HOW ARE WE TO IMPROVE? 



321 



intelligent person persisting in it. Tlie presence of bad and 

 unsuitable Pears everywhere througbout tbe country simply 

 tends to retard tbe culture of this noble fruit ; whereas the 

 distribution of the really good kinds in abundance would 

 create such a demand for them as would cause the trade in 

 young trees to increase tenfold. 



The compilers of the above catalogues do not follow the 

 example of the famous M. de la Quintinye, chief gardener 

 to Louis XIV. at VersailleSj whose list was lengthy, although 

 published so very long ago_, but who conscientiously divided 

 it into several sections — viz., " good pears/-* " indiflPerent 

 pears/' and " bad pears V This was honest in De la Quin- 

 tinye, and would be admirable in a British nurseryman. 

 The spirit of expurgation was strong in this famous old 

 gardener, and he follows the bad with another list — a long 

 one — heading it — Besides the pears which I know not, here 

 is a particular list of those which I know to be so bad that I 

 counsel nobody to plant any of them.'-* And that is followed 

 by another: — ^^A list of those which I esteem not highly 

 enough to counsel any gentleman to plant them, nor yet so 

 much despise as to banish them out of the gardens of them 

 that like them.'' Here was an instance of a most praise- 

 worthy desire to weed out the bad, followed by others to 

 exterminate the middling and the not very good. This, 

 observe, was in France, where a greater number of kinds 

 arrive at perfection than is the case with us, and where a 

 greater number of varieties are grown. Although our 

 nurseryman friend, with his long list, is somewhat of 

 an exception, the lists of others of our fruit-tree raisers 

 are much too long to be of any real guidance to the 

 amateur. 



The following list comprises the cream — the best Pears 

 of the many hundred kinds known : — Doyenne d'Ete, Jar- 

 gonelle, Williams's Bon Chretien, Louise Bonne of Jersey, 

 Jersey Gratioli, Urbaniste, Tondante d'Automne, Beurre 

 d'Amanlis, Suffolk Thorn, Seckel, Comte de Lamy, Flemish 

 Beauty, Desire Cornelis, Marie Louise, Baronne de Mello, 

 Thompson's, Beurre Bosc, Duchesse d'Angouleme, Beurre 

 Diel, Beurre Hardy, Marechal de la Cour^ B. Superfin^ 



Y 



