WE give this month another extract from Diel. His treatment of the Pear is less elaborate than that of the apple, but is by no means devoid of interest. His views in the main are sound and practical, though we do not endorse every thing he says. His remarks are as follows:

Although every pomologist knows that many varieties of the Pear set fruit much easier and earlier than apples, especially Buerre Gris and Beurre Blanc, and nearly all kinds of Bergamotte; as, for instance, the very fruitful and excellent Bergamotte Cadette and many others, the quince tree is so generally accepted as the proper stock for dwarf pear trees, that experience may be said to speak too loud against seedlings. I have myself seen many pear pyramids on seedlings, which bore abundantly, but has every amateur gardens like those at Harbke, that the size of the garden, with the size of the pyramid, may melt away in proportional harmony 1

Von Munchhausen holds then, with much justice, that a careful selection of seedlings from weak-growing varieties, in which Plenne believes to have discovered the secret, is still very precarious, and likely to disappoint If, therefore, you do not want to have in a private garden of perhaps only half an acre in extent, pear pyramids, that might be taken for fir trees, the quince remains our only refuge, to obtain beautiful dwarf trees of the so highly-prized pear, that will soon bear, and whose size will be proportionable to the common size of private gardens.

From this it is clear that the quince is absolutely necessary for pot trees, for its capacity of root has so much similarity to that of the paradise apple that it may be in the same degree enlarged and checked to maintain the trees for a long time healthy and fruitful.

The quince holds the middle between a shrub and a tree. It grows slow and has no tap root, but only strong bracing roots, which grow slanting down in the ground, and besides a forest of fine feeding roots. Because of the absence of a tap root it can never be used for full standards. Every gale is their grave. But they make half standards, which by their shape, like large orange trees, are as magnificent as they are unsurpassed in fruitfulness.

Its propagation is by suckers, which in nurseries are multiplied a thousand fold by art. To propagate it by cuttings is, as with the paradise apple, hardly worth the trouble.

The sucker of the quince, then, is the true subject for pears in pots. The beauty of the pear tree in the pot surpasses that of the apple tree by far, by the exquisite glossy green of most pear trees; only the latter bears generally more abundantly, but the pear tree blossoms the more richly.

Ordinarily quince suckers have originally many fine feeding roots close under the surface of the ground. These are, as with the paradise stock, cut back, and the main root left only three inches. Often this is originally not even so long. If we plant such a sucker in moist, somewhat shaded ground, where the sun shines only half of the day, it makes, in one single season, a whole forest of roots, and requires no second transplanting to prepare it for the pot.

The most suitable mode of grafting the quince is budding; but because of its great abundance of roots it is still less suited to be potted before grafting than the paradise stock.

The quince tree becomes easily cankerous when wounded. A phenomenon that might almost be set down as a law of nature for all shrubs that propagate themselves by suckers. Therefore, when quince stocks have been budded it is a very necessary precaution, not, as many gardeners are in the habit of doing, when cut-ting off the stock in spring, before the bud pinches, to leave a few inches of the stock above the bud, but to cut it off slanting, close to the bud. If this is neglected we have not only to wound the tree twice, but the stump left often dies down in the shape of a triangle below and opposite the bud, so that we must be a long time healing the damage, or have a crippled tree. Nevertheless, this procedure is as common as it is unpardonable. Not a single reason can be found to justify this method, and the first growth of the bud must thereby even necessarily become crooked. Van Wilke denounces this practice with all justice.

Budding the quince for pot trees should be done as near the ground as possible. As general as this rule is in any case, because the quince stock must always come entirely in the ground, it is still more necessary for us, because we can not plant the tree more than three to four inches deep in the pot. Some varieties of the pear, however, do not succeed well on the quince. This is the common testimony of all books of instruction. Some pine away on it, as, for instance, Bon Chretien d'Auch or Beurre Dore sans Pepins, Bon Chretien d'Ete, etc Of some it is said the fruit becomes stony, and some are said not to take at all on the quince; for instance, Rouselette d'Anjou. As a general maxim, it has been set down, that the following three classes of pears are not fit for the quince. First, all those that are naturally apt to be stony. Secondly, all those of which the flesh is not juicy; and thirdly, those with short, crisp flesh, (chair cassante.) The belief is, that when pears with the above qualities are grafted on quince, their natural faults are made worse.

On the other hand, it is also generally conceded that all juicy, buttery pears, (beurres,) and all bergamottes are well suited to the quince.

In all these dogmas, however, as in many other things concerning pomology, there is much that is one-sided, uncertain, and evidently contrary to experience. But from this uncertainty, experiments with trees in pots might relieve us speedily, and with ease and certainty. Here we have the same soil, exposure, and moisture under our control, and without any deceit the truth would soon appear whether the quince stock changed a pear only accidentally or essentially, and what kinds languish on it or do not live at all.

Many pomologists defend the quince, as I do myself, from manifold experience. But to be quite sure of the quality of a pear, and yet to use nothing but quince stocks for my pot trees, I proceed, since a few years, in the following way: I bud small quince stocks with the White Butter Pear, (Beurre Blanc,) which never fails. On the shoot of the Butter Pear I graft, at the proper height for a pot tree, those varieties whose nature is yet unknown to me, and may so be sure to learn their true qualities. This mediator is, in fact, the very best means of correcting the too heterogeneous sap of the quince for capricious pears. By this artifice we are therefore enabled to raise all varieties of the pear on quince, and soon to enjoy an abundance of their fruit.

This so-called double grafting, little as Hirschfeld, without having tried it, is in its favor, deserves certainly further trials, even if we gain nothing by it, but to have it in our power to raise all varieties of the pear, in their natural qualities, on the quince, and so to curb their growth, which, even in the feeblest seedling will be much more impetuous. If Epargne, Ban Chretien d'Ete, Orange Tulipee, etc., are grafted on Sucre Verd or Beurre Blanc, which are budded on quince, they make the finest and most fruitful dwarf trees.

Of the quince we have two distinct species - not merely varieties - the pear quince and the apple quince. They are distinct by their fruit and foliage. According to my experience, the apple quince is not well suited as a stock for the pear, and it may be that many complaints are founded in the fact that both kinds are indiscriminately used. It is well settled that the pear quince of Portugal is the best for stocks; the pear, however, succeeds also admirably on our common pear quince. The French call the latter the female, the apple quince the male.*

Pear on apple does not succeed, and still more foolish would it be, possessing the paradise stock, to graft the apple on the quince.

Since last year, (1799,) however, I have by accident been led to make experiments, which, perhaps, merit the full attention of pomologists, and which, I would beg every one to imitate, in order soon to arrive at a certain result, namely: to graft the pear on the paradise stock.

I received from a friend several apple scions, and by mistake pear scions with an apple name. The pear scions looked strange to me, and in this uncertainty I grafted two paradise stocks and two pear seedlings with them. As soon as they pushed, I saw that they were certainly pears, but I was astonished to see them take so well on the paradise stock.

The idea that pears, especially the coarse stony kinds, must be much improved on the sweet paradise stock, quickened the desire in me to make more trials with them. This spring I have therefore grafted eight paradise stocks with Col mars, Passatutti, Volkmarser, and Prateau Gris. All throve admirably, and the two trees of last year, with the unknown pear, have now (July) such crowns, that I can put them in pots next spring, when I shall soon see the result.