60 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
January  21,  1904. 
Pear,  Jersey  Qratioli. 
Thoufrh  seemingly  not  catalogued  by  some  ot  the  leading 
fruit  tree  nur.serymen,  this  old  variety  is  nevertheless  a  most 
excellent  Pear,  and  will  do  well  where  any  other  variety  will 
thrive.  The  fruits  are  ripe  in  October,  and  do  not  keep  long. 
The  tree  is  an  excellent  bearer  as  a  standard,  being  hardy  and 
vigorous.  With  reference  to  its  history,  the  “Fruit  Manual” 
furnishes  the  following:  “This  variety  is  known  in  Jersey  by 
the  name  Gratioli,  and  under  this  name  it  had  for  some  yearr, 
been  grown  by  iMr.  Norris,  of  Sion  Hill,  Isleworth ;  but  as 
Gratioli  is  the' Italian  name  of  Bon  Chretien  d’Ete,  to  prevent 
confusion  IMr.  Bobert  Thompso)!  named  the  present  variety 
Jersey  Gratioli.  It  must  have  been  a  considerable  time  in  this 
country,  as  there  is  a  tree  growing  in  the  garden  of  H.  iM. 
Bucknall,  Esq.,  of  Bedminster  Lodge,  near  Bristol,  which  he 
considers  (185(5)  to  be  fifty  years  old.” 
Our  figure  of  a  wall  tree  in  fruit  came  to  us  from  Sussex. 
Pears  in  Belgium. 
In  the  cour.se  of  a  tour  in  Belgium  la.st  autumn,  among  the 
many  tilings  of  interest  to  a  foreigner  nothing  struck  me  more 
than  the  great  succe.ss  with  which  Pears  are  grown  in  that 
country,  not  simply  in  a  few  well-tended  gardens  here  and  there, 
but  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land — in  the 
garden  of  the  humblest  cottage  as  well  as  in  that  of  the  pluto¬ 
crat.  The  merest  tyro  knows  that  the  large  majority  of  Pears 
have  French  names,"  and  it  is  commonly  assumed  from  this  that 
all,  or  nearly  all.  Pears  were  originaUy  raised  in  France. 
A  very  large  number  originated  in  that  country,  it  is  true, 
but  French  is  the  language  of  the  educated  clas.ses  of  Belgium, 
and  according  to  the  census  returns  of  that  country  about  half 
the  population  .speak  French  only,  vdiile  a  large  number,  in 
addition,  speak  some  sort  of  French  as  well  as  their  native 
tongue,  Flemish.  Hence  it  is  that  almost  all  the  Pears  which 
have  been  raised  in  Belgium  have  French  names. 
Succe.ss  in  Pear  cidture,  and  in  the  rearing  of  new  sorts,  is 
no  recent  thing  in  Belgium,  and  was  more  celebrated,  if  any¬ 
thing,  seventy  or  eighty  years  ago  than  it  is  to-day.  England 
is  becoming  a  land  of  nurserymen  and  skilled  fruit  growers, 
most  of  whom  bring  out  new  varieties  of  some  sort  of  fruit, 
and  among  them,  of  course,  new  Pears,  as,  for  instance.  Rivers’ 
Conference  and  Fertility,  Bunyard’s  Michaelmas  Nelis, 
Kelway’s  King,  and  others. 
In  looking  through  the  list  of  Pears  in  Dr.  Hogg’s  “  Fruit 
Manual,”  with  the  special  object  ot  seeing  how  many  of  our  best 
Pears  owe  their  origin  to  Belgium,  I  picked  out  these,  amongst 
others:  Bergamotte  Esperen,  Benrre  Diel,  Beurre  de  Jonghe, 
Beurre  Sterckmans,  Durondean,  Easter  Beurre,  Glou  Morcean, 
Joseidiine  de  Malines,  Marechal  de  Coenr,  Nouvelle  Fulvie, 
Thomp.son’s,  and  Winter  Nelis,  all  of  which  are  justly  famous 
Pears,  and  worthy  to  be  included  in  any  good  collection. 
But  the  subject  of  this  article  is  not  the  history  of  the 
raising  of  Pears  in  Belgium,  but  the  methods  in  which  Pears 
are  grown  there,  and  how  far  we  may  profitably  imitate  them. 
It  was  very  remai'kable  to  notice  how,  in  the  villages  and  out¬ 
lying  country  districts,  more  especially  in  the  region  know:a 
as  the  Ardennes,  that  is,  roughly,  the  whole  of  the  country 
south-east  of  a  line  drawn  from  Liege  to  Tournay  or  Namur — 
that  the  trained  wall  Pear  tree  was  almo,st  as  common  an 
adjunct  to  a  house  as  Vine  is  in  Italy.  The  most  common  posi¬ 
tion  for  them  is  on  the  wall  of  the  house,  the  windows  often 
being  enclosed,  as  it  were,  in  a.  framework  of  Pear  foliage. 
Garden  walls  there  are  not  nearly  so  common  as  in  this  country, 
doubtless  owing  to  the  expen.se  of  building  them,  as  the  very 
large  majority  of  the  people  in  the  country  districts  are  of 
obviously  humble  means,  people  like  the  well-to-do  English 
squire  being  very  scarce  ;  but  a  very  frequent  site  of  an  excel¬ 
lently  trained  wall  Pear  free  is  the  side  of  an  outbuilding,  such 
as  a  cowhouse,  stable,  or  barn. 
In  one  narrow  valley  above  Dinant,  where  the  garden  was 
at  the  foot  of  a  perpendicular  limestone  cliff,  the  Pear  tree  Avas 
trained  up  the  face  of  the  cliff  and  reached  to  a  con.siderable 
height,  so  that  a  fair-sized  ladder  avouIcI  be  necessary  to  prune 
the  tree  and  gather  the  fruit.  The  trees  are  generally  Avhat  I 
should  describe  as  A^ery  long-handled  gridirons,  more  correctly 
termed  gridiron-trained  standards,  or  riders.  Where  the  trees 
are  on  the  side  of  an  outbuilding  to  Avhich  animals  might  have 
access  this  is  an  obvious  advantage  in  keeping  the  branches 
out  of  the  reach  of  the  cattle.  The  way  in  Avhich  many  of  the 
trees  Avere  laden  Avith  fruit  Avas  mo.st  remarkable,  and  here  it 
may  be  remarked  that  in  Belgium,  unlike  this  country,  1902 
Avas  a  remarkably  good  fruit  year,  orchards  everyAvhere  strain¬ 
ing  under  the  burden  of  the  fruit. 
Here  the  ordinary  Avall-t rained  Pear  tree,  except  in  large 
gardens  Avhere  really  skilled  gardeners  are  kept — and  every 
humble  amateur  knoAvs  hoAV  difficult  it  is  to  get  such  men  for 
one  or  tAvo  days  a  Aveek — is  usually  a  mere  mass  of  foliage,  th? 
tree  sending  out  abundant  breast-Avood  from  top  to  bottom 
during  the  summer,  Avhich  is  all  cut  off  in  the  late  summer, 
autumn,  or  Avinter,  Avhen  the  tree  repeats  the  in'ocess  the 
season  folloAving,  and  so  on  ad  infinitum,  fruit  being,  if  not  the 
exception  rather  than  the  rule,  at  least  very  rare  in  any 
quantity.  But  many  of  these  trained  trees  in  Belgium  Avere 
literally  covered  Avith  Pears  as  thickly  as  standard  trees  are 
often  seen  laden  in  this  country,  but  rarely  seen  on  a  Avail 
outside  a  nurseryman’s  catalogue,  unless  it  is  on  some  Avell- 
managed  cordons.  I  remember  several  trees  in  particular  in 
Melreux — betAveen  Liege  and  Dinant — Avhere  each  branch  of 
the  gridiron-trained  trees  Avas  as  Avell  laden  as  a  very  success¬ 
ful  cordon,  carrying  I  should  say  tAventy  to  thirty  Pears. 
The  lesson  to  be  learned  from  all  this  is  that  Avhat  can  be 
done  in  Belgium  can  be  done  here,  the  climate  being  practically 
the  same.  Part  of  the  secret  of  their  success  doubtless  lies  in 
the  fact  that  Pear  culture  has  been  properly  practised  for 
generations,  and  that  a  knoAvledge  of  the  proper  methods  of 
culture  is  there  much  more  commonly  diffused  among  amateurs 
than  over  here.  But,  Avith  the  midtitude  of  books  on  fruit 
culture,  anyone  Avho  Avants  to  knoAv  the  scientific  basis  upon 
Avhich  the  growing  of  any  particular  fruit  rests  can  have  no 
excuse  for  remaining  in  ignorance,  Avhile  the  amount  of  excel¬ 
lent  Avail  space  for  Pears  Avhich  goes  unused  in  this  country  is 
deplorable,  so  that  Ave  have  the  means  of  acquiring  theoretical 
knoAvledge  and  the  opportunity  of  practising  it. — A.  Petts. 
(To  be  continued.) 
- - 
Gadding  and  Gathering. 
Fruit  Culture  at  Melrose,  Roxburghshire. 
Melrose  Abbey:  That  name  carries  distinction  to  all  the  ends 
of  the  earth.  Abbotsford:  That  is,  perhaps,  eA^en  better  knoAvn 
from  having  been  the  home  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  and  Melrose  is 
the  po.st  toAvn  for  Abbot.sford.  It  is  one  of  the  cosiest  small 
toAvnships  in  the  Scottish  Borders,  lying  on  the  AA  e.stern  slopes 
of  the  Eildon  hills — three  moderate  heights  that  rise  up  Hom  the 
surrounding  regions,  and  are  Heather  clad — Avhile  the  sleepy 
village  of  (lattonside  Avith  its  feAV  dozen  houses  .set  amid  gardens 
and  decrepit  orchards,  faces  Melro.se  froni  the  rising  land  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  TAAeed,  a  suspension  bridge  linking  the  tAvo. 
This  is  Avhere  I  spent  my  happy,  oarele.ss  boyhood,  and  thoughts 
often  Avander  back  again. 
The  fruit  .supi^ly  of  this  country  allures  the  attention,  of  many 
of  us,  and  Ave  affirm  that  no  county  or  district,  either  in  Old 
England  or  Bonnie  Scotland,  need  have  an  undue  preponderance 
of  capability  over  others  in  the  production  of  high-class  fruit, 
especially  Apples  and  bush  fruits.  Gattonside  comes  back  to 
mind  a.s  a  place  all  orchards.  It  certainly  can  groAv  unexcelled 
Cherries  and  Damsons,  for  the  gable  ends  and  front  Avails  of 
some  of  the  sheltered  hoirses  gave  rich  returns  of  Cherries 
year  by  yeai',  Avhile  Damsons  Avei’e  sufficiently  bountiful  and 
tempting  to  induce  the  mill  j-ouths  of  Gala.shiels  to  come  doAvn 
on  “foraging”  expeditions  Sunday  after  Sunday  in  their 
season.  And  .so  Avith  Apples.  As  an  urchin  trudging  to  school, 
I  Avas  not  backward  in  going  foiuvai’d,  if  an  Apple  orchard  lay 
that  Avay,  even  though  I  had  filled  my  pockets  Avith  the  “  king 
of  fruits”  ere  leaving  home.  But  barbed  Avire  fences  Avero 
hardly  in  vogue  then. 
It  Avas  to  ascertain  Avhether  any  progress  had  been  made  in 
fruit  cidture,  in  packing,  grading,  and  marketing,  that  I  Avrote 
to  an  old  friend — a  gentleman  of  experience — though  his  garden¬ 
ing  has  alAvays  been  on  a  limited  scale,  and  his  OAvn  letter  Avill 
be  more  interesting  if  given  in  the  form  in  Avhich  he  Avrote  it. 
The  last  sentence  seems  to  me  to  sIioav  a  sad  state  of  affairs, 
when  American  Apples  can  be  sold  profitablj'  in  an  inland  Scottish 
Border  toAvn,  forty  miles  at  least  from  the  port  of  Leith. 
Perhaps  the  men  of  Melrose  and  the  .surrounding  parts  aaTII  give 
us  cause  yet  to  praise  their  discernment  and  energy,  but  that  at 
present  cannot  be.  The  Board  of  Agriculture  and  Fisheries 
might  Avell  look  up  the  Border  districts  in  this  relation.  The 
letter  already  mentioned  is  as  folloAvs: — 
“  There  has  been  considerable  increase  in  indoor  fruit  groAA'- 
ing  in  and  around  Melro.se  for  some  years ;  but  there  is  very  little 
increase  in  outdooj’  fiuiit  for  six  or  eight  years.  The  chief 
mai’ket  is  Galashiels,  and  the  population  has  gone  doAAUi  there 
four  or  five  thousand.  Formerly  Ave  took  up  our  Strawberi’ies 
and  Raspberries  in  bulk,  Clb  to  81b  or  121b  in  a  basket  or  hamp-:'!- ; 
noAv  Ave  take  them  all  up  in  lib  baskets  or  punnets.  There  is 
