soil; for, as the fibres of the leaves are connected with the wood of the stem, so the green portion of the leaves are connected with its bark, and by this, part of the juices of the tree are acted upon by the elements of the atmosphere. The green part of the leaf may thus be termed the laboratory of the tree; there, the materials for future fruit buds and flowers are separated from the sap; there, the woody fibre is formed and prepared for the next year's layer; and, as the superfluous, unassimilated sap descends, it is deposited beneath the inner bark, and forms what we call the annual ring or layer of wood.

Now, if we will give these considerations their due weight, I think we will pause a little before we apply the pruning knife, either to the root or branch of a fruit tree, and ask ourselves the question, How can we best assist nature in maintaining this reciprocal activity, so that a due amount of sap may be assimilated and concentrated for the production of fibre and fruit?

I believe it will be admitted, that when a tree is growing quick and luxuriant, there is less concentration of sap by the leaves, than when the young shoots are less vascular and more woody. More water is absorbed by the roots, because more is demanded by the leaves to form young shoots, and to supply the loss by excessive natural perspiration, as well as mechanical evaporation. The absorbing roots are forced into an unnatural state of activity, which continues long after the leaves have ceased to perform their functions, and when they no longer demand the supply. Hence, the breaking of the buds in autumn, the bursting of the bark in winter, and the growth of late shoots, which never ripen.

The general panacea for these evils, is to prune, i. e. to cut off a certain quantity of branches from the tree, in winter— very frequently the lower ones are taken away, and the stem is left bare. The exterior sap vessels are thus exposed, without shade or shelter, to the influence of the burning sun in summer, the rays of which, by reflection, frequently rise to 120° Fah., a fertile source of what is termed sun blight and more, those branches are taken off which alone were capable of modifying the current of ascending sap in its upward course, by drawing it off into the lateral branches. I

am of opinion, that this winter-pruning cure is worse than all the other evils put together. I am happy to see that some able horticulturists are now raising their voice against this unpractical barbarism, a practice as unnatural as it is unprofitable. It is like setting the trees on stilts, under the illjudged pretext of cropping the ground beneath them. If a tree is worth root-room in the ground, it is worth head-room in the air; and if it is not worth both these, it is worth nothing at all, except for ornament; and, if it is not wanted for ornament, it should be cut down. But a fruit tree may be both useful and ornamental, and abundantly pay for the garden room that it occupies; and those who have little garden room to spare for fruit trees, should try the system of growing small pyramidal or conical trees, clothed with branches, from the ground upwards. It is very easy, during summer, to stop the wood-making propensities of a tree, by depriving it of the power of drawing excessively upon the roots for moisture, and the roots, in like manner, may be placed into a position to imbibe healthful secretion for its nourishment.

Notwithstanding all the volumes that have been written on the motion and circulation of vegetable fluids, we are still in the dark as to the proper time, season, or period of the year for cutting the roots or branches of a tree. We may reason ourselves, individually, into the supposition of one period being better than another, but where is the proof? Experience has taught us, that autumn is the best time for what is called winter pruning, immediately on the fall of the leaves, or when they can be shaken from the tree; but even then the sap is sensibly in motion. Still, we know that spring pruning is bad; that pruning in mid winter is little better; and where severe pruning must be done, that autumn pruning is the best of all, both for roots and branches, and this, too, is the slackest time of the whole workable season, yet, not in one case out of ten, is it taken the advantage of to get the pruning work accomplished. Will some of our extensive horticulturists direct their attention to this matter, and give us the benefit of their experience.

New Haven, Conn., Sept. 1849.

We must commend this excellent article to the attention of all cultivators.-Ed.

ART. III. Descriptions and Engravings of Select Varieties of Pears. By the EDITOR.

In the dearth of fruit the present year, more particularly of pears, we are unable to complete our descriptions of many new varieties, or to secure specimens of other fine sorts, of recent introduction into our collection. We, therefore, improve this opportunity to give an account of some of the older kinds, which are found in general cultivation, and which are of interest to the pomologist and fruit cultivator. They will not all come under the denomination of select pears, perhaps, but as our descriptions and engravings are to serve two purposes, viz., to make known the new and fine kinds, and to aid in the identification of old ones, we include them under this head.

115. SUMMER BONCHRETIEN. Pom. Mag., vol. 1, pl. 14.

Summer Apotheckerbirne,

Richards's Beurré, of some collections in New York.

This very old pear, (fig. 36) which has been cultivated all over Europe, and, to a considerable extent, throughout the northern and eastern sections of this country, is supposed to have originated in the early part of the sixteenth century. It has been mentioned or described in every pomological work of any note, for more than one hundred and fifty years. It was one of the first pears introduced by the early French settlers into America, and very old and large trees are found growing in various parts of the country. Varying very much in its quality, according to soil and locality, it has been, and still is, thought by many to be a very fine pear; and, two years ago, it was described in the Horticulturist, as a new

variety, under the name of Richards's Beurré, and pronounced superior to Swan's Orange. When well grown and ripened, it is a most beautiful fruit; the skin being of a rich

Fig. 36. Summer Bonchrétien Pear.

yellow, covered on the sunny side with a brilliant red. The flesh is between breaking and melting, and the flavor sugary and good.

The Pomological Magazine states, that "its place is too

often supplied by inferior varieties, whose merits are more frequently novelty than excellence;" this was in 1832; but now that we have so many fine pears, this can scarcely be true with us; yet it is so good a fruit that those who possess large trees should retain it in cultivation.

The tree is a somewhat rambling grower, with straggling branches, and roundish, wavy leaves. It does not succeed upon the quince, and should always be worked on the pear.

Size, large, about three and a half inches long and two and a half in diameter: Form, obtuse pyramidal, knobby and very uneven in its outline, large in the middle, narrowing to the eye, and obtuse at the stem: Skin, fair, smooth, pale lemon yellow, often broadly tinged with bright red on the sunny side, and covered with small green and russet specks: Stem, long, one and a half to two inches in length, rather stout, curved, little swollen at the base, and obliquely inserted in a small cavity on one side of a swollen lip: Eye, medium size, open, and rather deeply sunk in a large, unevenly formed, and open basin; segments of the calyx medium length, pointed, projecting: Flesh, yellowish white, little coarse, tender and juicy: Flavor, sugary, pleasantly perfumed and good: Core, medium size, little gritty: Seeds, long and pointed, mostly abortive. Ripe in August and September.

116. RONVILLE. New Duhamel.

The Ronville pear (fig. 37) is but little known to pomologists. The New Duhamel gives a beautifully colored figure and full description of it; but the Catalogue of the London Horticultural Society, for 1842, does not enumerate the true one, though it gives the name of Ronville as a synonyme of the Martin Sire, a crisp winter fruit, while the true Ronville is an autumn pear, with melting or half melting flesh. We only know of the existence of this variety in collections in Salem, and our specimens were given to us in 1844, by Mr. J. F. Allen, of that city, in whose garden there is a large tree, which uniformly bears good crops. In size, and general form and appearance, it so much resembles the Swan's Orange, that some cultivators have insisted upon it that the