DECEMBER, 355 
care which our gardeners know so well how to give.. The same 
remark applies to Beurré Gris, Duchesse d’Angouléme, Poire d’Arem- 
berg, and the Doyennés, which are met with plentifully in Jersey, and 
are so delicious in flavour and buttery in texture, qualities. not always 
constant in the same kind of fruit, when grown in our best gardens, in 
the middle of England. I remember once paying a visit to that enthu- 
siastic Pear grower and most hospitable gentleman, the late Mr. Catt, 
of Newhaven, on the Sussex coast. His fruits were most superb in 
appearance, and what I tasted were delicious. He had a fine collection 
growmg near the shore, which altogether reminded me more of French 
Pears than any I have yet seen in Britain as to flavour, excepting 
perhaps what I saw and tasted at Arundel Castle on the same coast. 
I have seen quite'as’ fine looking fruit at Frogmore (even finer) and 
Oatlands ; but as I have not tasted the former, I cannot judge, but of 
the latter I gave the preference decidedly to the Sussex fruit. I have 
also met with really fine Pears in the Isle of Wight, though not so well 
cultivated asin Sussex. I believe very fine Pears have been exhibited 
from Scotland, but these I have neither seen nor tasted. In the south of 
Treland I have seen magnificent fruit; I remember once, in Limerick, 
being shown the garden of a gentleman living in the town who had a 
fine collection’ of Pears in fruit, and which were nearly as large as any 
Lever saw in France ;°and I was told their good qualities were equal 
to their appearance. In the garden of a medical friend in the county 
of Cork, I have eaten Pears of the first quality, and possessing that soft 
_ melting*tenderhess which is the best, and indeed only criterion of excel- 
lence in the Pear. © The deductions I draw from the above facts, although 
limited and: unsupported by any other authority, so far as 1 am aware,’ 
lead'me to the’ conviction that a somewhat moist atmosphere (I will 
not say sea'‘atmosphere) is more’ favourable for perfecting the best 
qualities'‘of the Pear, when combined with a sufficiently warm tempera- 
ture to ripen the fruit, than a dry one; although I believe this opinion 
isnot generally entertainéd. I wish, however, your readers to consider 
the! question for’themselves, and also to direct the attention of the Fruit 
Committee of the Horticultural Society to the subject, as that body has 
it mits(power'to obtaiit much valuable information on the matter. 
So far'as' Tam enabled to judge, I consider the’ most favourable 
climate forthe Pear to be that found within a few miles of the sea; in 
such situations spring frosts are not ‘so destructive to the bloom in the 
spring as move inland sittiations. ' I believe, too, that the temperature 
during the period in which the fruit is’ swellimg, is more uniform, and 
thatthis, combined ‘with the greater. moisture of the air, produces the 
besteffecton the quality of the fruit: At least those kinds of Pears I 
have tasted’ in the west of France, in the south-east of England, and 
the south of Ireland, afford prima facie evidence that such is the fact; 
but as I have already stated, more extended experiments are wanted, 
before we can pronounce that such is the case de facto. Further, a 
pomological friend in America informs me that Pears are usually higher 
flavoured in wet seasons than dry ones; and have we not some addi- 
tional evidence in'the fact of the immense size (and I dare say superior 
flavour) of the Pear in the moist climate of California.) | iii 
