332 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



MR. BARRY'S ADDRESS 



At the Fruit Growers' Association, Burlington, 

 Iowa. 



Let us look at the list of our best foreign 

 pears. The Bartlett is supposed to be Eng- 

 lish, originated in 1760, and it is certainly 

 the best variety ever obtained in that coun- 

 try. Gunsell's Berganiont is the next best, 

 but it is uncertain, and a poor tree while 

 voung. Dunmore, one of Knight's, stands 

 next — a large fine fruit, but too uncertain. 

 These, then, are about all the English va- 

 rieties admissible to our list of select 

 sorts. White Doyenne and Brown Beurre 

 are old French sorts, supposed to date back 

 almost to the days of the Roman Empire. 



The Louise Bonne de Jersey originated 

 as a chance seedling, at . Longueval, in 

 France, in 1778 — originally " Bonne de 

 Longueval." 



The Flemish Beauty, originally called 

 " Davy," originated by chance in a Flem- 

 ish village called Deftinge. 



The Duchesse d'Angouleme sprung up 

 by accident, in a garden, ill 1809. It bore 

 in 1810, and the year before, the gardener 

 had ordered it cut down, and only changed 

 his mind after it had received several blows 

 with the axe. The Urbaniste was raised 

 by the Comte Coloma, in 1783. 



Beurre Diel was found on a farm, near 

 Brussels. Doyenne Boussock is an old 

 Belgian sort, called " Double Phillippe, 



Beurre de Merode," etc., origin not 

 known. 



Belle Lucrative was one of Esperin's 

 seedlings, one of the first and best; he 

 called it Seigneur, the French renamed it. 

 His method was, I believe, to sow the 

 seeds of good pears. 



Beurre Capiamont was raised at Mons, in 

 1787. 



Winter Nellis, atMalines, some seventy 

 or eighty years ago, and called Bonne de 

 Maline ; Van Mons Leon le Clere, was 

 raised from the seed by Leon le Clere ; the 

 seeds sown were said to be Easter Beurre, 

 d'Aremberg and St. Germain. 



Beurre d'Aremberg was a chance seed- 

 ling, at Enghein. 



Easter Beurre, known as Pastorale, Ber- 

 gamotte de la Pentacole, Doyenne d'Hiver, 

 etc., was found at Lourain, in an old gar- 

 den of the Capuchins — the original tree 

 was standing in 1825. 



Glout Morceau, by M. Hardenpont, in 



1789, and called to this day " Beurre Har" 

 denpont." Napoleon, at Mon«, in 1808' 

 Beurre Superfin, by Goubault ; Buerre 

 Clairgeau, by a man named Clairgeau, at 

 Nantes, in 1850 or 1851 ; so we might pro- 

 ceed with Berrue Giff'ard, B. Goubault Beur- 

 re Gris de Hiver, B. Langelier, Triomphe 

 de Jodoigne, Jalousie Frontenay Vardee, , 

 Epine Dumas, Kostizier, Vicar of V\ inke- 

 field, and, indeed, all the leading foreign 

 varieties in our catalogues. B. Bose, Be- 

 urre d'Anjou, and Doyenne d'Ete, are said 

 to be seedlings of Van Mons, but the facts 

 concerning theirorigin are not very clear ; so 

 that, although the w^orld is greatly indebted 

 to Van Mons for his devotion, through long 

 years, to what he regarded as the rengen- 

 eration of fruits, upon philosophical prin- 

 ciples, yet his seedlings, so far. have not 

 yielded, any great treasure. The Belle 

 Lucrative, of Esperin, is perhaps the finest 

 pear, all in all, produced in the last cen- 

 tury. Esperin, in it, left a noble monu- 

 ment to his mem.ory, and his seedlings 

 have produced many other fine fruits. At 

 his death, he placed them in the hands of 

 his friend, Mr. Berckmans, who has them 

 now planted, in New Jersey, and we are 

 in hopes to hear from them in a few years. 



Knight's attempted improvement in Eng- 

 land, by hybridization, but produced only 

 a few good fruits. His pears, with the ex- 

 ception of Dunmore, which I have already 

 mentioned, are of no value in this country. 

 He gained the Black Eagle, Elton, and a 

 few other good cherries. Dr. Brinckle, of 

 Philadelphia, has attempted the same thing 

 in this country, and has already a large 

 number of very promising seedlings in the 

 hands of Mr. Berckmans, for trial. They 

 are all grafted in strong stocks, and will 

 soon bear 



The learned doctor has great faith in 

 this method. He believes it to be as cer- 

 tain to raise a good new fruit by crossing 

 two good ones, as it is to raise a good ani- 

 mal on the same principle. The art of hy- 

 bridization of fruits, however, is a very 

 nice one, and requires time, labor and pre- 

 caution, that few people can or will under- 

 take and execute with accuracy. 



In this country, as in Europe, our new 

 fruits have either sprung up by accident, or 

 have been produced from the sowing of 

 the seeds of good varieties. Thus we ob- 

 tain nearl}^ all our peaches, all our hardy 

 grapes, most of our best plums and apples. 



