280 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 1,1891. 
is apt to get into a sour state. Heaths and other hard wooded plants, 
except the strongest growing kinds, do not require it when good 
peat can be obtained. The enormous quantities of Palms and 
Dracaenas imported into England from the Continent are generally 
grown almost entirely in leaf soil, and the splendid growth which 
they make shows that it suits them in the earlier stages of their 
growth ; but if this treatment were followed by using similar 
material at each successive potting it would be found that by the 
time the Palms had been placed into the largest sized pots the 
compost was not a sufficiently lasting nature, and much of that 
used at the earliest pottings would be sour and exhausted, and the 
Palms would soon get into an unhealthy state in consequence. 
Trade growers are well acquainted with this fact, and when they 
receive their consignments from abroad those that they intend to 
grow are transferred into larger pot3, using a compost of two parts 
turfy loam to one of peat or leaf soil. In this mixture they produce 
grand specimens. For soft wooded plants which are shaken out 
annually and repotted a liberal admixture of leaf soil is of the 
greatest benefit. Fuchsias, Primulas, Pelargoniums, Cinerarias, 
Calceolarias, and a host of other plants of similar type, as well as 
Abutilons, Acalyphas, Cannas, Selaginellas, and Panicums, all thrive 
well in a compost in which leaf soil is used at the rate of one-third 
to one-half of the whole. During the earlier stages of the growth 
of these and other plants and for all seedlings, it may, with 
advantage, be used in a still greater proportion, as among the 
many substances which I am acquainted with there is nothing 
to equal sweet properly prepared leaf soil as a medium for pro¬ 
ducing abundance of healthy roots and quick vigorous growth 
in young plants. —H. D. 
MARKETING PEARS. 
There is such a glut of common early Pears, notably Williams’ 
Bon Chretien, Windsor, Hessle, and Autumn Bergamot, that they 
scarcely pay for gathering and sending to the nearest markets. 
Naturally this is disheartening, especially to those who have had no 
previous experience in the matter of marketing fruit ; but if the 
common fruit is not a profitable crop this season it does not follow 
that the later varieties, or those that will pay for being stored for a 
time, will not fetch remunerative prices. Personally I am of 
opinion that even the “ Williams ” might be disposed of at some¬ 
thing like a profitable rate if only the growers had a little more 
enterprise. Hereabouts, instead of sending to Bath, Bristol, 
Taunton, Frome, Yeovil, and Trowbridge, where they fetch very 
little indeed, the attempt ought to have been made to find better 
markets in South Wales, the inhabitants of Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil, 
Swansea, Aberdare, Dowlais, Newport, and other populous towns 
and suburbs not being well supplied with fruit generally. If the 
south-western counties cannot find a suitable outlet for their 
abundance of fruit in South Wales then no good markets will be 
found anywhere. When, however, we come to deal with the better 
samples of fruit than ordinary orchard trees will produce, then 
different tactics ought to be pursued. These should not be indis¬ 
criminately muddled into sieves or baskets and marketed in an 
equally haphazard fashion, the better plan being to sort them into 
at least two grades, the best being sold to the high-class fruiterers ; 
the others, fetching much the lowest prices however well it may be 
handled, being sent to the larger markets, or those say from which 
the wage-earning classes derive their fruit supplies. 
What sells readily in most large towns and Covent Garden 
market are superior samples of large showy varieties, these not 
necessarily being of superior quality. For instance, well-grown 
fruits of the coarse and gritty Duchesse d’Angouleme will, if 
properly consigned, bring as much as 6s. per dozen, this being three 
times what would be given by the same fruiterer for good average 
fruit of Marie Louise. Doyenne du Comice fortunately is both 
showy and superior in quality, and for the best samples 6d. each 
can usually be obtained, though to a connoisseur they are worth far 
more than the best Duchess ever grown. The showy Beurre 
Clairgeau also sells readily, and the best samples of Beurre 
Diel, Marechal de Cour, General Todleben, Doyenne Boussoch, 
and Pitmaston Duchess can always be sold to advantage. Extra 
fine fruits of the last named being somewhat of a sensational 
character will, if properly placed, fetch quite fancy prices, or say 
from 12s. to 18s. per dozen. Even the somewhat despised Yicar of 
Wiukfield if grown to its full size on wall trees sells readily at good 
prices, and those among us who are able to grow Glou Moreau, 
Chaumontel, and Easter Beurre to near the same size these varie¬ 
ties attain in the Channel Islands may always reckon on a good 
sale. 
Much, as may be gathered from the foregoing, depends upon 
the way the fruit is placed upon the market. There must be no 
trickery, no attempt to palm off a heavy consignment of fruit 
with a few of the very best displayed on the top as being all of 
the same quality, and more than ordinary pains should be taken in 
gathering, storing, and packing. It is too late to enlarge upon the 
folly of overcropping, and I will, therefore, merely add that this 
phase of “ gardeners’ greed ” invariably brings its own punishment 
in the shape of a heavy weight of inferior fruit, which sells badly 
and takes f ar more out of the trees than does about one-third of 
the number of fruit of full size and of six times its value. In each 
case sound judgment must be exercised in the matter of gathering, 
storing, and marketing the fruit. If dragged from the trees too 
soon shrivelling invariably results, while if left a few days too long 
many may drop and be spoilt in one night, and in any case they 
rarely keep so well when left on the trees till the dropping stage 
is reached. Large fruits not being plentiful, few care to test them 
by cutting one or more open occasionally in order to see if the 
pips are nearly or quite brown, a good test of fitness, and the only 
other alternative is to gently lift them out of the perpendicular 
position. If the footstalks part from the tree readily the period 
for gathering has arrived, otherwise the fruit must be allowed to 
hang a few days longer. Beurre d’Amanlis, Beurre Superfin, 
Doyenne Boussoch, Souvenir du Congres, and Pitmaston Duchess 
are among the first of the best marketing Pears to be fit to gather, 
these maturing much in the order they are given. Then comes 
Louise Bonne of Jersey, Doyenne du Comice, Marie Louise, 
Marechal de Cour, Duchesse d’Angouleme, Beurre Clairgeau, Beurre 
Diel, Yicar of Winkfield, Chaumontel, and last of all Glou Moreau. 
As will be gathered from this I do not believe in any wholesale 
clearance of the trees, but prefer rather to treat each variety 
separately. 
Every fruit ought to be handled carefully, as some of them are 
very tender skinned, and a bruise detracts greatly from their 
value, all being stored thinly on clean newly papered shelves in a 
dry but not very airy room, the finest fruit in a single layer stalk 
end uppermost. Not till the fruits are commencing to change 
colour should they be consigned to fruiterers or salesmen. If this 
period is anticipated lower prices will be returned, for the simple 
reason that but few fruiterers can afford to store much fruit till it 
is fit for use ; while on the other hand if the Pears are kept till 
fully ripe they may travel badly, and in any case do not often sell 
well owing to the extra risks run by the buyers, who always prefer 
something that will keep long enough for all to be sold at best 
prices. All the selected fruit ought to be wrapped separately in 
squares of kitchen paper, and then be packed in one, or at the 
most two, layers in a box, plenty of paper shavings, soft wood 
shavings, dry soft moss or the softest chaff being interspersed 
among them so as to prevent rubbing or bruising, the lid shutting 
down tightly on a top layer of the packing material used. The 
small square boxes used by the Channel Island growers, these 
holding, say, one dozen of the finest fruit, show the latter off to 
the best advantage, and Pears thus packed fetch the highest prices 
in the market. Such boxes can be bought very cheaply now-a- 
days, being made to order in Bristol and elsewhere, and in the long 
run are much preferable to any that may be bought of grocers. 
This method of marketing fruit will have eventually to be adopted 
by all who would succeed in marketing choice fruit, and the sooner 
it is adopted generally the more quickly will the foreigner be shut 
out or rather beaten out of our markets. By the term foreigner I 
do not mean to include our fellow countrymen in the Channel 
Islands and elsewhere, but I would like to see the rest fairly 
beaten out of the field, and hold it is only by improving our 
methods of marketing fruit that this can be done. 
The question next arises, What shall be done with the smaller 
fruits after the best specimens have been separated from it ? It is 
this difficulty, if such it may be termed, that has prevented so many 
fruit growers from adopting the plan of making different grades, 
the impression being that it pays best to keep all together. No 
greater mistake could well be made. At the outset I pointed out 
what could be done hereabouts with the second-rate fruits, and those 
who live in other parts of the country may well adopt somewhat 
similar methods, sending the finest fruit to fruiterers and salesmen 
in the larger towns, and getting rid of the rest nearer home. As 
far as private gardeners are concerned, most of these will find that 
very large Pears are not desired for home consumption, those of a 
medium size answering well. Then, again, there are a number of 
comparatively small varieties, which, though they will not sell well, 
are yet of very superior quality. Among these I would include 
Comte de Lamy, Passe Colmar, Winter Nelis, and Josephine de 
