94 Notices of Communications to the Horticultural Society, 



February, if the ground be in a fit state to work properly, 

 for the earliest sown Onions are always the largest. 



Sir George Mackenzie, in a Letter to the Secretary, 

 dated at Coul, in Ross-shire, on the 23d September, observes, 

 that those sorts of Pears, which, when allowed to ripen on 

 the trees, do not keep long, or soon become rotten within, 

 though they appear sound outwardly, are much more useful 

 for the table if gathered before they are ripe ; they then re- 

 main longer fit for use, and do not decay internally. The 

 Pears particularly referred to are the Jargonelle, Longueville, 

 Windsor and Green Pear of Yair. 



At the Meeting of the Society on the 5th October, a Com- 

 munication from the Reverend John Fisher, of Wavendon, 

 in Buckinghamshire, was read : — it described his method of 

 treating a Swan's Egg Pear Tree, which had failed to be 

 productive ; the tree is trained against the gable end of a 

 building. The branches of the tree which are luxuriant 

 and healthy, were trained horizontally, but produced few 

 spurs or blossoms, though some of them had been ringed. 

 Some of the upright shoots from the branches were in the 

 summer carefully broken near the branch, but not separated, 

 and trained downwards ; the full flow of the sap being thus 

 interrupted. Before the winter, the broken parts had been 

 formed into knobs, or knees, and thus were firmly attached 

 to the tree. In the ensuing spring, these produced a full 

 quantity of blossoms, which set weU, and afforded an abun- 

 dant crop of Pears, the pendent shoots being so full as to 



