PEAR ORCHARDS 



Beurre Hardy, Fonaante aes Bois, Louise Bonne, 

 Rousselet de Reims, Conseillerde la Cour, Doyenne 

 du Cornice, Marie Louise, Urbaniste, So Id at La- 

 boureur, Triomphe de Jodoigne, Comtesse de Paris, 

 Nouvelle Fu/vie, Bergamotte Saumier, Charles 

 Cognee, Doyenne d" Alencon, 'Josephine de Ma- 

 lines, Suzette de Bavay. Much has been said of 

 late about the advantages and disadvantages of 

 planting in grass as a "matter of scientific ex- 

 periment," but most growers of Kent, and other 

 orchard counties have longknown that in hop, 

 arable, or any other land, the trees show quicker 

 growth and greater vigour at first. But it is not 

 everyone that cares to break up grass to plant 

 an orchard, and we can do very well for grass 

 by mulching the ground round each tree for a 

 few years, until they have gained a good hold. 



These words were fresh penned when 1 

 came across the following notes by M. Charles 

 Baltet of Troyes. Though treating of the 

 mattersomewhat differently his words are very 

 apt, and he also mentions various kinds of Pear 

 asof value for theirbeauty, which are unknown 

 to English growers: "We shall find that the 

 habit, the foliage, and the fruit of the Pear 

 tree leave nothing to be desired, no matter in 

 what soil or climate it may be grown. It is true 

 that a group of prolific, large-fruited varieties 

 such as Beurre de P Assumption, William, Van 

 Marum, and others, will always be a delight to 

 the lover of fruit, but the artist will look for 

 effect from the natural appearance of the trees. 

 If he wishes for luxuriant growth he will find 

 it in the Pear known as the Cure, Conseiller de la 

 Cour, and others. Beurre Haray, Vanquelin, and 

 Duke de Nemours have long upright branches, 

 while those of the Beurre d Amanlis, Bon Chre- 

 tien, and Triomphe de Jodoigne spread out more 

 or less horizontally, or even curve downwards. 

 Arbre courbe and Nouvelle Fulvie, would not 

 be out of place as drooping trees ; while we 

 may admit a group of Pear trees which grow 

 as natural pyramids, such as Fondante du Pani- 

 sel, Beurre de Nantes, Fondante ae Noel, Beurre 

 d Angleterre, and a number of others, including 

 Charles Ernest. The beautiful foliage of the 

 Sucree de Montluron, Delpierre, and Triomphe de 

 Jodoigne, is rivalled by that of the Mikado and 

 Daimyo, two varieties of Japanese origin, with 

 large, thick, and somewhat cottony leaves. 

 We have the German Kopertscher, the Belgian 

 Delicesde Jodoigne, the American Philadelphia, 



FOR BEAUTY, 305 



the French Gil-o-Gile, which present the same 

 character. The observer who takes notice of 

 the particular characters of each variety will 

 know that Marie Guisse, Monseigner des Hons, 

 and Royale d'Hiver are the first to show their 

 buds in the spring, while Martin sec, Madame 

 Loriol de Barny, and Herbin, seem sorry to shed 

 their leafy clothing in the autumn. Bonne 

 d'Ezee and Doyenne d'Alencon are the earliest 

 to flower, and Alexandrine Douillard, Sylvange, 

 and Nouvelle Fulvie protect their clusters of 

 flowers with a sheltering rosette of leaves as 

 soon as they open. If we wish for Pear trees 

 with double flowers we have Comte Lelieur and 

 Beurre de Naghin, with their regular outline, or 

 the double-flowered Bergamotte and Calebasse 

 Oberdieck, with their drooping petals. Without 

 being able to compete with the coloured barks 

 ofthe Birch, the Scarlet Dogberry, or the veined 

 Maple, we may content ourselves with the ash- 

 coloured bark of the Be si Dubost, the ochrey 

 Passe Colmar, the violet Beurre Gijfard, the 

 purple Doyenne Flon aine, the dark brown Bon 

 Chretien de Bruxelles, and the bright-barked 

 Fondante Thirriot. We have beauty of stem 

 in Van Mons, Deux-Sceurs, Angel i que Leclerc, 

 Beurre' Lebrun, and others, the last having a 

 stem which looks as if it had been sprinkled 

 with carmine. The study of local fruits has 

 provided us with the Poirier de Fosse, which in 

 the department of the Aube, is as large and tall 

 as an Oak. A group of some of these sorts 

 in either park or garden would give us as 

 much pleasure as any isolated tree or clump 

 of trees." 



And here we may also say a word for some 

 of the Wild Pears of Europe, particularly the 

 little-known species of the region of the Da- 

 nube and Southern Russia. Many of these east- 

 ern kinds are distinct and beautiful in growth 

 and appearance, and their leaves take on the 

 richest autumn colouring, in shades of purple, 

 crimson, orange, and gold, which would give 

 fine effect in the wild garden even if valueless 

 in other ways. The autumn colour of some 

 of our orchard Pears is also beautiful, particu- 

 larly in some soils; an orchard of Pears is finer 

 in this way than any of our other fruits. 



And apart from these are the Pears grown 

 for Perry, an interesting group of which we 

 have no knowledge in the home counties, 

 though in some parts of the west they are 



y 2 



