Lynchburg Virginian

From the N. E. Farmer

FRUITS.

Thomas G. Fessenden, Esq.

Dear Sir—I intend sending you a list of pears from the old Catalogue which I have selected from 117 sorts. They are arranged according to the time of their ripening, and are accompanied with some remarks suitable to the character of the respective fruits. If, in your opinion such a list will be of any service to the public, who take an interest in the cultivation of these fruits, you can publish it; if you think that it is not required, you can suppress it.

I am aware that the taste of horticulturists runs at present altogether on the new varieties, which have been raised in Europe, or found here as wildings. But I doubt if any one of these will be found to equal many of the old fruits which have been so long and so deservedly celebrated throughout Christendom.

It is true that many of the best of the old pears are liable to blast and crack, when raised in the open country; but this is not the case in thick settled towns, where these fruits may still be cultivated with great advantage. The St. Michael, Brown Beurre, Crassane, St. Germain, Virgouleuse, and Chaumontel may all be brought to as great perfection in Philadelphia, New York, Hartford, Boston, Salem, and many less populous towns, both on the sea coast and in the western country, as they are in France, where they are esteemed among the most valuable productions of the garden. These fruits when properly cultivated, and well matured, are unequalled by any of the new species that have yet been seen; and I regret the prejudice that is raised against them among cultivators in this country, because I fear that it will not be many years before they are entirely eradicated from the American soil.

As regards the new sorts of pears, raised in Europe, we have yet to learn how many of these will bear our harsh climate when raised in the open country. Until this is ascertained, it will, it seems to me, be best to preserve some of the valuable kinds above mentioned, that further experiments may be made, with a view to their preservation, before they are totally condemned.

The manner in which we plant Fruit Trees in this country is perhaps one reason why they do not succeed so well here as in France. Here no regard is paid to the kind of soil, or to the exposition in which any particular species of fruit is placed. The Crassane and the St. Michael, the St. Germain and the Brown Beurre; the Virgouleuse and the Chaumontel are all planted in the same soil, and exposed to the same aspect, without inquiring whether there be any congeniality between the plant and the soil and situation in which it is placed. A Crassane, which would be a fine fruit in a moist loam, would be good for nothing in a dry, gravelly soil, which suits the St. Michael. A St. Germain, which is comparatively a poor and stony fruit in a dry and northern aspect, is one of the best, if not the very best winter Pear that is known, if planted in a good moist loam with a southern exposition; while the Brown Beurre accommodates itself to all sorts of soil in which it is placed. The Virgouleuse, alike indifferent to all soils, will, however, if exposed too much to the burning rays of the sun, crack or split open, whereas, the Chaumontel to make it a melting and fine fruit, requires a free, but strong loam, while it is indifferent as to its exposition.

In France, where these fruits are raised in greater perfection than elsewhere, attention is paid to these circumstances, so that each kind of fruit gets the soil and exposition which it requires to advance its growth and perfect its maturity. Such fruits as require a wall to effect this object, are planted and trained against the house, or walls surrounding them in the country, as well as in the towns; or raised in sheltered gardens, but not set out in the open fields or orchards, exposed to the heavy and chilling blasts which often visit that fine country as well as our own. These trees are carefully pruned with a view to give them the best fruit; while they are made to produce a sufficient quantity. No more fruit is allowed to remain on the tree than it can nourish with ease and bear without injury.

The operation of thinning fruit, is one at which we reluct more, perhaps, than any other which we are called upon to perform in the cultivation of our gardens—but this is an avarice which recoils on ourselves;—for in the first place the nourishment which the tree affords, is divided among the superabundant quantity which it bears, and which is of course stinted in its growth; and in the second place, the weight on the limbs of the tree, when operated on by strong winds, tend, not only to destroy the branches, but to bruise and materially injure the fruit that remains. Whereas, by a judicious thinning out when the fruit is small that which remains becomes of much finer quality and larger size: and its weight would not burden the tree, nor be so liable to injury from the autumnal storms to which we are so subject in this country. Its product in this latter case is accordingly better and more profitable.

By the foregoing observations I by no means intend to disparage the new fruits that have been introduced from Europe within the last eight or ten years, nor those that are supposed by many to be wildings of this country. I have eaten of both kinds, and have found them well worth cultivation. I hope, however, we shall not be too hasty in declaring fruits wildings of our own soil, before the fact is well established, as there is nothing which exposes Societies, or individuals so much to ridicule, as assuming facts without proof. Little as I know myself on this subject, I know enough to satisfy my mind that not unfrequently those who pretend to know most, are essentially deficient in the knowledge they profess. Let us, therefore, wait until the new varieties found in New England are tested in Europe, and particularly in France and England, before we decide, without reserve, that these fruits originated here.

Great praise is doubtless due to one of your society, for his persevering and great industry in hunting up those supposed new fruits, but before they are officially adopted by the Horticultural Society as unknown to Europe, and as evidence of this country, let us wait until the scions which have been sent to the old world have produced fruit, and are there acknowledged to belong to us.

A LOOKER ON.

Brookline, Oct. 4th, 1830.