grafted upon the common wild plum, which is uneatable, from its peculia r astringent acidity. I do hope, for the credit of your paper, that your correspondent is not your "Constant Reader." To return to my list, I must first premise that every sort of pear is, as far as my experience at present goes, improved by being worked on the quince; but the following, in list 1, are remarkable for growing freely on the quince in most soils, without being double worked, bearing large fruit of the highest flavor:— 1. Beurré d'Amanlis,* 2. Beurré Ananas, 3. Beurré d'Aremberg, 4. Beurré de Capiaumont, 5. Beurré Diel, 6. Beurré Easter, 7. Bon Chrétien, Williams's, 8. Chaumontelle, 9. Citron des Carmes, 10. Colmar, 11. Colmar d'Aremberg, 13. Crassane, 15. Doyenné, white, 16. Duchesse d'Angouleme, 17. Duchesse d'Orleans, LIST I. 18. Forelle, or Trout pear, 21. Glout Morceau, 24. King Edward's, 25. Louise Bonne of Jersey, 27. Passe Colmar, 28. Poire Chenille, 29. Princess Royal, (Groom) 31. St. Germain, 32. Van Mons Leon le Clerc, 34. Wilhelmina. There are many other sorts that I feel almost assured will do equally well on the quince stock as the above. I forbear to add them till I am fully convinced by proving them. No. 3: Of this I ate my best specimens about the middle of last April; they were vinous, juicy, and delicious, from plants on the quince. Specimens from plants on the pear stock kept only till the end of February. No. 5. This pear seldom ripens well from trees on the pear stock; on the quince, the fruit are larger, more handsome, of perfect flavor, and they invariably ripen well. No. 6. On the pear stock here; (it must be borne in mind that I am always referring to trees in the open quarters--not wall trees;) this is a most crab-like pear, bearing but very seldom, and never ripening; on the quince it bears well, is of high flavor, and always ripens in April and May; it is, however, inclined to be gritty at the core, and this at present is the only I have found to be so from the quince stock. pear No. 19. This is a perfect crab from trees on the pear stock; from the quince it is very melting and juicy, and really a good, small, late pear. I ate my last and only specimen this day, May 26. * D'Amanlis, according to most French authors; d'Amalis, according to Horticultural Catalogue of Fruits. No. 21. Grows freely here on the pear stock, and blooms freely, yet seldom bears any clear fruit; they are generally full of spots, and often do not ripen at all kindly. On the quince stock it bears clear handsome fruit, which invariably ripen, and are very highly flavored. No. 23. On my finest soil here, a tender loam six feet in depth, subsoil sand, this sort always cankers, and very seldom produces any good fruit; in short, it is a very shy bearer when on the pear stock; on the quince it grows freely, and bears most abundantly; fruit, fine and clear, and of high flavor. No. 25. This, of all the pears I know, is most benefited by working on the quince. My specimen tree, on a pear stock now twelve years old, has scarcely borne a dozen good clear fruit, and some standards of nearly twenty years' growth canker at the tips of their shoots, and their fruit is, in most seasons, spotted and misshapen. On the quince, how different! I have trees, from three to five years old, full of fruit, and these have hitherto, every season, been large, remarkably high-colored, beautiful, and of the highest flavor. "Constant Reader" will, I think, see that I have some confidence in the quince stock, when I state that I have a young plantation of this variety, on the quince, of 1500 trees, which I hope to make up in the autumn to 3000; these are to bear to supply the London market. At the expense of being thought a little egotistical, I must tell him that I am not only a pear tree grower, but also a pear grower; Providence has kindly blessed me with fifty acres of good land, on which roses and pears, and I know not what. seem to be "very happy:" this is a favorite phrase with one of our best gardeners, who, when he sees a tree in fine order, or one the contrary, designates them "happy and unhappy trees." No. 27 bears here, on the pear stock, a tremendous quantity of fruit; these are often inclined to speck, and they seldoın ripen well in the fruitroom. On the quince stock the fruit are clear, always ripen well, and are of the highest flavor. I have, as above, given my remarks on a few well known and preferable sorts; they may be applied, with slight modifications, to all the varieties in List I. LIST II. Pears that require double working before they will succeed on the quince; this is merely grafting or budding some free-growing sort of pear on the quince, and then re-grafting the graft, the following season, with the " fractory sort," to use the expression of your friend "Dodman." 1. Bergamot, Autumn, 2. Bergamot, Gansell's, 3. Beurré Bosc, 4. Beurré Rance, 5. Broom Park, 6. Brougham, 7. Crassane, Althorp, 8. Crassane, Winter, 9. Dunmore, 10. Hacon's Incomparable, 11. Inconnue, Van Mons, 175, 12. Jean de Witte, 13. Marie Louise, 14. Monarch, Knight's, 16. Ne Plus Meuris, 19. Suffolk Thorn, 20. Thompson's, re No. 3 is exceedingly "refractory," and I am not quite sure that it will live and flourish for any lengthened period, although double worked on very thrifty stocks. In some soils, this fine pear does not ripen well on standards; it is therefore very desirable to get it to do well on the quince, as it will, I have no doubt, bear when the tree is young; at present, it is, while young, a shy bearer. No. 4. My standards of this sort, on the pear stock, too often bear misshapen fruit, inclined to speck and crack, and, in some seasons, not ripening well on the quince. Its fruit is clear, fine, and remarkably high-flavored No. 11. I notice this pear, as I remarked, a short time since, one of your correspondents inquired of you its origin, which you could not give. I received it, with several other sorts, from M. Van Mons, I think about eighteen years ago; I understood him at the time that they were seedlings, not then named; this is a very hardy and excellent late pear, about the size of Beurré d'Aremberg, but larger, first rate in quality as a melting pear, and fit for the table from February to April; the sorts then received were placed in the nursery catalogue as "Inconnue Van Mons," and numbered. They all still stand under the same name, with different numbers attached. The sorts I use to form a stock on the quince for re-grafting are Beurré d'Amanlis, Jargonelle d'Automne, Fondante de Brest. These all form the most luxuriant stocks. Grafting on the quince often fails. I have known eighteen out of twenty to succeed in some seasons, and the same number to fail in others. It is an uncertain mode; budding is preferable. For double working you may always graft, that is, if you prefer it, or if your buds fail. Grafts succeed perfectly on the shoot of the pear produced from the quince stock the preceding season. I earth up my trees, to encourage them to root close up to the junction of the graft with the stock, but not with the view of making the graft root. I wish to avoid this, as the effect of the quince stock is then lost. If you wish for cultivated pears on their own roots, there is much time and labor lost by this mode; for any variety of pear may be layered, and good plants obtained, in about two seasons. And now for the last paragraph of your "constant" friend. Can we always find "soil and locality in every respect suitable" to the growth of foreign varieties of pears? Is not our method of placing them against walls and espalier rails, &c.." unnatural?" The peach tree, which, in the United States, in a natural state, bears such enormous crops, bears here at least equally fine fruit, but in most "unnatural" places. My root-pruned pear trees, many of them, I have purposely made to contend against nature; in a soil that is naturally death to them I make them flourish. To use the oft-quoted sentence, a man that can make a blade of grass to grow," &c. is a benefactor to his race, and if I can, by precept and example, enable the numerous occupiers of small gardens to grow pears and apples for their dessert nine months in the year, and plums and cherries during the summer, shall I not also be a benefactor in a humble way? I hope so. 66 Allow me to advise your correspondent to visit the Horticultural Gardens at Chiswick; he may there see pear trees of some twenty-five years' growth on the quince stock, with roots protruding from the stock close to its junc tion with the graft. Pictures of health and fertility, they have borne many bushels of fruit, and yet I have never heard the Fellows of the Horticultural Society complain that they tasted like quinces. Some fine trees of about the same age, on the quince, are also in the border. These were all removed about two years since, and, of course, their roots were pruned; on them may therefore be seen the effects of root-pruning. I will conclude with the words of "Dodman :" "A very little care and judicious selection of sorts would insure them (pears) daily, from the end of July till May." I may add, that any garden ten yards square, or even less, will, with the quince stock for pears, the Paradise stock for apples, the Cerasus Mahaleb as a stock for cherries, judicious root-pruning and surface culture, supply a very ample dessert of delicious fruits.—(T. Rivers, in Gard. Chron. p. 372.) Propagation of Gloxinias.-These may be raised either from seeds, or by cuttings of the young shoots, or by leaves. The seeds should be sown in shallow pans of sandy soil, on a thin bed of silver sand, a little of which should afterwards be dusted over them. Place the pan in a brisk hotbed, and cover it with a bell glass until the seeds vegetate. The cuttings should be taken off when the young shoots are about three inches long; plant them in silver sand, and set them in a hotbed. Leaf propagation may be done in two ways:-1. Insert a leaf in sand, like a cutting, the base soon forms a knob, from which a bud is subsequently developed. 2. Cut the principal rib at the back of the leaf through with a knife, in several places, an inch or more apart; then press the leaf flat upon the sand, and place a few small stones on the top, near the incisions, to keep it down flat; the ribs are to be placed downwards; then cover with a bell glass, and place in a brisk heat; little knobs will be formed at the incisions, which, in due time, will put forth buds. Keep them all, while growing, in a warm, moist atmosphere, and, when their leaves are mature, allow them to become comparatively dry, in which state they may be set away in a cool frame for a month or two; after which they should be potted in fresh soil, of equal parts sandy peat and leaf-mould, set in a warm pit, and gradually watered until they are fairly started, when they must have plenty of heat, light, and water, and a little weak liquid manure once or twice a week.-(United Gardeners' and Land-Stewards' Journal, 1847, p. 321). Chrysanthemums.-When the stormy and withering blasts of November have laid desolate the gems which adorn the flower-garden, the comforts of a well-managed greenhouse or conservatory begin to be valued; and, in order to render them as pleasing and delightful as the means placed within our power will allow, preparations, some time previous, are absolutely necessary, we having but few plants which bloom naturally at that period; and these, in many instances, do not receive that care and attention to which they are entitled. In no instance is that more generally observed, than in the culture of the chrysanthemum; arising, no doubt, from the vague idea, that it is difficult to grow handsome plants, on account of their straggling habits. If the following remarks are fully carried out, I have no doubt but those who hold that opinion will be induced to think other wise. There are various methods resorted to in propagating the chrysanthemum-viz., by offsets, layers, and cuttings; but, as I consider the latter the best method, I shall confine my remarks solely to it. From the middle to the end of May is the best season for putting in cuttings: select the points of the shoots of the current year's growth, not more than two inches long; cut them close to a joint; remove one or two of the bottom leaves; plant very thinly under hand glasses; and, if a gentle bottom heat can be conveniently applied, it will accelerate their rooting: bottom heat is not, however, absolutely necessary, as they will strike readily without it in a mixture of leaf-mould and sand; shade the glasses for a few days; and, when the cuttings have taken root and begin to grow, remove the glasses and pinch out their tops, which will cause them to push three or four shoots each; when they have grown about an inch, lift them with as good a ball as possible, and pot in large sixties, in a mixture of loam and rotten dung in equal portions; place them in a close frame, and shade a few days till they have taken with the pots, when they may be set out of doors, allowing them plenty of room to prevent their being drawn; supply them liberally with manure water. When they have grown about three inches, pinch out their tops again; this will cause them to throw out from ten to twelve shoots, and will be the means of keeping them dwarf. When they have grown about an inch, repot them in thirty-two's, or six-inch pots, in a mixture the same as previously mentioned; set them in some place out of doors, where they will be shaded for a few hours during the heat of the day, but by no means place them under the drip of trees. After that time, which will be about the middle of August, they will want nothing more than keeping the pots clear of weeds and suckers, and watering-alternately using manure or guano-water. About the beginning of October, a few of the most forward may be placed under the protection of glass at night, being fully exposed during the day, as the chrysanthemum will not suffer forcing : the others may be taken in as the weather may render necessary. I may mention that they will stand two or three degrees of frost, without sustaining any injury. By following the above directions, I have grown upwards of 200 plants in one season, varying from a foot to eighteen inches high, with from eight to twelve stems each, and from 30 to 60 full blown flowers on each plant, without a yellow leaf, and without the assistance of wooden legs. When the plants have done flowering, they may be cut down and stored away in some convenient place, where they will be sheltered from the frost. Allow them but little water till the end of April, when they may be exposed to the open air till the cuttings are wanted; and when these are taken off, the plants may be either thrown to the rubbish heap, or a few of the early flowering sorts may be planted in the shrubberies; shorten all the stems to within six inches of the pot; this will cause them to throw out more shoots, which may be again stopped; you will thus keep this naturally untidy, straggling plant, within due bounds; and, instead of being (as is often the case) tied up in a bunch, or left at random, they will be fine dwarf flowering plants without the least assistance of stakes, blooming at a period when but few flowering plants adorn the shrubberies.-(Ib. p. 324). |
