FEBRUARY. 



21 



old Mend, Mr. Downie, of Edinburgh, took the Pansy in hand, and has done 

 more for it than any man living, except Charles Turner. The firm of Downie 

 and Laird stands as honourable sponsors to a great many of the finest flowers 

 in cultivation ; and we need only mention the names of Dickson & Co. (the 

 honour of raising their flowers belongs to Mr. Alexander Tait, their foreman, 

 and a worthy florist), Handasyde, Grieve, White & Sinclair, Paton and 

 Small, Middlemas, Paul & Co., Jamieson, and other well-known growers. 

 The midland districts of England have also turned out some good flowers, and 

 judging from the great number df cultivators of this popular flower throughout 

 the manufacturing districts, many more will issue from it. 



If any person should imagine that the Pansy is declining in popularity, they 

 have only to take a tour northwards of London during the blooming season, and 

 at the period of the autumn shows to see to the contrary ; and if further proof 

 is wanting, let them mix with the dealers, and ascertain the demands, and witness 

 the stock for a supply. The increasing number of new kinds also shows that 

 the glories of the Pansy are not on the wane, for last year nearly one hundred 

 new kinds were sent out by various growers. 



Shipley Nursery, Yorkshire. W. Dean. 



ON THE INFLUENCE OF SOIL AND CLIMATE ON PEARS. 



Aee our hardy fruits are more or less influenced by soil and climate ; and, 

 as these circumstances vary to a very considerable extent in this country, we 

 find, as naturally may be expected, that the character and quality of fruit 

 produced in different districts present marked and peculiar features. Pears 

 are more affected by the circumstances of soil and climate of the locality in 

 which they are cultivated than any other fruit. The importance of gaining 

 additional information on this interesting subject is, I believe, fully appreciated 

 by the Horticultural Society, as it was by the defunct Pomological Societv. I 

 think I may venture to say that the information we at present possess is not of 

 that precise and definite character that would justify us in assigning to parti- 

 cular districts their appropriate and determined varieties of fruit ; and it is to 

 enable us to do this with some degree of accuracy that I venture to open the 

 subject in the pages of a work devoted to pomology, and to solicit the co-oper- 

 ation of my fellow-labourers in forming a pomological map of the country, so 

 that persons desiring to plant fruit trees, may readily obtain information to 

 guide them in the selection of appropriate varieties for the part of the country 

 they may happen to reside in. 



I am more inclined to assert the importance of extending our information 

 in this branch of horticultural knowledge, by often hearing complaints of the 

 inferior quality of Pears of the present day ; and it has happened in one or two 

 cases that those who have expressed this unfavourable opinion have incurred 

 the expense of purchasing new Pears from Guernsey and Prance, and, expecting 

 a great deal, have been, as might be imagined, wofully disappointed. They 

 were unaware of the fact, which cannot be too generally known, that a parti- 

 cular kind of Pear may be excellent cultivated in France or Guernsey ; but 

 when grown in many parts of this country is often insipid and worthless. 



This matter commends itself to the consideration of nurserymen whose 

 interest it is to supply their customers with fruit trees suited to the various 

 localities for which they may be required. Many eminent men in the trade 

 have felt the necessity of adding to their descriptive account of the varieties of 

 Pears advertised in their catalogues, particulars, as far as their information 



