,54 ^y GARDEN. 



THE MEDLAR. 



" You'll be rotten ere you be half ripe, and that's the right virtue of the medlar." 



SHAKSPEARE, A'itig- Henry V. 



Medlars are very ornamental trees. They have grand striking 

 flowers in spring. Their large leaves and curious crooked mode of 

 growth always render them beautiful, and the colour of the leaves, 

 at their fall in autumn, is an additional attraction, Three kinds are 

 grown at my garden,— the Dutch, Nottingham, and Royal, 

 The Nottingham (fig. 272) is generally the favourite, as 

 yielding the best flavoured fruit. It is usual to graft 

 medlars on thorns. In my garden they do not fruit in wet 

 soils, though, otherwise, they will perfectly succeed near 

 water. The fruit should be gathered when it easily separates, from 

 the tree, and should be kept in a dry place to prevent fungi. 

 Thompson states that it is a good plan to dip the stalk in salt 

 and water to prevent fungus, but this plan has not been tried at 

 Wallington. Now, I keep my fruit room free from fungus by the 

 moderate and judicious use of the fumes of burning sulphur, 



THE PEAR. 



" Insere Daphni piros : carpent tua poma nepotes." 



ViRG. Buc, Eel. iv. 50. 



The Pear must be regarded as a luxury of high order ; for although 

 it is not of such general utility as the apple, yet as a dessert fruit it 

 lasts over so long a period, and is so much esteemed, that when upon 

 the table it is almost invariably preferred to the apple and to many 

 other fruits. My collection consists of about two hundred and 

 thirty different varieties. The Pear {Pyrus commtmis) grows wild in 

 England; in fact I see specimens of the wild pear in the hedgerows 

 between my garden and London. It is subject to many varieties, but 

 like the apple, though liable to differences within the limit of variation, it 

 has never been changed into a form which any naturalist could mistake 



