Angust 25, 1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
153 
. 
COMING EVENTS 
25 
Th 
Reading Show. 
21 
F 
Sandy 8ho^. 
s7 
S 
Sale at Stevens' Rooms 
28 
Sun 
12th Sunday aftsb Tbinity. 
29 
M 
SO 
To 
Newcastle Show (three davs). 
81 
W 
PEARS. 
NDER the above title an early copy of the 
Report of the Committee of the National Pear 
Conference that was held in the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society’s Gardens in 1885, has been 
sent to us with a request that we notify to 
our readers that the volume may be ob¬ 
tained free of cost by Fellows of the Society 
on application to the Assistant-Secretary at 
South Kensington, and by the public generally from 
Messrs. Macmillan & Co., Bedford Street, Covent Garden, 
price 2s. 6d. The work has been compiled by Mr. A. F. 
Barron, and forms an admirable companion volume to 
“British Apples” issued in 1884, as a permanent and 
valuable record of the Apple Congress that was held 
in 1883. The Pear Report consists of 230 pages, and 
will be acceptable to the Fellows of the Society, and it is 
commended to all cultivators of the prince of hardy 
dessert fruits as the most complete work obtainable on 
the subject to which it is devoted. 
The exhibition of Pears on which the Report is founded 
was the most extensive and complete that has been 
arranged in this country. It comprised 6^69 dishes in 
016 reputed varieties, and after the official scrutiny it is 
surprising to see how comparatively few of them were 
synonymous, the list of these being published at the end of 
the work. A descriptive catalogue of the entire number 
staged by 167 exhibitors is also incorporated in the 
volume. This substantial Report is, however, a great 
deal more than a catalogue, for it contains more cultural 
information and hints on the management of Pears from 
a greater number of the best growers of them than has 
ever been presented in such a handy form. It may be 
fairly described as a work of a hundred authors, for about 
that number have contributed to its pages, some briefly, 
others more fully; indeed, the compiler was no doubt 
overwhelmed with material, and its compression into the 
space at disposal could have been no easy task. If in a 
multitude of councillors is wisdom,all who are seeking infor¬ 
mation on Pears and their culture will find wisdom in the 
work under notice, and this, too, at a convenient time— 
namely, within two or three months of the planting sea¬ 
son, or sufficiently long for the pages to be studied 
whereon the experience of this multitude of good Pear 
growers is inscribed. 
As might be expected under the circumstances, when 
a number of experts are writing on the same subject—the 
choice of varieties and methods of culture—’there is a con¬ 
siderable amount of repetition; but this is by no means 
tedious in consequence of the diversity of expression in 
which the opinions and practices of the several contribu¬ 
tors are conveyed ; and what may be regarded as repeti- 
No. 37 ±.—Vol. XV., Third Series. 
tion may perhaps be more accurately represented as a 
concurrence of testimony in favour of varieties and 
methods. But this obvioudy does not weaken but strengthen 
the evidence that points to the best results, and these, as 
will be seen, are invariably attained by good cultivation, 
and mainly with trees on the Quince stock. This is well 
expressed in the deductions recorded on page 9 of the 
Report as follows;— 
“ Without entering into minute comparison of the merits of 
the different collections exhibited, it is important to notify this 
fact that the cultivation of good Pears does not seem to be con¬ 
fined to any particular climate or district of the country. If we 
take the magnificent examples from M. Joshua Le Cornu of Jersey 
as the result of good and careful cultivation, we have their equals 
produced by Mr. Haycock and by Mr. Thomas in Kent, and closely 
followed by Mr. Wildsmith in Hampshire, and Mr. Breese in Sussex. 
Many other individual examples throughout the Exhibition were 
equally meritorious. No one failed to remark ou the excellence of 
the examples from Lord Chesterfield, Herefordshire, or those still 
further north from Mr. Dalrymple, St. Boswells, Scotland, which 
were probably as meritorious as any at the Conference. Nothing 
contributed so much to these successful results as good and careful 
cultivation. It may be taken as a general rule that the best fruits 
are produced where the greatest care is bestowed. An important 
factor in the successful cultivation of the Pear, as gathered from 
the returns, is in the use of the Quince stock, which, from its close 
surface-rooting character, is more directly amenable to the attentions 
of the cultivator.” 
That may be taken as a fair epitome of the collective 
wisdom embodied in the work, and it is both encouraging 
and suggestive. 
But there are soils and districts in which the Pear 
stock is more satisfactory than the Quince. VVe could 
indicate some not mentioned in tbs Report, though evi¬ 
dence is not wanting in it in support of the proposition. 
Mr. G. Palmer, gardener, Drinkstone Park, Bury St. 
Edmunds, remarks:— 
“ 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 &e 
standard, and with plenty of evidence of weakness and short life. 
The Pear is certainly preferable as a stock in this immediate 
locality.” 
The examples he exhibited are described as “ large, clear, 
and well grown.” 
Mr. M. Dunn of Dalkeith, who is one of the last men 
to form an erroneous opinion on the subject, after describ¬ 
ing the soil as a light loam heavily manured, subsoil open 
gravel, observes:— 
“ As a rule, the Quince stock is not so successful as the free 
stock here ; it generally does pretty well for a few years, and then 
invariably goes barren, and some sorts never do well on it at all. 
Our trees seldom get over-luxuriant, and suffer less from gross 
growth than from starvation or want of moisture and manure. In 
ordinary seasons, and on well-manured ground, trees on the Pear or 
free stock seldom fail to bear a crop, even to a great age ; while no 
amount of manure seems to have any effect in promoting fertility 
in a tree on the Quince stock after it begins to show signs of 
distress.” 
Mr. H. Divers of Ketton Hall, an excellent fruit 
grower, closes his remarks by saying the stocks preferred 
are “the Quince for wet and heavy soils, the Pear for 
light and dry soils.” 
Mr. W. Wildsmith of Ileckfield, who is credited with 
“ one of the most meritorious collections exhibited,” in 
summarising his method of culture indicates the nature 
and requirements of trees on different stocks. We cite 
his remarks :— 
“ Situation sheltered, open to south and east. Soil, light sandy 
No. 2030.—Yoi,. LXXYII., Old Series. 
