74 



GROUP II.— EASTERN COUNTIES. 

 SUFFOLK. 



Ed'hibitors. 



1. — Geo. Palmer, Gardener to T. H. Powell, Esq., Drink- 

 stone Park, Bury St. Edmunds. 



Number of Varieties Exhibited 25 



Obserratlons. — Examples large, clear, and well grown, chiefly 

 from pyramids. The following were noted : Beurre Diel, Beurre 

 d'Aremberg, Beurre Bosc, Beurre Hardy, Marie Louise d'Uccle, 

 Marie Louise. 



ExJiibltor's Reinarlcs. — Situation, on a dead level. Soil, medium 

 loam ; sandy to gaulty subsoil. Our collection of Pears here are 

 grown on trained trees on walls, espaliers, pyramids, and a 

 few standards. The Quince stock is represented in each form of 

 tree, excepting the standard, and with jplenty of evidence of 

 weakness and short life. The Pear is certainly preferable as a 

 stock in this immediate locality. 



Pruning is carried out with the usual tw^o pinchings of 

 summer growths, the winter pruning required being not much 

 more than a judicious thinning of spurs in the older trees. 

 Root-pruning is also carried out, but not to an extreme, being 

 guided mainly by the health, constitution, and fertility of each 

 individual tree, instead of an all-round application. Fruit 

 thinning is attended to in all but the orchard trees. 



We find Pears with gritty flesh very disposed to crack in 

 all seasons, but more especially after a long drought, succeeded 

 by heavy rainfall. A mulching, applied not later than mid- 

 summer, appears to be our best preventitive. Easter Beurre is 

 generally worthless from this cause, and Beurre Diel, Beurre 

 Ranee, Passe Colmar, Van Mons Leon Leclerc, also crack 

 badly. Contraction of the skin, caused by a small black fungus, 

 also occurs about the same period, and probably from the same 

 causes. 



As a rule, we cannot complain of want of fertility, provided 

 the trying spring weather, so usual to this part, does not destroy 

 our bloom. 



Our average rainfall for the 20 years, 1865 to 1881 inclusive, 

 is 26-00 inches ; height above sea-level, 220 feet. 



