4 
THE FLOEIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[January, 
by some very decided knocks at his door, and 
demanding in some alarm the cause of the un¬ 
usual disturbance, received for answer, “ My 
lord, the Pear is ripe.” It is needless to say 
that the order in regard to Pears was con¬ 
siderably modified for the future. The Pears 
named below do not comprise the whole of my 
collection, but are fairly typical sorts. They 
are trained to walls on three aspects, south, 
east, and west, and are grown on prepared 
soil, but with a clay subsoil and in a clay 
district. 
Doyenne d'Ete —small, sweet, juicy. 
Citron des Carmes —useful in its period. 
Jargonelle —good early Pear. 
Poir Peclie —early but not high in quality. 
Williams' BonChretien —good flavour,keeps 
badly. 
Beurre d’Amanlis —large fine juicy Pear. 
Beurre Superfin —very fine handsome Pear. 
British Queen —quality of Marie Louise. 
Louise Bonne of Jersey —juicy and good. 
Beurre Hardy —fairly good. 
Marie Louise d’ Uccle —good. 
Bergamotte d'Automne —rich fine flavour, 
but soon over. 
Beurre d'Areniberg —juicy, prolific ; keeps 
after ripening. 
Beurre Easter —fine in quality and size. 
Beurre de Eance —one of the best late Pears; 
keeps after ripening. 
Olivier des Serres —very fine buttery Pear. 
I\.7iight’s Monarch —excellent in every re¬ 
spect ; the best. 
Doyenne du Comice —excellent, but shy in 
bearing. 
Doyenne Alengon —good keeping. 
Doyenne Boussoch —large, handsome, brisk, 
juicy. 
Glou Morgeau —occasionally very good, 
but uncertain. 
Josephine deMalines —good in every respect. 
Winter Nelis —very fine quality, but liable 
to canker. 
Crassanne—good, and keeps well after 
ripening, but gritty. 
Huyshe’s Victoria —in good seasons fairly 
good. 
I have included some early Pears which, on 
account of their precocity and that the con¬ 
tinuity of supply from an early season may be 
preserved, should be grown, but they are not 
of high quality. Other early and newer sorts 
I have not sufladently tested. I allude to the 
five first named. 
Pears which have not succeeded with me :_ 
Beurre Bachelier —fails to bear. 
Beurre Sterckmans —uneatable. 
Chaumontel —uneatable. 
Passe Colmar —inferior in size and quality. 
Duchess d'A^igouleme —large, but coarse and 
inferior, 
Elemish Beauty —handsome, but inferior in 
quality. 
Hacon's Incomparable —fails to ripen, 
OanseVs Bergamot —generally excellent, 
but with me inferior. 
Jean de Witte —not first rate, 
Marechal de la Cour —has never proved 
good. 
Nouvelle Eulvie. 
Beurre Duhaume—^ee^^ well, but very 
inferior in quality. 
Seckle —very high flavour, but often decays 
before ripening. 
Delices de Hardenpont —only second quality. 
Golden Russet. 
The last-named Pear was raised by my 
father at Frogmore, and going through the 
fruit room with Mr. Powell I tasted this 
Pear, and thought at the time it surpassed 
any Pear I ever tasted; it had a very thin 
russetted skin, and was a refined example 
of Marie Louise. As soon as I obtained 
grafts I worked them on trees in difierent 
aspects, expecting great things, but although 
it has borne fairly well, I have never had a 
fruit fit to eat from it. 
I could very much amplify the list of fail¬ 
ures, but the above may serve to illustrate my 
argument, that Pears may be good in one 
locality, and very inferior in another. The 
incidence of heavy rainfall at a season when 
Pears are just finishing their growth, after 
perhaps a dry time, is very injurious, and has 
led me to think of keeping the rain from the 
roots of Pears at such seasons.—W. Ingram, 
Belvoir, 21si December, 1883. 
THE BLUE SPRUCE FIR. 
ITHOUT doubt this is the most beau¬ 
tiful of all the Firs. Its symmetrical 
habit of growth is most pleasing, its 
well-furnished spray is most faultless 
and felicitous in its disposition, and its well- 
marked coerulean hue is most enchanting. The 
Abies magnijica {olim Picea), another Fir with 
blue-green foliage, is stately in its aspect and 
manner of growth, and is certainly a very 
ornamental tree, but from its more massive 
character, its coarser style of development, 
and the more bulky expansive nature of its 
branches and foliage, it is wanting in the 
plumose gracefulness and ornate finish which 
