November ii . 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
89 
see the result of his labours so quickly, that his opera¬ 
tions rarely embrace auythitig beyoud the scope of the 
next year or two. Patience, and anxious wish to benefit 
futurity, are qualities whicli certainly do not prevail so 
much with us as with our forefathers. A never-ceasing 
anxiety for novelty is the order of the day, and the 
most speedy means are taken to gratify that propensity, 
rarely caring for futurity. 
It cannot be denied but that some of the most im¬ 
portant of our fruits want to be replaced by younger 
and more robust kinds. Our Apricots arc not what 
they once were; neither are the Peaches; I mean in a 
general way ; isolated cases being no criterion. There 
is, certainly, abundant proof that the Iloyal George 
Peach, Moor Park Apricot, and Green Gage Plum, 
become diseased trees long before their predecessors did ; 
and can that be owing to any other cause, than these 
line old varieties becoming debilitated by old age, and 
the accumulated evils of hereditary disease? 
Wliile on this subject,! may remark, that many of the 
most intelligent fruit-growers in tliis district, who grow 
very large quantities for market, liave, of late years, 
turned their attention very much to new varieties, and 
have often been deceived. Either the variety has not 
l>roved true, or has not answered their expectations; 
independent of which, fruit-crops have been rather pre¬ 
carious the last half-dozen years and more. This has 
been unfortunate; for the new kinds have suffered as 
much, or nearly so, as the old; consequently injuring 
their reputation as good, useful fruits; and as some of 
them have showed signs of decay, or canker, the question 
is very naturally asked, whether they are any better 
than the old ones? Some sweeping reformers insist the 
whole want to bo remodelled, by importations from 
abroad; but many of those wo have had from thence 
have proved unsuitable. The Court Fendii Plat, 
GravcUbics Pippin, and some others, which, I believe, 
to be of foreign extraction, are far from healthy, good 
bearing trees; neither is the Pear, in all cases, good; 
although it inust be confessed that a great acquisition 
has been made in them during the last thirty or forty years, 
and that mostly from the continent. 
I will, at an early o])portunity, give a list of the fruits 
best suited for Orchard purposes, but cannot well do so 
at the present moment, some further inquiries being 
necessary, and the opinion of some other friends, whose 
extensive experience in the line entitles them to res])cct, 
having been promised. I will, when the whole is com¬ 
plete, give the result of our joint opinions; at the same 
time, be it remembered, that the old proverb, of “One 
man’s meat is another man’s poison,” holds good, espe¬ 
cially in fruit plantations ; for varieties suited to one 
place do not prosper at every other. This is felt so forcibly 
here, that sometimes the difference of a single mile, with 
no apparent difference in soil or situation, effects an 
important change ; the kinds doing well at the one not 
succeeding at the other, and vice versa. 
Vegetables have not such pointed peculiarities, be¬ 
cause their food is of a coarser kind, and when supplied 
them in sulTicient quantity, they have little to want. 
Varieties of Ilowers, being more delicate, have their 
“likes and dislikes” more pointedly develojted; but 
being more the creatures of the day, they do not suffer 
so much as the fruits do, neither is their well-being 
such an important matter; for whoever plants a fruit- 
tree, naturally expects his grandchildren to benefit from 
it as well as himself, or those coeval with them ; whereas, 
there are not more than one percent, of the many varie¬ 
ties of flowers brought under notice that are popular 
longer than half-a-dozen years or so. This, of course, 
renders it difficult to find out the peculiarities which 
characterize the fruits which experience has proved to 
have their favourite jjlaces of abode, and contrariwise. 
Amongst the Tears which have become popular 
Orchard fruits, the Marie Louise and Williams' Bon 
Chretien stand pre-eminent just around here; the 
former coming into use by the middle of October, or 
sometimes by the beginning of it; and “Williams’ 
Pear” (as it is called), sometime before—the month of 
September may bo called its season. 'TIjese two Pears 
tbrivo pretty well as standards; and, what is of some 
consequence for the amateur to know, they are better 
in that condition than when grown on the wall; the 
fruit being better flavoured, although smaller; but in 
the standard fruit there is the absence of that peculiar 
flavour to Williams' Bon Chretien, which is felt so 
strongly on the wall fruit; while Marie Louise is much 
richer. I merely here mention these features of these 
two fruits ; at another time, I will enter more fully into 
these matters. J. Robson. 
THE 13EATONIAN BURNING BUSH. 
Mr. Beaton, in a recent number, gives a glowing descrip¬ 
tion of what he calls a burning bush of Ids own invention. 
Without envying my worthy friend, I so far agree wdth him, 
if dying American plants are not to be supplied with suitable 
food, or allowed to be sent to the rubbish heap, they are 
quite as w'ell covered with Nasturtiums—only, no entire leaf 
picking. Trickery, even in a tea-dealer is detestable, and 
can only be allowed with Ilowers and plants, in such cases 
as the visit of George TV. to Edinburgh, or the more recent 
one of our good Queeir to Paris. If practised as an every 
day affair, it will end in disgust and disappointment. 
Allow me to tell Mr. Beaton and your readers of a much 
better one, at least for shrubberries, w'hich is the Single 
Snowball Guelder Bose, with its brandies covered Avith 
thousands of its beautiful crimson berries, bangiugcarelessljq 
but gracefully, out of a large Ivy bush, which the stems of 
the Guelder Rose support, putting one in mind, as they 
wave in the air, as if covered with Indian insects. What a 
pity these two fine old plants are not more cultivated. 
The common Barberry is beautiful, under similar treat¬ 
ment, with the addition of a creeping Rose and Honey¬ 
suckle, &c., besides giving food to our willing songsters. 
Leaving the bushes, whore can there be found a more beau¬ 
tiful tree, at this season, than the Mountain Ash ? “W^e 
have them here twenty to fifty feet in height, covered with 
millions of these golden and crimson berries, happily blended 
with Ivy, Yew, Holly, Laurel, &c., and backed up with mag¬ 
nificent Silver Eirs, &c., forming some of the most gor¬ 
geous masses the eye can behold. Fancy the sun throwing 
its rays on one of these masses in the morning, when each 
of those coral berries has its wee dew drop, the dimmest of 
which w'ould cast a shade on diamonds of the first water; 
or when waving in the breeze with the fine dark, back ground, 
is truly wortli admiring. 
I wish I had the power to plant one of the Highland 
passes, I would plant the entrance with Scotch Fir towards 
the top as a back ground ; Yeiv, &c., for facing them up ; and 
common Savine as edges, at least fifty feet in breadth, all 
the rest in irregular masses of Mountain Ash, Single Snow¬ 
ball Guelder Rose, Common Barberry, Scarlet and Cockspur 
Thorns, quantities of single,creeping, andwild Roses, Ac.,that 
have scarlet hips. In fact, all the scarlet and golden berried 
trees and bushes I could lay my hands on, with Pyrneanlha, 
Ooloncaslar, Ac., for the foreground, with just enough of Scotch 
Firs, here, and Ihere, to give weight. IVlmt a glorious and 
dazzling sight it would appear on entering from its gloomy 
and sombre neighbour, with its towers on towers of coral 
berries, and with the lake or sea in the distance. 'J'his may 
appear romancing, but there is nothing very difficult in car¬ 
rying it out to those that have the glens. The plants and 
seeds I would use are cheap enough; and as art could not 
surpass the heath, furze, Ac., already there for underw'ood, 
all that is required w'ould be to plant and soav where neces- 
cessary. One thing in its favour is, that it Avould be in 
its glory in the Scotch season, and also provide endless 
food for game, Ac.—D. Ferguson, H^loive, Buckingham. 
P. S.—IVithin a mile of the Brackley Station, on the 
Oxford side, I was rising out of one of lliesc rich valleys 
