1847. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
116 
tremities for a loot or two, should be cut off, being weak 
and useless, and detrimental from their weight and 
shade. The remaining stems, if not of a stiff and up¬ 
right variety, should be loosely tied to stakes. 
Tender Grapes, Strawberries, and Shrubs, which 
were covered for protection, should, have the cover¬ 
ing removed. T. 
SELECTION OF THE BEST PEARS. 
The most striking feature in the progress of fruit 
culture, is, perhaps, the improvement in the variety of 
our pears. A large number of new and fine sorts have 
lately originated or become known; and hundreds of 
foreign ones are under a course of examination. A sin- 
<rle orchard in Massachusetts, has no less than eight 
hundred different varieties. 
And this fine fruit is indeed worthy of the attention it 
receives. Generally adapted by its hardiness, to the 
northern states; scarcely ever losing a crop by frost; 
and only second to the apple in productiveness, and 
greatly excelling it in melting and delicious flavor, it 
Alls a most important place in all good gardens. 
The only .truly formidable disaster to which it is lia¬ 
ble, the fire blight, is becoming better understood and 
more easily managed. Instant excision and burning the 
branches, have proved entirely effectual where it has 
been properly and unremittingly performed. This re- 
midy has,however, failed in most- attempts, partly fr.om 
being too long delayed or not perseveringly pursued; but 
more frequently from not cutting far enough below the af¬ 
fected part. Most cultivators are content to cut off the 
visibly affected parts only; whereas, at least two or 
three feet of the branch below should also be taken, as 
the poison extends downwards, and does not instantly 
show itself. 
Selection of Varieties. —A. J. Downing says, “ The 
most successful cultivator of pears in this country, whose 
collection comprises hundreds of varieties, lately assured 
us, that if he were asked to name all the sorts that he 
considered of unvarying and unquestionable excellence , 
in all respects, he could not count more than twenty.” 
But perhaps there is no fruit where different cultivators 
would more differ in opinion than in this. The peculiar 
qualities constituting excellence, are greatly disposed to 
vary in some, and seem to be in many cases very singu¬ 
larly, strangely, and partially distributed among some 
of the finer sorts. For instance, that most superlatively 
rich and high-flavored variety, the Seckel, is of quite 
small size, and slow in growth. The Virgalieu, which 
in many localities, stands as the first, all things con¬ 
sidered, is in others perfectly worthless. It may, how¬ 
ever, be said, that the pear, which all good judges pro¬ 
nounce as first rate, must be really fine. Such pears are 
indeed very few. 
Last autumn, when A. J. Downing was at Boston— 
the focus of intelligence on this subject—he inquired of 
a number of the most experienced cultivators there, 
which do you consider the three best pears —early, mid¬ 
dle, and late—supposing yourself confined to three 
trees?. In answer, for the best early pear, five of the 
persons asked, named the Bartlett, and one the Blood- 
good. For the middle one, (the field for selection being 
here much the widest,) two chose the Vicar of Wink- 
field, one the Louise Bonne de Jersey , one the Fondante 
d’Automne,* one the Beurre Bose, and one the Seckel. 
For the third or late variety, there were three votes 
for the Winter Nelis, and three for the Beurre. d’Arem- 
berg. A. J. Downing, in summing up, gives his voice 
for the Bartlett and Beurre d’JLremberg, for the early 
and late; and for the middle, at the east and south, the 
Seckel, and at the north and west, the White Doyenne , 
* This variety, obtained by the writer from R. Manning, has 
not yet proved of excellent quality in Western New-York It may 
do better in future, and its failure may have been from some unu¬ 
sual and unknown causes. 
(or Virgalieu.*) The whole number here selected is 
ten varieties,—all of which may therefore be regarded 
as eminently valuable,—some having several voices in 
their favor, and others only one. Six chose the Bartlett, 
four the Beurre d’Aremberg, three the Winter Nelis, two 
the Vicar of Winkfield, two the Seckel, and one each the 
Bloodgood, Louise Bonne de Jersey, Beurre Bose, Fon¬ 
dante d’Automne, and White Doyenn£. It appears sin¬ 
gular that only a single summer variety should have 
been selected, the Bloodgood, and that the Vicar of Wink- 
field, decidedly a winter fruit, should have been placed 
by two persons as the “ middle ” variety. 
There are a few others which other cultivators would 
regard as fully worthy of being classed w-itli the above. 
Van Mans’ Leon le Clerc has been pronounced by high 
authority as the best of all pears; yet Downing thinks 
the Onondaga or Swan’s Orange likely to prove supe¬ 
rior, and a cultivator well acquainted with fine fruit, 
said that if he were confined to one variety, he would 
unhesitatingly choose Swan’s Orange. The writer 
thinks he certainly never tasted a finer pear, all things 
considered, than the Doyenne. Gris. For the best very 
early pear, ripening at usual wheat cutting, or even 
sooner, the Madeleine stands alone;While the Bloodgood 
is undoubtedly unrivalled as its next successor. T. : 
TRANSPLANTING PEACH TREES. 
A writer in the Horticulturist, thinks it is not advi¬ 
sable to transplant peach trees the first year after bud¬ 
ding. This was once my opinion; but I have found that 
trees planted in the spring, that had been budded the 
previous fall, did better than if left one year longer. 
They are more certain of growth, and transplanting them 
makes little or no difference in the growth. I trans¬ 
planted some last spring, in the latter part of April or 
the beginning of May, that have grown more than six 
feet high. I was first led to this practice from a nur¬ 
seryman, to whom I applied for some trees, and I 
thought it at first, nothing more or less than an excuse 
to sell me the young trees, as he had no older ones of 
the sort I wanted. But I have found by experience 
that it is the best way, and all that a person has to do 
is to take care that they have living buds, not what is 
called by some dormant ones. In a lot that I planted 
out last spring, I believe I had but one which missed, 
though I had 3 or 4 that did not start till late, but they 
made nearly three feet. A. A. Mullett. 
Springfield , Hamilton Co., Ohio. 
SOWING FLOWER SEEDS. 
Complaints are very frequent of failure in the vege¬ 
tation of flower seeds, and the seedsmen often receive 
abundant censure, when the fault is in the mode of sow¬ 
ing. Minute or rare seeds, if merely buried beneath 
common soil, can hardly be expected to grow. An ex¬ 
perienced cultivator says “ their failure to grow in com¬ 
mon gardens, I should scarcely consider as any proof 
that the seeds were bad.” 
“But,” asks the inquirer, “if seeds are not to be 
buried beneath the soil, in what possible way are they 
to be treated ?” Follow nature—not servilely, but ra¬ 
tionally—imitate her successful operations, not her fail¬ 
ures—adopt such points of treatment as are essential,— 
without blindly copying everything, as the Chinese tailor 
did, when he made a new coat with a patch on the sleeve 
from the worn pattern given him. 
Seeds which drop in the forest are never covered 
deeply, but they are deposited on the surface of a bed 
of fine mould, and afterwards covered with a very thin 
coat of partially decayed vegetable matter. Flower 
seeds should have only a thin sprinkling of fine mould 
upon them. The seeds in the forest are kept moist by 
* Horticulturist. 
