Tut, tut, gentlemen. This Orange Pear, if it has any merit, will take care of itself. It used to be a pretty good fruit over in Jersey, in old times; and I should be sorry to learn that it had lost either its good manners, or good qualities in Buffalo. I've been thinking that some of these ipse-dixits of the apple conventions would mil out one of these days. It always was, and I fancy it always will be the case, that poet-Its* gentlemen will be mistaken in their opinions once in a while. Let us have the pear baked and preserved, the first " done brown," and the other " transparent;" and if you Will suffer me to be the judge, you shall have one honest judgment, to say the least of it.

Those Grand-Island orchards I should like to see. I hobble out to Niagara once in four or five years, sad if the swimming is good - for I dont suppose you have any ferries in that wild country - I may try to get over there and take a look at them. I beg of you, both Col. Hodge and Mr. ALLEN, not to be afraid of planting, for when our two belligerent parties of the statelet the enlarged Erie canal fairly dug out, the eastern markets will be ready for them.

The Orange Pear - Large Orchards Near Niagara

A. J. Downing, Esq. - It is quite possible that the readers of the Horticulturist will demand at my hands, some explanation in relation to the Orange Pear, so pathetically alluded to by my friend Allen, in the March number of the Horticulturist. Well, I am at all times ready to make the amende honorable, and more particularly so, when one of my good friends seem to demand it. Now Mr. A. and myself partake something of the character of the legal profession; we speak and write rather pointedly, sometimes; a little sparring occasionally. But it is merely the spice of life, very like the Paddy and his wife - "a little bit of a jar now and then, makes as better friends".

But I must give the history of this Orange Pear. It was introduced here some forty years ago, by an " itinerant" grafting man. And here I must be permitted to tell a short story. The man had engaged to set a few apple scions for my father, and when the job was about completed, he said, would you like to have a few pear scions set? " No," says my father, (then about 55 years old,) " I never shall live to see them bear." " But," says the man, " perhaps some of your children may." Well, a few pear scions were set in the roots of the common thorn. Three of these grew, and in time become stately trees. Two of them were the Orange Pear, and the other the " Autumn Pear." The Autumn Pear proved to be very good, of medium size, and one of the most productive I ever saw. My father died in the winter of 1837, and in the autumn previous, he gathered from that one tree, thirty-five bushels of pears, which he sold at one dollar per bushel. The two Orange pear trees also, soon become very productive. I purchased a part of the estate, including one of the Orange pear trees. The other stood only some three feet from ray line. I offered $100 for the tree, with a line of a rod square of land around it, during the life of the. tree. My offer was rejected.

Well, the trees produced fine crops, and the fruit was then " the best in the market." Two of these noble trees yet survive, and it does one good to look at them. The Autumn pear tree has produced forty bushels of pears in a season. But my poor Orange pear tree has since died. In the autumn I noticed that the leaves seemed to be drooping, as though suffering from drouth. As the ground was very moist at the time, I could not account for the appearance of the tree. The next spring it put forth its leaves, and seemed to be as vigorous as ever, but before midsummer it withered away, and was dead, root and branch. Was this fire blight? It was a great loss, and I would almost apply to myself, the pathetic lines quoted by Mr. Allen - " I never nursed a dear Gazelle, etc".

But I have wandered from the main subject. But no matter. These two varieties of the pear, with a few others of less worth, were all that we had in cultivation. So some thirty years ago - when I first commenced the nursery business here - we propagated them to considerable extent, and sold them too as " one of the best sorts." Then we knew nothing about such pears as the Bartlett, Seckcl, White Doyenne, Louise Bonne de Jersey, Bloodgood, Madaleine, Stevens' Genesee, etc, all of which, together with many more, I have " fancied," were far superior to the Orange Pear.

In September, 1848, Mr. A. presented this pear before the Penological Congress, then assembled in Buffalo; not merely the fruit, then in perfection, but also a fine dish of preserves, which all present had an opportunity of tasting. The subject was debated, and it is presumed that all were of the opinion, that the pear would " absorb sugar perfectly and abundantly," in the same way that a dry sponge will absorb more water -than a wet ode. Several gentlemen had expressed their opinion, not very complimentary, to the good qualities of the pear. In this crisis, my friend Allen arose, and said he wished to hear from Mr. Hodge on the subject. Of course, Mr. H. being thus publicly called on, must take the floor; and it has been said that "this speech killed it stone dead." Perhaps I was wrong in comparing the pear to the choke cherry or to the common wild cherry. Indeed, I now acknowlege that neither of them are analagous. I ought to have compared it to the common Morello cherry. It would certainly have given me pleasure to have helped the matter along.

And I can most cheerfully subscribe to most of the good qualities given to it by my friend Allen. He says "that for preserving purposes, it has no equal, and that repeated juries of ladies have settled this question." To this I must be permitted to take exceptions: and I move the court for a new trial, on the ground that these juries have not been regularly impanelled, that the testimony was merely exparte, and also on the ground, that the presiding judge, has not only been partial in his charge to the jury, but also, that he was an interested party. Let a new trial be had, and it can readily be shown, that no dry or yellow fleshed pear will compare favorably, with the rich juicy white fleshed pear. The latter when preserved becomes almost transparent, beautiful to the eye, and of superior flavor. The Orange Pear is well enough; much like the Dutchman's bank note, not very good or very bad, but about so-so. The tree is a strong, hardy grower, and very productive, and " a good market fruit." By the way, my friend A. says that this Inst expression means, "good to sell to people that don't know any better".

It is to be presumed, that no one will contend, that the proceedings and decisions of our Pomologies! Congress, have always been infallible. Far from it. Let me state an instnnce in which, in my opinion, injustice was done. The Brown Beurre pear was brought up for discussion. Its merits and demerits pretty fully discussed, when one of our Pomological Doctors, (L. F. A.,) "moved that it be considered as unworthy of cultivation." This done, killed it outright. Mr. A. has since cultivated this fruit more successfully, and now thinks well of it. Indeed, I was much gratified to read his remarks on this fruit; they perfectly coincide with my own. Mr. A. is a good cultivator, a discerning pomologist, and a vigorous writer. His remarks on fruit, etc, in the March number of the Horticulturist, I like very well. (Doubtless, just as he will like mine).

Mr. Allen has a fine farm of near one thousand acres of land, on the head of Grand Island, in the Niagara river. Here he has fine orchards of the apple, pear, cherry, etc. Some four years since, I also purchased two hundred acres of land on the foot of the Island, near the Falls of Niagara. For two or three years past I have been planting out pretty largely of the peach, pear, apple, Ac. I had anticipated having, in a few years, one of the largest orchards in Western New-York, but somehow, of late, a new impulse has been given to the orchard on the upper end of the Island, and it now covers no less than seventy acres, and is rapidly increasing - whether the Orange Pear controversy has had any agency in this matter I cannot say.

Mr. A. and myself are pretty uniform in our opinion, as regards fruit for cultivation, (the Orange Pear always excepted.) For our main stock of winter apples, we have the Baldwin, Northern Spy, and Roxbury Russet. For autumn, the Porter, Fall Pippin and Fameuse. For early, Early Harvest, Williams' Favorite, and large Sweet Bough. Beside these, we cultirate quite a number of other sorts sparingly. Pears, also, comparatively but few varieties, to wit: Bartlett, Seckel, Bloodgood, Madeleine, Tyson, Louise Bonne de Jersey, White Doyenne, Stevens' Genesee, Duchess d'Angouleme, Beurre Diel, Glout Morceau, Winter Nelis, Beurre Easter, Ac.

I hope to be able to grow the peach successfully. " Peach Haven" has a northern exposure; the forests adjoining break off the cold westerly winds. For the main crop, I have Crawford's Early; more of this than any other variety. Early York, Honest John, Royal George, Grosse Mignone, Late Red Rareripe, Crawford's Late, Ac. We had a few sum-pies of peaches last year, that looked about right. Mr. Allen bad a fine sprinkling of apples on his trees last autumn; more beautiful ,fruit I never saw. The Porter and Northern Spy Apples were truly fine. We have no fears in regard to growing the Northern Spy on the Island. Our Boston folks say that it does not succeed well there. Well, then we will lay them under contribution to us - for it is truly the apple for the spring of the year, and they cannot afford to do without it.

We have had one of the most extraordinary cold winters ever known here, during a residence of over forty years. I am quite certain that I never passed through one more severe; and yet the peach buds are but partially killed. The Cedar of Lebanon and the Cedar Deodar, are but little injured; and even the Osase Orange has merely suffered a little in the top branches. We have had continuous cold weather, and most of the time cloudy. It is the freezing and thawing, accompanied by the rays of a bright sun, that proves so destructive to tender trees and plants. Tours very truly, B. HODGE.

Buffalo, March, 1852.