xii INTRODUCTION. 



ments than they are ? My object is to point out in what way we 

 may learn from the French. That they, in turn, may learn from us 

 will he apparent when it is stated that intelligent Frenchmen hare 

 in botanic gardens pointed doubtfully at plants of Ehubarb and 

 Seakale and asked me if it were true that we eat them in England ! 

 The general introduction into France of these two hardy easily- 

 grown vegetables would be a material addition to the riches 

 and food- supplies of that country. 



Of the practices which we may with advantage, and which 

 indeed we must, adopt from the French, those of fruit-culture 

 command our first attention, because good fruit-culture combines 

 the beautiful and the useful in a very high degree. There are at 

 least six important ways in which we may highly improve and 

 enrich our fruit-gardens and fruit-stores. 



First, by planting against walls the very finest kinds of Winter 

 Pears — the Pears that keep long, the Pears that bring a good 

 return, the Pears of which the French now send us many thousands 

 of pounds' worth annually. Varieties of Winter Pears are fre- 

 quently planted in the open, in all parts of these islands, that 

 an experienced fruit-grower in the neighbourhood of Paris or even 

 further south would never plant away from a wall, knowing well 

 that it would be sheer loss to do so. Sir H. Scudamore Stanhope 

 has proved in his garden at Holme Lacy (p. 299) that improved 

 wall-culture of the finer Winter Pears is as possible in England as 

 in France. 



Secondly, by the general adoption of the cordon system of 

 Apple-growing in gardens. This will enable us to produce a 

 finer class of fruit than that grown in orchards. It may be 

 carried out in spots hitherto useless or unemployed, and will 

 enable us to do away with the big Apple-trees that now shade 

 our gardens. It should be distinctly understood, however, that 

 I do not recommend this system for orchard-culture, or for the pro- 

 duetion of the lands and qualities of fruits that may be gathered in, 

 profusion from naturally -developed standard trees. 

 ■ Thirdly, by the general introduction of the true French Paradise 

 stock into the gardens of the British Isles. Its merits are that 

 it is dwarfer in growth than any other, and that in wet, cold or 

 stiff soils it keeps its roots in a wig-like tuft near the surface 

 —a most valuable quality on such soils. When well known, it 



