50 On the Cultivation of French Pears in Scotland, fyc. 



It was predicted that a border so formed would never answer, 

 but would assuredly canker the roots of the trees ; this however 

 has not happened. On the contrary, the Crasanne, Saint Germain, 

 Chaumontel, Colmar, Brown Beurre, Bergamotte de Paques, and 

 Jargonelle, have all produced fruit the third year after they were 

 planted, and have continued to yield excellent crops ever since, 

 far greater than similar trees planted in the deep rich borders of 

 the other gardens. Of these latter trees, many had been planted 

 twelve years before they produced any fruit : they grew however 

 vigorously, ran greatly to breast-wood, and continued to grow so 

 late in the season that the flower-buds were frequently but ill- 

 formed, and the young wood imperfectly ripened. The fruit also, 

 which they produced, was borne chiefly at the ends of the branches, 

 and was frequently hard and gritty at the core. On the other 

 hand, the trees in the cottage-garden seem to have acquired a differ- 

 ent habit ; they did not indeed grow so vigorously, and they pro- 

 duced little breast-wood ; but they ripened their young wood earlier 

 in the autumn, and fruited more regularly over the whole surface of 

 the tree. On a given surface of wall therefore, not only was the 

 produce of the cottage-garden tree greater, but its quality much 

 superior. 



The early productiveness and fertile habit exhibited by the trees, 

 just mentioned, led to the adoption of nearly the same methods in 

 preparing two other borders. One of these was formed in 1820; 

 as much of the rubbish of old buildings as would form a layer of 

 about fourteen inches in thickness, was spread over the whole border. 

 On this was laid a stratum of rich manure, about 6 inches thick ; 

 and the whole was then trenched and turned over in such a way as 

 to mingle the rubbish and manure with the soil of the border, but 

 not going so deep as to encroach on the subsoil. The whole being 

 thus mixed together, and made level, was then covered with about 

 a foot of fine light soil. In the border thus formed, two Crasannes, 



