JULY. 
155 
PEARS ON THE HAWTHORN. 
In the Gardeners' Year-Book for 1863, in directing the attention of our 
readers to the importance of the Pear being grafted on the hawthorn, we 
extracted from the Abeille Bomologique an account of experiments that had been 
performed by Abbe D. Dupuy, the eminent professor of Botany and Natural 
History at Auch. These experiments were conducted on a scale that left no doubt 
respecting their success or failure. It was not, as is too often the case in these 
instances, a mere casual and inadvertent circumstance of a single attempt, but it 
was carried out in such a way as to test the adaptability, not of one, but of many 
sorts of Pears for this purpose. 
We are glad to see that our indefatigable experimentalist has continued his 
reports for this season. These we extract from the October Number of the Abeille 
Bomologique ; and we trust that our excellent co-worker will continue to furnish 
us with the progress he continues to make in this direction. 
The attention that is now paid in this country to the influence of the stock 
on the scion has become a leading subject. The result of experiments that have 
of late been conducted by Mr. Hill, of Keele Hall, and Mr. William Thomson, 
of Dalkeith Park, are such as to call for a great amount of attention being brought 
to bear in this direction. Although it is not at all a new subject, it is one that 
has only in former times been hinted at, and one about which a great deal of dog¬ 
matical theory has been propounded. These gentlemen, however, have brought 
the subject to a practical bearing, and have shown, in very intelligible terms, the 
result of their experiments. What Mr. Hill and Mr. Thomson have done in 
Vines the Abbe Dupuy has done in Pears ; and we now introduce, for the benefit 
of our readers, the progress of the experiment of growing Pears on the hawthorn. 
Speaking of the experiments of last year, our excellent friend says :—“ These 
experiments we have continued ; and we are now going to give the results that we 
have obtained this year, as well on the grafts of last year as on the new varieties 
grafted in 1863 for the first time. 
“ The sorts we grafted last year have served us to form a plantation, which 
we have the intention of training in cordon vertical . We have consequently 
placed them in a row from north to south, 20 inches apart, in a shallow calcareous 
soil. To the depth of 3 feet to 4 feet 6 inches the calcareous rock is friable at 
first, or composed of small stones, which cover a compact and homogeneous mass, 
in which no part of the roots can penetrate. 
“ The plantation was made the 15th and 16th November, 1862 ; and we beg 
our readers to remember that all the stocks had been grafted in the month of 
March the same year. 
“ We have at the same time planted a certain number of trees grafted on the 
quince as a continuation of those grafted on the hawthorn, and we shall also state 
how they turned out. 
“ TREES GRAFTED IN MARCH, 1862 ; TRANSPLANTED IN NOVEMBER, 1862. 
OBSERVATIONS TAKEN 15TH OCTOBER, 1863. 
“ Beurre d' Angleterre. —Very vigorous ; no fruit-buds. 
“ Angleterre d'hiver. —Very vigorous ; some fruit-buds. 
“ Brown Beurre. —Pretty vigorous ; many fruit-buds. 
“ Blanquet a longue queue —iN ot very vigorous ; a few fruit-buds. 
“ Winter Nelis. —Pretty vigorous ; many fruit-buds. 
“ Beurre Bose. —Pretty vigorous ; no fruit-buds. 
“ Beurre Bretonneau. —Pretty vigorous ; no fruit-buds. 
“ Bergamotte Cadette. —Very vigorous ; a few fruit-buds. 
“ Carmelite. —Without vigour ; only one shoot, all covered with fruit-buds. 
“ Catillac.— One very vigorous ; two pretty vigorous. Two of these had no fruit- 
buds, and one with a few. 
“ Fondante de Charneux. —Pretty vigorous, and with many fruit-buds. 
“ Vicar of Wink field. —One plant was very vigorous, four pretty vigorous, and 
with many fruit-buds. 
“ Beurre Beil. —Vcry vigorous ; no fruit-buds. 
