314 



mUIT CULTURE : 



not of the Pomegranate or any really tender subject; and 

 then the objections of those who say that our climate 

 prevents any improvement_, and perhaps immediately after- 

 wards assert the superior quality of British-grown fruity 

 will pass for no more than they are worth. If one 

 individual can grow a first-class Pear_, why not a score or 

 more persons in the same neighbourhood? Nature is our 

 willing handmaid in this matter^ and I firmly believe that 

 we have it in our power to place this fine fruit within 

 the reach of all^ and render ourselves quite independent 

 of the French. I do not say we could grow such big Belle 

 Angevine Pears as they sell at Covent-garden for a guinea 

 and a half apiece ; but that is of no consequence^ as these 

 are at best only fit for show or kitchen use^ and are, in fact, 

 little better for eating than a raw turnip. 



There are various ways in which we may improve the 

 culture of the Pear, and the first and best is by paying 

 more attention to it as a naturally developed standard 

 tree — in a word, by an improved system of orcharding. 

 This also applies to other hardy fruit trees, and is treated 

 of at greater length further on. Upon orchards we must 

 chiefly depend for the supply of our large cities and towns. 

 This subject, in its commercial aspect, may be left to the 

 growers of fruit for the market, but the country gentleman 

 and large farmer — in fact, everybody possessing a hedgerow, 

 field, or shrubbery — cannot be too strongly urged to use the 

 great opportunities they have for growing Pears. They 

 grow useless shrubs and weedy trees in many places where 

 the finest fruit might be grown without any attention, 

 expense, or trouble beyond gathering it. There are 

 plenty of landed proprietors who at present know not what 

 it is to have the luxury of a stock of good Pears, who might 

 gather them from spots now utterly useless ; there are multi- 

 tudes of farmers who hardly ever see a good fruit of this 

 kind, in possession of lines of hedgerow where the tree would 

 stand as healthfully from among the lower brushwood as 

 any subject that now embellishes them ; and there are 

 thousands of owners of villas and suburban gardens who 

 now go to market for their fruit who might gather it from 



