CHAPTER VIII. 
Pf the Pear Tree for Perry—Remarks on the Cultivation of Peach 
Trees, 0 c, 
From the many fine pear trees of the perry sorts, which are 
scattered here and tiiere in our fields, it is probable, that in 
most districts, they would succeed perfectly well. Without 
pretending to exclude the cultivation of apple trees, that of 
pear trees would have its own advantages: ist. That its pro¬ 
duce is more regular, and that the varieties proper for perry 
are highly esteemed ; 2ndly, That the liquor is sooner fit for 
use; 3rdly, That* the pear tree commonly bears when the 
apple tree fails; 4thly, That it lasts at least three times as 
long; 5thly, That though it be generally larger, it withstands, 
the winds better; 6thly, That fogs, high winds, and hoar 
frosts, seldom injure its blossom, and that there is hardly any 
thing besides hail that hurts the fruit; 7rhly, That, finally, 
by this means old orchards may be renewed, w'hen the soil is 
exhausted for apple trees. 
Plants seldom or never succeed when they replace imme¬ 
diately others of their own species. Nature seems to have 
prescribed this law to trees as well as to garden vegetables,* 
* It is, perhaps, as much owing to the exhausted state of phots as that 
of the soil, that the small bulk of most of our oaks is to be attributed. It is 
probable that the inhabitants of this island, have, time out of mind, confined 
themselves to raising the indigenous sorts. It is, however certain, that in 
England and France, where, from the extent of those countries, the nu¬ 
merous varieties of this kind are better able to cross themselves, the timber 
grows infinitely stronger. I cannot attribute to any other cause this effect, 
which is so striking in an intermediate country like this, where the soil, 
the situations, and the shelter, seem to offer all that is requisite for the 
most ample display of vegetation. Proprietors then who interest them¬ 
selves in the improvement of timber, and the well being of future genera¬ 
tions, will sow acorns, and transplant select young oaks from foreign coon- 
tries, with the view of retrieving among us the majesty of that monarch of 
the woods. There exists, in this respect, a perfect an; logy between the 
1 1 There 
