GROUP I.— SOUTHERN COUNTIES— WILTSHIRE, 



61 



4:. — H. W. Ward, Longford Castle Gardens, Salisbury. 



Number of Varieties Exhibited 4S 



Observations. — Examples of moderate quality, those of Beurre 

 Clairgeau, Doyenne du Cornice, and Beurre Diel being noted as 

 very good. 



5.— C. Warden, Gardener to Sir F. H. Bathurst, Bart., 

 Clarendon Park, Salisbury. 



Number of Varieties Exhibited 25 



Obsercations. — Fruit of fair average size and merit, those 

 of Duchesse d'Angouleme, from an espalier, very fine, also 

 Doyenne Boussoch and Beurre Clairgeau. 



Exhibitors Bemarks. — The garden from which the fruits sub- 

 mitted were gathered is about 310 feet above the level of the sea, 

 and slopes gradually to the south. The soil is a strong loam, 

 now black from the length of time it has been worked, and is 

 resting on a bed of strong clay. Many of the trees are rather 

 old, and doubtless have penetrated to the clayey subsoil ; some are 

 known to be in such a position, as the fruit produced on them is 

 scabby, and cracks in autumn before being gathered, and will not 

 keep sufficiently long to ripen ; the only use of such fruit 

 is for stewing. We have lifted the roots of some of the trees and 

 have found the fruit much cleaner after such an operation. 



We have neither standard nor pyramid trees in the garden, 

 and the whole of our supplies are from espalier and wall 

 trees. Many of the trees have several kinds on them, a plan 

 which I have nothing to say against wdien it is not carried to 

 the extreme, as it gives a greater variety, and extends the season 

 of some kinds by having them variously situated. 



In winter pruning, we prefer to cut the growth close back to the 

 main stem where there are no fruit spurs, and thinning the latter 

 where they are too numerous, and find that we get plenty of spurs 

 formed on most kinds under this treatment. But it is not prac- 

 ticable with all kinds, among which may be named Marie 

 Louise and Van Mons Leon Leclerc. When the spurs are 

 once allowed to get straggling and growing away from the main 

 branches, it is no easy matter to get them close again. The plan 

 we adopt is to saw them off a few at a time, when they break 

 out close and eventually form neat fruiting spurs. 



