wanting neither in care nor diligence, nor in any other precaution that might contribute to the making a conquest of such importance. What I have attempted to that end-what in pains and what in expenses-has been infinite as well as to no purpose."

"The lechasserie pear might put in for a little here, so strong is its party, but it rather chooses to join in with the ambrette, which is a pear of ancient standing among us, and in great esteem. These two pears do not think themselves overcome by all that has been said to the advantage of those that have first spoken. They will not make it their business to destroy one another, being agreed to serve alternately at the entrance of gardens, and so their principal ambition is to remain united and allied in interest and friendship, that they may be able the more vigorously to defend themselves against the three preceding ones. And that which contributes the more, with the strict union they have made one with the other, is that in effect they have some resemblance," &c.

He then proceeds with the winter thorn pear:-"The winter thorn pear, which well knows its own worth, will not let itself be condemned without speaking."-" It has a satiny skin and a colour between green and white; it has a tender, butter-like consistence, having ordinarily a very fine and delicate pulp, an agreeable taste, and a sweet juice, relished with an admirable smack of perfume. It has little to say against the two last pears, and especially against the lechasserie, and ingenuously confesses the good qualities of both of them, but yet without consenting to give them the precedence, till there shall be a regulation for it. But as for the other pears, it objects to them what these last just now reproached it with.

"It is therefore now the question to terminate this contest, which has appeared but too long. Having however examined all the reasons alleged by each of them, I must confess I have a very particular esteem for every one of them; but yet in regard to the trees which bear these fruits, we must not judge the question under discussion altogether upon the same foundation as if we were only examining the merits of their fruits. For upon the bare foot of merit, in what garden soever it be, where there are to be but two dwarf pear trees, I should ever incline to give the second place to the bergamot, as I have the first to the bon-chrêtien. The bergamot, methinks, cannot be too much honoured, being, as it were, the queen of pears. For indeed it is like the excellent muskmelons, its pulp appearing at first firm, without being hard or stony; and, second, fine and melting, without being doughy or mealy, and its juice is sugared, having a little perfume without having any mixture of sharpness or wildness. And, lastly, its taste is rich and wonderfully deli

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cious, accompanied by something of noble! For such a pear as that, may it not vaunt having approached very near the perfection of fruits, and ought it not to serve for a rule and model to all those that shall pretend to an entrance into the catalogue of good fruits?

"The decision in favour of the bergamot to the exclusion of the other pears, would not at all surprise those curious persons that have tasted those that are really good; for assuredly it excels the butter pear, which cannot deny that it has a little mixture of sharpness in its juice. It surpasses the virgoulee, in that it is a nimbler bearing tree, and is not at all subject to that odd, strawy taste which, as I may so say, persecutes the most of the virgoulee pears, and does them a thousand ill offices in good company. The bergamot surmounts the three competitors-the lechasserie, the ambrette, and the winter thornbecause they certainly have nothing in them more excellent, nor more advantageous, than our bergamot in the point of perfect goodness; but as one may say without any desire to offend them, that both the one and the other have sometimes the ill hap to have a faint and insipid juice, and a hard or mealy pulp.

"The article concerning the bergamot pear has given me a great deal of trouble to decide it. I return now to declare my judgment of that sort of trees which, together with the beauty of their fruit, have the advantage to be graced with a beautiful wood; and, therefore, I incline here to give the second place to the butter pear."

We have omitted in these extracts the most important portions of them, such as are of invaluable service to horticulturists; but we trust they will soon have an edition of this great work-one of the greatest, certainly, that has ever appeared. It is the expensive manner in which it is got up that prevented frequent reprints, but in the way that we manage such things now that objection is set aside.

De la Quintinye is in fond communion with all the fruits, and talks to them as if they were living beings; and his taste being excellent, for he was unrivalled in this particular, he may be considered as the best guide when fruit is to be selected.

And first he tells us his taste and judgment in pears:-"I love those that have a butter-like and smooth pulp, or at least tender and delicate, with a sweet, sugared, and well-relished juice, and especially when these perfections are well set off with something like a perfume-such as the bergamot, butter pear, lechasserie, ambrette," &c.

He would have added the Seckel and Washington, too, had they been known at that period; for these two native pears, in the estimation of connoisseurs, possess the very character and

perfume of which he so frequently speaks, and which no one can describe so well as himself.

"In the next place, for the want of the foregoing sorts, I love those that break short in the mouth, with a sweet and sugared juice, and that smack a little of perfume, such as the winter bon-chrêtien-gathered out of a good place-the robine, the cassolet, the dry martine, &c.

"In the third place, I truly esteem those that are pretty much perfumed and well scented, though I do not care that this perfection should be enclosed in a pulp that is extremely hard and full of dreggy matter, as the amadotte, the citron, and the great winter musk pears. For this hardness and stoniness does so much disgust me in all sorts of pears, that though I love a little touch of perfume in every fruit, yet these two great faults do in a great measure lessen the esteem which I should otherwise have for the pears last mentioned."

Who that reads the above necessary qualifications of a pear, would, after this, eat one that encloses that hard, dreggy, stony matter which so much disgusts honest M. De la Quintinye? But thus he continues :

"After having thus expressed what pleases me in raw pears, it is no very hard matter to guess what particularly displeases me in them; for that is, doubtless, a pulp which, instead of being of a butter-like, smooth and tender substance, or pleasingly short in the mouth, is doughy, as the belissime and the musk valley pear; or which is sharp and sour, as that of the ordinary valley pear; or that which is hard and tough as the bernardiere; or full of earthy, dry, stony, dreggy matter, as the musk perner; or of a wildish taste, as the gillazile, the Dutch or fosse pears, and a numerous train of others of which I shall make a catalogue."

If we had assisted in this catalogue we should have added a number of our market pears, quite as worthless as any above mentioned. Some of our inferior nurserymen, taking the opinion of indifferent judges, graft their young trees with fruit that is not fit to be eaten. The markets are full of such trash, there being a very great scarcity of good pears.

Lastly; I declare myself an enemy to all affected multiplicity, and that I am not at all taken with the pleasure of some that pass for curious persons, who assert publicly that those who pretend to have any thing like a garden, should have in it a little of every thing. There are some whose palates are far from being delicate, who boast, for example, that they have two or three hundred sorts of pears, which they warrant all to be good; and they affirm, in a manner, as much of the goodness of peaches, plums, apples, and grapes, of which they also boast to be stored with an incredible variety."

We are of the same opinion with this excellent critic, that the fewer sorts we have in our orchards the better, presuming always that they are of the choicest kinds. If others were of this opinion, the nurserymen would have less disposition to introduce every worthless variety which an uncultivated taste is fond of recommending. Eight or ten kinds of pears, coming on, or ripening in succession, are sufficient to gratify the most ardent cultivator. To speak only of those that come to perfection in the middle states-there are the skinless and julienne, both excellent summer pears, the latter ripening in the house like a Beurré. The Seckel, Beurré, Washington, vergalous, and crasane for autumn, and the St. Germaine and ambrette for winter. The last two ripen in the house during the months of January, February, and March. We could speak of others just coming into notice, such as the passe colmar, the Duchess D'Angouleme, &c.; but there is so little difference in the quality and flavour from some of those already mentioned, that we do not lay much stress on their cultivation. The nurserymen will soon find out whether it will be their interest to cultivate them.

Pears which rank very high in Europe do not always sustain their reputation here; we should not be in haste, therefore, to introduce them into our orchards. The moulebouche, that was in such great repute in France, is but a fourth-rate pear in this country. We have been witness to such great disappointment in this way, that we cling to those we know with renewed fondness. The bon-chrêtien, which receives such enthusiastic, nay, almost parental encomiums from that best of judges-De la Quintinye is but a third-rate pear when brought into our gardens. And that famous jargonelle, "overhanging the south end of Andrew Fairservice's cottage," and which is highly extolled in England, is very indifferent fruit here.

And here, if we may be allowed a digression, we would remark that the Scots, in early times, were far behind the rest of the civilized world in the cultivation of fruit. Sir Walter Scott, in the vast and diversified range that he took of the occupations and peculiarities of the Scotish nation, does not hint that there was any predilection for horticulture, or that gardening formed part of their employments and amusements, as it did of the English people. Whatever of taste is shown in this way is due to the labour of that indefatigable and extraordinary race of people-the monks. Sir Walter Scott is liberal in his distribution of rounds of beef, Scotch collops, cock-a-leekie, moorcock, and barn-door chuckies-(alas! he knew nothing of our canvassback ducks.) In fact, he makes his readers as hungry as his heroes, and as thirsty to boot, at the savoury messes he VOL. XXI.-NO. 42.

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conjures up, even in such unpromising places as the Clachan of Aberfoil-the cave of Warrock point, and Friar Tuck's hut. So tender is this most admirable author on this score, and such is his sympathy for an empty stomach, that we are scarcely told of the hero's hunger until the very appearance of the savoury viands excites him, as it often did us, to confess that "there are mony worse things than a het dinner." The only horticulturist worth naming is our old friend Boniface.

Within the last twenty years two fine pears have made their appearance in this country-the Seckel, and the Washingtonboth of them delicious, and far superior to every other pear that ripens at the same season. They rank very high with foreign connoisseurs, and have one great advantage over exotic pears in never, or very rarely, being attacked by the disease called fire-blight. This malady often destroys a tree in a few hours— nay, sometimes instantly, as if blasted by lightning, or struck with apoplexy.

We may therefore well boast of these native pears, for they combine all that De la Quintinye-a man of refined horticultural tastes considers as so essential; the Seckel being melting, juicy, musky, and sugary, having a perfume withal, which entitles it to be called the queen of pears. The Washington is not far inferior to it, being likewise melting, juicy, and sugary, with a very delicate perfume, but not diffusing itself so exclusively over the senses. One has time, as it were, while enjoying this pear to talk of it and commend it, and take up one after another deliberatively, experiencing bland and generous feelings. With the Seckel it is different, for there is something so piquant and delectable in its flavour that there is no break in the thoughts whilst devouring it-there is no interval by which you can ascertain whether you are willing to share your treat with another. No one minds giving away a Beurré or a vergalous after the thirst is satisfied-for these two pears, excellent though they be, serve more to supply the place of mere fluids, than to excite the salival and olfactory glands. The Seckel is eaten for no such common purpose-and the Washington!but we forbear to discuss their merits further; we pity the man who has never tasted them.

An orchardist once suggested to us the propriety of allowing foreign pear trees to grow in a stiff soil as a preventive to fireblight, because a vergalous, which had arrived at a good age, and was still in a flourishing condition, had lived for many years in a tough sod. How far this practice might operate beneficially on an entire orchard of pears is very problematical, for in the case of the isolated vergalous no definite conclusion could be drawn, as the extremities of the roots-which in a large tree are far distant from the trunk-may have come within the