1848. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
117 
Beurr6; is a remarkably hardy, thrifty sort, an early 
and abundant bearer, and will undoubtedly soon become 
a very popular variety. Fruit of medium size. * * * 
It ripens at the same time with the White Doyenne, 
and keeps well. From its early and abundant bearing, 
and its gradual maturity, it is admirably calculated for 
a market fruit.” J. W. P. Allen, Oswego, (533) con¬ 
siders this pear the most valuable known at the north, 
for general cultivation, on account of its early and pro¬ 
fuse bearing, its fine flavor, good size, and general 
hardiness. He considers it an early winter, rather than 
a fall fruit. 
Passe Colmar —M. P. Wilder (21) thus speaks of 
this well known pear—“ As a hardy, vigorous excel¬ 
lent pear, the Passe Colmar has few superiors. It is 
prolific to a fault, and requires judicious management. 
To insure fine fruit it is necessary to commence the 
trimming process as early as the best specimens can 
be distinguished. Mr. Wilder recommends this as one 
of the best five winter pears. Cheever Newhall (415) 
says—“ The Passe Colmar seldom attains perfection, 
unless the fruit spurs are severely pruned out in the 
spring, or the fruit thinned when quite small.” J. J. 
Thomas (480) says—“ the same objection occurs here 
to the Passe Colmar, as at Dorchester, the fruit very 
rarely attaining perfection under ordinary manage¬ 
ment.” November to February. 
Pratt —A new Rhode Island pear. Downing (210) 
says “ there is every reason to believe that among the 
many sorts annually offered to public notice, most of 
which prove indifferent in quality, this will be an ex¬ 
ception—a fruit of real merit.” Size above medium. 
September. 
Seckel —This little world-renowned “mouth-water,” 
patiently receives the encomiums of all. W., of Bal¬ 
timore (197) says: “ I was told in England, by gar¬ 
deners and fruiterers, that the Seckel was the best fla¬ 
vored pear known, but that it would not keep in their 
climate.” John C. Lee (279) considers it, all in all, 
the best fall pear. Downing (279) recommends it as 
the best fall pear for gardens south and east of New¬ 
burgh. J. J. Thomas (480) observes that the Seckel 
maintains its high character with him. August to Oc¬ 
tober. 
Skinless— Of this J. J. Thomas (480) says—“The 
Skinless is one of the freest growers of all pears, is 
abundantly productive, and always bears fair and uni¬ 
formly good fruit, though not rich and high flavored. 
It ripens before the Bloodgood, and, all points con¬ 
sidered, is one of the most desirable early pears, espe¬ 
cially on clayey soils.” First of August. 
Urbaniste- —Cheever Newhall (415) remarks— 
“ The Urbaniste is more sure of producing a crop of 
well-ripened fruit, than any other variety I cultivate 
except the Bartlett and Vicar of Winkfield.” J. J. 
Thomas (480) says—“ The Urbaniste is an excellent 
pear, but is too acid for many palates, and is a very 
moderate bearer.” September to November. 
Vicar of Winkfield— M. P. Wilder (278) consi¬ 
ders this, taking all things into consideration, the best 
fall pear. “ His high opinion of this variety was based 
on a thorough trial of its good qualities; which were 
these: regular and great productiveness, never blowing 
off the tree, large, fair, unblemished fruit, and its re¬ 
maining a long time in use.” “ True,” he added, 
“ the fruit is only second rate; but while it is of fair 
quality for the table, it is excellent for a long time for 
cooking.” Sami. Walker (278) coincided in this opin¬ 
ion, and says (458) that this pear requires careful ri¬ 
pening. November to January. 
Winter Nelis —M. P. Wilder (19) remarks of this 
pear—“ As a sweet, melting winter pear, it has no 
equal. Connoisseurs generally prefer the brisk, vi¬ 
nous juice of the d’Aremberg; but some of our good 
judges esteem the Nelis above all others of the season. 
The growth of the tree is not strong, but more so on 
the quince, to which it seems well adapted ; it is hardy 
and thrifty in rich soils, otherwise the shoots are more 
stunted aqd feeble than is usual with most sorts. Keeps 
and ripens well, and bears good crops.” It appears 
(279) to be the favorite winter pear of Robt. Man¬ 
ning, J. M. Ives, and John C. Lee. Downing in the 
same article (pomological gossip) remarks that the 
“ Beurre d’Aremberg and Winter Nelis are about 
equally popular as winter fruits—the former being the 
best bearer, and the latter the most luscious flavor.” 
J. J. Thomas (480) says that with him the Winter 
Nelis maintains its high reputation. 
It may be noticed by some, that I have omitted, 
in the above abstract, three or four varieties of pears 
which were noticed in the first volume of the Horti¬ 
culturist. These were either new native varieties, de¬ 
scribed for the first time, or foreign sorts not yet in¬ 
troduced. As this abstract is chiefly valuable to those 
who already have some acquaintance, by books, or oth¬ 
erwise, with the varieties named, I thought that noth¬ 
ing less than a complete description of new and un¬ 
known varieties would be satisfactory to them. This, 
the limits of an abstract would not allow 7 . 
Toledo, Feb. 9, 1848. F. J. Scott. 
Transplanting Fruit Trees, 
The experience of intelligent cultivators in different 
parts of the country, strongly sustains the opinion, that 
a great loss usually results from a neglect of pruning 
the tops of young trees, at the time of transplanting. 
Of the hundreds of thousands which are annually trans¬ 
ferred from nurseries to private orchards and gardens, 
probably not one in twenty receives sufficient trimming 
or heading back. 
Unskilful or improper trimming—applied to the side 
branches of the trunk, and leaving a heavy head at top, 
is very common. The head thus becomes too heavy for 
the slender stem to support, the latter forming, as a 
western cultivator remarks, “ a graceful curve, in the 
shape of a French dancing master in the act of pick¬ 
ing up a lady’s fan.” It must be distinctly borne in 
mind that it is not this kind of pruning, but thinning 
and shortening back the top, which it is intended here 
to recommend. 
To remove a young fruit tree from the nursery, with¬ 
out a loss of a part of the roots, is totally impractica¬ 
ble. A network of fibres often extends on every side, 
to a distance quite equal to the heighth of the tree. 
Roots more than a foot in length, except for unusually 
large trees, are scarcely ever taken up by the most 
- careful nurserymen. Hence a considerable excision be¬ 
comes unavoidable. As the roots which remain to the 
tree, must supply moisture for all the leaves, it becomes 
evident that the number of leaves must be either les¬ 
sened, or else each leaf will only receive a partial sup¬ 
ply, in which latter case, its grow r th cannot be healthy 
and vigorous.* The top should therefore be trimmed 
by the knife, at least as much as the roots have been 
trimmed by the spade. Trees four or five feet high, 
usually lose at least half their roots by removal, and 
those nine or ten feet high, probably at least four- 
fifths. 
The amount of thinning at the top, must, however, 
vary somewhat with the species of fruit tree. Some, 
as the peach, have a strong reproductive power. A 
young peach tree, may be cut off at the surface of the 
ground, in spring, and anew shoot wffll arise and attain 
a height in autumn nearly equal to that reached where 
there is no heading down. The practice is common 
among nurserymen, of removing peach trees w T hile in 
* That is, until by growth, a new set of roots is produced. 
