408 THE PABKS AND GARDENS OP PARIS. [Chap. XXIV. 



CHAPTEE XXIV. 

 Fruit Culturk : HO"w are "wk to Improvk ? 



The discussion on French and English fruit-growing which took 

 place in the ' Times ' a few years ago, and afterwards spread through 

 various other journals, was, like most discussions, not calculated to 

 leave much impression on the public mind as to the best course 

 to pursue. For this reason, therefore, in this chapter I propose 

 to enter at some length into the matter. The fruit-question is 

 not one that merely concerns those who can devote time and 

 money to the pleasures that gardening affords ; it is a question 

 for the general public of especial importance when considered in 

 relation to the market-supplies of our cities and towns. 



Considering the hardiness of the Pear, its keeping-qualities, 

 and its great variety, it is the most valuable dessert-fruit that 

 can be grown in northern latitudes. A perfect Peach may be 

 preferred to a first-rate Pear, but by properly selecting varieties 

 of Pears we may have them in perfection during eight or nine 

 months of the year, and the variety in flavour is perhaps greater 

 than in the case of any other fruit. We are quite behind the 

 French growers in its production. Our stocks of Apples are 

 usually good and abundant ; our stocks of Pears are frequently 

 scarce and very poor in quality. In many gardens a really good 

 Pear is almost as rare as a Mangosteen. We can increase the 

 quantity and improve the quality of our Pears in a tenfold degree 

 over the greater part of England and Ireland, and even in time to 

 come make an article of export the fruit that we are now obliged 

 to import so largely. 



No doubt the brighter sun of France is more favourable to the 

 culture of the Pear than our own climate ; but it is equally true 

 that by the aid of walls for some sorts, by judicious selection of 



