On 

 the other hand, the trees in the cottage garden seem to have acquired a dif- 

 ferent habit ; they did not, indeed, grow so vigorously, and the}' produced 

 little breast-wood; but they ripened their young wood earHer in the autumn, 

 and fruited more regularly over the whole surface of the tree. On a given 

 surface of wall, therefore, not only was the produce of the cottage-garden tree 

 greater, but its quality much superior. 



" The early productiveness and fertile habit exhibited by the trees just 

 mentioned, led to the adoption of nearly the same methods in preparing two 

 other borders. One of these was formed in 1820 ; as much of the rubbish 

 of old buildings as would form a layer of about 14 in. in thickness, was spread 

 over the whole border. On this was laid a stratum of rich manure, about 

 6 in. thick ; and the whole was then trenched and turned over in such a way 

 as to mingle the rubbish and manure with the soil of the border, but not 

 going so deep as to encroach on the subsoil. The whole being thus mixed 

 together, and made level, was then covered with about 1 ft. of fine light soil. 

 In the border thus formed, two crassanes, two French bergamottes, two grey 



