422 THE PARKS AND GARDENS OF PARTS. [Chap. XXIV. 



fruit-trees of the woods and hedgerows. But apart from all these 

 worthless varieties, named and unnamed, that occupy valuable 

 ground, there are numbers which are regularly sold in our 

 nurseries, possessing fine names, and which yet are practically 

 useless to the cultivator. Let us suppose the case of a person 

 wishing to commence Pear-culture — he has some slight knowledge 

 of other branches of horticulture, and expects that the long list of 

 the varieties of Pears which he finds in his nurseryman's catalogue 

 will resemble each other pretty much as his Verbenas or Pansies 

 do. Taken by the different names and descriptions, he seeks 

 variety, only however to find disappointment. A wide selection 

 of varieties is an evil in every way. It requires much skill on the 

 part of men who have studied gardening all their lives to know 

 what to avoid in these lists ; how very dangerous, then, for the 

 amateur, or for those who have only slight knowledge of the 

 matter, to make a selection ! Let us glance for a moment into 

 some of the fruit-catalogues. It is needless to state how very 

 much the Pear varies. Here is a catalogue naming, describing, 

 and numbering nearly 400 kinds. People suppose that giving 

 long lists of this kind is for the sake of selling a great number 

 of varieties ; but that course would be so clearly a mistaken one, 

 that one cannot suppose an intelligent person persisting in it. 

 The presence of bad and unsuitable Pears everywhere throughout 

 the country simply tends to retard the culture of this noble fruit ; 

 whereas the distribution of the really good kinds in abundance 

 would create such a demand for them as would cause the trade in 

 young trees to increase tenfold. 



The compilers of the catalogues alluded to do not follow the 

 example of the famous M. de la Quintinye, chief gardener to 

 Louis XIV. at Versailles, whose list was lengthy, although pub- 

 lished so very long ago, but who conscientiously divided it into 

 several sections— viz., "good Pears," "indifferent Pears," and 

 " bad Pears ! " This was honest in M. de la Quintinye, and would 

 be admirable in a nurseryman. The spirit of expurgation was 

 strong in this old gardener, and he follows the bad list with 

 another— a long one— heading it—" Besides the Pears which I 

 know not, here is a particular list of those which I know to be so 

 bad that I counsel nobody to plant any of them." This, observe, 

 was in France, where a greater number of kinds arrive at per- 



