More things than Pears are worked upon the Quince stock in these days. Precociousness is a feature which is not confined either to gardening or the vegetable kingdom. Rapidity of action is the characteristic of the present age. The world has been going on slow, but is now getting up steam, and concentrating its energies for the grand and final effort. The forces of creation seem as if they were converging to a focus, and rush on with accelerating speed, as if dragged forward by some gravitating influence that exerts an ever-increasing power. Every year the pace quickens. The momentum is communicated to everything, and pervades all branches of industry. Even the children seem to grow up sooner nowadays, and have a Quince-stock maturity about them, talk sense, and imitate their grandmothers before their teeth are well cut. Good old-world notions and customs are disappearing at an alarming rate, leaving in many cases but temporary substitutes behind them. Now and then, in some quiet English hamlet or rustic Scottish elachan, where picnics love to rendezvous and indulge the hereditary instincts of human nature, we light upon that old-world leisureliness and stability of purpose which characterised our progenitors before the age of railways and electric telegraphs.

But even around these isolated spots the circle is gradually narrowing; and before their present inhabitants have gone to rest "Where the rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep," the tide of progress will have swept over them, and borne away upon its rapid current the last vestiges of a former age.

To no profession or industry are these remarks more applicable than to gardening. The concentration of thought and action which has been brought to bear upon all questions relating to horticulture is now visible in the almost complete mastery which the gardener exercises over every kind of fruit and vegetable that comes under his care. Perhaps the most noticeable progress we have made has been in the culture of fruit. In this department we have certainly divested ourselves of many cumbrous notions, and dispensed with even more cumbrous appliances. Ends are accomplished nowadays with a rapidity that would have astonished our ancestors. Many, with an interest in futurity - which is becoming strange amongst us - planted trees, and were content if they saw the first-fruits thereof, leaving them as a legacy to their descendants. And let us admit, that but for their foresight in this respect many a fruit-room in these days would show but a scant supply. Now, however, he who plants expects to reap.

Gardens and orchards spring up contemporaneously with bricks and mortar; and when the wealthy retired man of business takes possession of his new mansion, he expects to find his garden furnished with trees bearing fruit after their kind, and the entire horticultural department in an already matured condition, and prepared to contribute to his comfort as regularly as his kitchen or dairy. This is all very gratifying, no doubt, and speaks for itself, and may be called gardening on the Donein and Quince principle; but however adapted to meet special ends, it lacks the elements of durability, and should not be pushed beyond its special province. We have a partiality for the old, luxuriantly-laden orchard, the feature of many a homestead, and chief source of supply in many an establishment. I always find that where there is a reserve of this kind the fruit-room is better filled. Quantity is always as important a consideration in a garden as quality, and it is comforting to have a supply to fall back upon after the limited produce of the orchard-house is exhausted.

Miniature fruit-gardens and orchard-houses are undeniable realities, however, and commendable institutions; but, compared to the fail-me-never ances-torial trees in the cottager's garden, they are what the thumb-pot Oaks of the Chinese are to their English congeners for the purposes of shipbuilding.

These remarks have been suggested by reading the very able and exhaustive papers of Mr M 'Millan on the ' Cultivation of Hardy Fruits,' though they are not intended to apply to him. I see, however, that, like many others, he is impressed in favour of the Quince stock - whether from practical experience or not, he does not say; and if I understand him aright, he would only be guided by considerations of soil and climate in adopting it generally, in preference to the Pear, for standards or pyramids. I feel quite sure Mr M'Millan will excuse me for mentioning his name in connection with the subject, while a friendly discussion on the merits of the Quince will do no harm, I hope. We are experimenting on a limited scale with the Apple on the French Paradise stock, and may have something to say about it some other time; but we have not tried the Quince for the Pear, nor - although we do not pretend to decide conclusively in the matter - would we like to plant extensively on it for general purposes under any circumstances, except in the orchard-house. I have seen it tried at different times and places, but in no case has the result ever been such as would encourage any one to use it in preference to the Pear, considering what can be accomplished with the latter under judicious cultivation.

Some varieties will succeed on the Quince for a while; but it is an acknowledged fact, that others will refuse to live on it, and that in a general way they are shortlived. The trees are also small, and the fruit limited in quantity, disadvantages which the slight superiority which it possesses in flavour does not compensate. It is true that Mr Robert Thompson speaks of trees which have flourished on the Quince stock for forty years - but this seems to have been an exceptional case, for he is cautious in recommending it, unless for special situations - while Dr Lindley discusses the subject only in a purely theoretical way. When in the west of Scotland, about two years ago, I called upon a gardener who had been led to plant a number of Pears worked on the Quince some years before, in the sanguine anticipation of being able to counteract the disadvantages of a dropping climate; but the experiment had resulted in disappointment. Although the trees had the advantage of a wall and had every attention, they were not in a flourishing condition. Some of them seemed as if they were not long for this world; and even the healthiest looked as if getting to the top of the wall was a feat never contemplated in their ambition.

There has, I think, been ample time to test the merits of the Quince stock; but I question if any favourable examples of its adaptability for general purposes could be found. Mr Powel of Frogmore, whose practical experience in fruit-tree culture entitles him to speak on the subject, says: "As far as my experience goes in this matter, I think the Pear worked on the Quince only fit for a very small garden, or for orchard-houses; and it is evident only particular kinds will grow on the Quince for any length of time: others will scarcely exist, are unfit to bear fruit either in quantity or quality, and perish in the end. And if a uniform growth, fine fruit, and long-lived trees be sought for, it is better to use the Pear stock; and by judicious root-pruning, miniature trees in a productive state may be obtained equally as well as on the Quince stock; and for general purposes the Pear is to be preferred." Seeing, therefore, that the advantages of the Quince are, to say the least, doubtful, and considering that equally satisfactory and more lasting results can be obtained by using the Pear, and the mortification of seeing your trees drop off one by one, just when they are "come of age," avoided, would it be advisable to recommend it?

Most assuredly the roots of the Pear stock will penetrate deeply into the subsoil if allowed, as we have had experience, and results will be canker, cracking, and other evils; but this is simply a question of attention and labour, without which, it is admitted, we cannot succeed with the Quince. It is surprising how, by pinching and regular root-pruning, trees on the Pear stock can be dwarfed. In the end a kind of balance between the roots and branches is obtained, and there is little difficulty afterwards in keeping them in that condition, while a skilful use of the pruning-knife is all that is required to keep the trees in form.

Some years ago we found a lot of young pyramid Pear-trees here, about ten or a dozen years of age, that had run riot with their roots in the deep loamy subsoil beneath, and were making growths every year from 3 to 5 feet in length. One-half of them we root-pruned on one side only; the others we did all round, chopping the long, bare, fibrous roots through about 4 feet from the stem, and cutting a tongue on them with the knife about every 9 inches. Those which had been half done showed very little appearance of having been meddled with the following season, saving a slight decrease in the vigour of the shoots on the side which had been root-pruned. The others of course sustained a severe check, and made nothing but leaves the following summer. Since then they have been once or twice root-pruned, or lifted altogether in making some rearrangements among the trees \ and most of them have borne excellent fruit every year. Some varieties do not finish as well as could be desired, but the situation is high and cold, and unfavourable to Pears generally as standards.

By these means, and mulching with manure as much as we can afford, we keep the roots within a few inches of the surface; and when lifted, they are a mass of fibres, and more like the roots of a Box-tree than anything else. In this condition the trees are easily moved. Four men can lift a dozen of them in a short day with very little injury to the roots; and we have had excellent fruit off trees that had been transplanted the preceding winter. The trees in question are now covered with a perfect spray of flower-buds, which look, in their half-expanded condition, like a swarm of bees on the branches. We contrive, if possible, to lift about a third of the trees every autumn, and in this way we are always sure of a crop on some of them.

J. Simpson.