[49] 



IX. Abstract of a Memoir o?i the Cultivation of French Pears in 

 Scotland, and on the foundation and management of Fruit 

 Bwders, with the view of bringing the Trees into a bearing state 

 at an early period of their growth, and increasing their general 

 productiveness. By Mr. Gregor Drummond, Gardener to Sir 

 Robert Preston, Bart. Communicated by the Council of the 

 Caledonian Horticultural Society. 



Read April 7, 1835. 



1 he attention of Mr. Drummond seems to have been particularly 

 directed to the subject of this memoir by the following circum- 

 stances. The property of Valley Field, which belonged to the 

 late Sir R. Preston, is situate on the north side of the Frith of 

 Forth, and possesses a fine southern aspect. The site of the cottage- 

 garden, in which Mr. Drummond's experiments were first made, is 

 placed close on the Frith, and was previously occupied by pans 

 and all the other buildings required for the manufacture of salt. 

 In 1815 and 1816, these buildings were removed, the ground was 

 enclosed by a wall, a cottage erected, and one part of the enclosed 

 area was laid out as a flower garden, and the remainder formed 

 into a marine fish pond. 



When the ground was levelled for the garden, it consisted almost 

 entirely of coal -ashes, brick-bats, and lime-rubbish, to which were 

 added about fifteen inches of fresh soil to prepare it for the flowers 

 and shrubs. As it was proposed to plant French Pear trees in the 

 borders next to the walls, the fresh soil was there trenched down 

 about eighteen inches, and mingled with the rubbish. Another foot 

 of fresh soil was then laid over the whole surface of the border, and 

 the trees planted. 



VOL. II. 2nd series. H 



Mo. Bot. Garden, 



1S97. 



