THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
137 
I November 21. 
two Saints, includes horticulturists of all grades;—the I 
| societies which encourage the different degrees of merit 
in each grade, as well as the marts which consume the 
vitals of the market-gardener. 
In my old reports ou the Meetings in Regent-street, 
I used to take in the state of Covent Garden market, at 
times, to show that no part of gardening, to tho last 
sight of the produce, is neglected by The Cottage 
j Gardener. Yet I felt, in my own mind, that I never, 
| on these occasions, did proper justice to the different 
exhibitors of fruit. The fact is, there was no competition 
then against our Society, to keep the “ life and soul ” 
together among Apples and Pears; but now, a Pomo- 
logical Society is planted in Coveut Garden, and we 
must look sharper after the weather when the fruit trees 
are in blossom ; and I, at least, must look to my fruit 
notes, anti make them more telling than formerly. 1 
ought to know the different uses of all the kinds of 
fruit we cultivate in this country, as well as most gar¬ 
deners or man cooks know them; and if my future 
notes, on what fruits I may see and meet with, should 
not excel the reports of this Pomological Society in 
usefulness, and in variety, as far as they go, it will not 
be from want of trying on my part. And this comes of 
fair competition. Therefore, if the readers of The 
Cottage Gardener should not have a dessert after 
dinner, without going to Covent Garden to buy—I do 
not mean to the Pomological in Covent Garden—it is 
not likely to be from want of “ useful information ” 
about the best kinds, and the best way of managing 
them. 
Whenever I see a dish of very round Apples, or Pears, 
or other fruits, exhibited at a show or meeting, the 
ruling passion makes me shudder all over, to think of 
how such bullets are to be dished for tho dessert-table. 
The best fruit that ever was grown may be completely 
spoiled at last, and rendered useless to the man of taste, 
and the woman of fashion, by a bad or stupid way of 
dishing them up. I hope every officer of the Pomolo¬ 
gical is able and experienced enough to dish every fruit 
we grow, in six different ways, fit for the Queen’s table; 
that should be my criterion for any paid or honorary 
distinction in such a body, aud at such times as we live 
in ; for I can conceive no earthly use in attempting to 
improve our fruit, or to make improved varieties better 
known, if we do not know how to taste them with our 
friends, after dinner, in a tasteful manner, from taste¬ 
fully made-up dishes of them, and tastefully arranged 
on the table. I hold the essence of all fruit to lie in the 
taste ; and if it is not tastefully put before you, what is 
the use of it, if you are a man of taste ? 
The Strawberry is the only fruit that I can think of, 
just now, which I ever saw tastefully dished for public 
exhibition. How, then, are the public to know the right 
way of dishing their dessert fruit after they grow them, 
unless you teach them the one as well as the other? I 
read the “Pomological Magazine” from end to end; 
but there is not a word in it, as far as I can remember, 
about this subject; the most urgent of all subjects 
j connected with fruit; and one must never attempt to 
i mako a dessert dish of Strawberries after the fashion of 
i the exhibition dishes, when I tell of a great mishap, 
which happened once within my own knowledge, about 
a beautiful dish of early, or rather forced, Strawberries, 
which got a prize at a May Chiswick Show, when I was 
one of the judges there. I can see that dish now in my 
mind’s eye. It was in a flat basket, which was covered 
with silver paper, and was about nine or ten inches 
across; the whole bottom of the basket was covered 
with Strawberries, and they were piled up in the middle 
into a round head, six inches above the rim of the 
basket, just fit for a Queen to see or taste. This basket 
was to have been set on the dinner-table, for a large, 
fashionable party in Loudon, just as it was shown at 
the exhibition. Meantime, parties who called were 
allowed to see the beautiful Strawberries in London; 
and two ladies, bolder than the rest, ventured to taste 
them that afternoon, and took each of them a Strawberry; 
but this revealed a secret, and spoiled the whole dish; 
there was only a single layer of fruit arranged over a 
cono of dry moss. What was to be done ? I forget 
what; but I think a man, on horseback, had to be 
despatched twenty miles into the country to get just two 
more Strawberries before dessert time. So there is 
little to bo learnt from seeing Strawberries dished for 
the exhibition table. No; we must all learn from the 
Pomological Society, as I have just said. 
One of tho worst Pear/ to dish, of all that were 
exhibited at our meeting that day, is Hacon’s In¬ 
comparable ; an excellent Pear for the season ; a hardy 
one, and a good bearer as a standard in the orchard ; 
but so short-necked, and so large and round in the body, 
that it would require two men to dish nine or ten of 
them in a cone-shape, like that basket of unfortunate 
Strawberries. The best Pear at the meeting, for crowning 
a dish, was Beurre Bose. There were two fine specimens 
of this Pear in a collection from Her Majesty, and of all 
the Pears, it is the best to finish the top with, because it 
has a long, slender neck, and round or turbinate bottom 
next the eye. 
For the present, I shall leave the Pomological Society, 
to describe the more fashionable mode of arranging a 
J dish of fine Pears for the dessert, except the last Pear 
I ou the top, for which you have only to pop down the 
j sharp end of Beurre Bose between, or in the centre 
between the other Pears, aud the shape of it will form a 
key, as in an arch, to hold the rest together, better than 
any other Pear. 
From her Majesty’s Garden, at Frogmore, we had a 
collection of Pears, some of which were the largest and 
finest coloured of their kinds ever seen in England. I 
examined them with Mr. Charlwood, of Covent Garden, 
who is the best judge of all kinds of fruit of any man I 
know, aud he owned that he never saw finer Pears before. 
There were six kinds on one tray, three sorts on a side, 
and two Pears of each sort, arranged in this fashion, 
beginning on the right,—2 Van Mans Leon le Clere, 
2 Vicar of Wingfield, 2 Marie Louise ; all of the same 
shape, and nearly of the same size and colour, and 
nearly six inches long. Opposite these, beginning from 
the right again, were—2 Napoleon, 2 Beurre Biel, and 
2 Beurre Bose; the whole ripe for table; but the Napoleon 
and Beurre Biel would keep longer ; and this was very 
early for the Beurre Biel, which ought to hold on till the 
new year. Van Mons Leon le Clere is the newest of 
these; and fears were entertained that it would not ripen 
well in England, a few years since, when we had it in¬ 
troduced from Jersey, through M. Langelier; but such 
is not the case, and wc were told, in the Lecture, that 
specimens of it had been received from Nantwich, in 
Cheshire, as good as those from Frogmoro ; that thirty 
or thirty-six of such Pears would fill a bushol; and that a 
bushel of such Pears was gathered at Nantwich, from 
two small trees growing against the front wall of a house, 
on each side of the door. Leon le Glere is the name of 
the foreigner who raised this first-rate Pear, and he 
wished the name of Van Mon, the great Pear-raiser, to be 
added to his own, in the name of this Pear; as much as 
to say, “This is the cream of Van Mon’s labours, added 
to that of my own experiments.” The c is not sounded 
in this name, only Glcr or Glare, not Clerk, as the 
country people say. 
From the Garden of the Society, we had fine specimens 
of such Pears as the Napoleon, Passe Colmar, Louise 
Bonne of Jersey, Hacon's Incomparable, Paster Beurre, 
Beurre Biel, Van Mons Leon le Clere, Glout Morceau, 
and others with newer names, which I do not know; 
together with a small brown Pear called Bergamot 
