XU INTEODUCTION 



inferior flavour, I concluded, like an Englishman, that the 

 foreigners were very ignorant, and very far behind us in 

 the culture of fruit trees. 



It was only by repeated visits to foreign gardens that 

 this prejudice was dispelled. I felt convinced that our 

 neighbours excelled us in the management of fruit trees 

 adapted to the open borders of our gardens. I have there- 

 fore endeavoured to make the culture of pyramidal trees 

 easy to the uninitiated ; and, having profited largely by 

 experience in attending to it with my own hands, I trust 

 that my readers will benefit by the result. 



A humid, mild climate seems extremely favourable to 

 the well-doing of the pear on the quince stock. Jersey, 

 with its moist warm climate, as is well known, produces 

 the finest pears in Europe : these are, for the most part, 

 from trees on quince stocks. The western coast of Scot- 

 land, I have reason to know, is favourable for the culture 

 of pear trees on the quince ; and within these very few 

 years Ireland has proved remarkably so, more particularly 

 in the south, where some of our finest varieties of pears on 

 quince stocks are cultivated with perfect success. 



