Br request I willingly give you the information concerning my pear-trees, so far as I am able.

The pears I sent you were grown upon dwarf trees seven years old, that have now produced full crops for the last three years. The trees were grafted upon the orange quince, in the spring of 1853, and transplanted into my vegetable garden in the spring of 1854 in the following manner:

1 excavated the earth in holes about two feet square, and the same depth; filled these holes up to within about six inches of the top with a compost of equal quantities of vegetable mould, refuse from a smith's forge, and well-rotted stable manure. On this I set the trees just so that the junction would be beneath the surface, and filled the remainder, that is, around the roots, with surface soil, taking pains that the roots should be distributed evenly and horizontally.

They were planted just ten feet apart on one side of the walks, and after setting out, I cut them back to about eighteen inches. For the first year, I simply rubbed or pinched off all except about three or four buds nearest the top, intending to make the most erect branch a leader in some cases, and in others to prune in the form of a large and deep vase.

The second year I had but little pruning to do, except when I had leisure. At any time when I saw a cross-shoot, or one that was likely to be so, I either pinched it or cut it off. Since that time I have seldom used the knife upon them, except to supply my friends with cuttings; in such cases, yon know, we generally take young shoots.

I never thin out fruit of any kind, but let the trees bear as many as they will. I frequently use props or forks under the branches, to keep them from breaking under their burden.

A friend of mine counted on a branch of a Washington tree seventy-five pears, and the branch was not over one inch in diameter. I have on one or two occasions, when one of these trees should be slow to bear, cut the main branches severely in the month of July, or root pruned in the same season, but only in two cases that I now remember.

Most of my dwarf pear-trees are branched from very near the roots, not having trunks more than from four to twelve inches in length. The trees are now from seven to fifteen feet in height, and the stems or trunks now from five to seven inches in diameter, with large and spreading heads.

The soil is naturally a rather weak sandy loam, with a clay subsoil. In this case the clay is within ten or twelve inches of the surface, but the subsoil is dry. This region is slightly undulating, but not hilly; about the intermediate line between the sea-coast and the hilly regions of our state. The Pinus palustris, or pitch-pine, is the chief growth on the level lands. On the swamps a much richer growth. I do not exactly know the elevation above tide-water, having no barometer in our town, but I think I have been informed that we are about two hundred and thirty feet above.

Manure does well upon our lands, and I am sure that much of my success in raising pears is from their situation, where they receive clean culture and plenty of manure. I have trenched my garden as deep as eighteen inches, and filled the trenches with dry muck and stable manure. The trenching was done four years ago. Since then I have given a fine top dressing to it every winter, which has been hoed or plowed in the following February.

I once used guano and night-soil on this garden; either of these is too strong for dwarf trees, and I lost several with blight that year. I have a friend that uses quantities of guano every year, (as he is a market gardener,) and every dwarf pear in his garden either dies entirely, or shows signs of blight. I think a good top dressing of night-soil, composted or not, will kill any dwarf pear-tree in this region, and a good dressing of guano will do the same. This may be a mistake of mine, but I firmly believe it, and I think blight can as frequently be accounted for in this way as in any other. Bad management, unhealthy manures, any where in the vicinity, cause blight. You may consider it egotistical if you like, but I can not refrain from saying that last year I gathered from one tree of the Beurre Diel pear one hundred and seventy-one pears that would average from ten to twelve ounces each, and the tree is not more than seven feet high. This year, from a tree of about the same size, I gathered ever three hundred Seckels, one of which I sent you, but not the largest.

[We have to thank you, Doctor, for the valuable information contained m ,your article. Your trees were well planted, and in a most excellent compost. The vegetable mould we are not surprised to find in your compost, for we had already expressed the conviction to Dr. Grant, that you had used it largely in growing such pears as you sent us. If you have read any of our pear articles, you will have found that we give vegetable mould a leading place; you could have used nothing better. Your summer pruning is judicious, and done at the right time; and we approve your plan of branching the tree near the ground. Your location we judge to be an excellent one for both the pear and the grape: we gather many useful hints from it. You will do well to let guano alone; we have taken frequent occasion to discourage its use, for we believe it to have done more harm than good, especially in inexperienced hands. We had supposed that you thinned the fruit freely in order to produce the beautiful specimens you sent us, and are surprised to learn that you do not You must be careful not to carry your indulgence too far, for there is danger of impairing the constitutional vigor of your trees.

Now if you get such results without thinning, what may you not do with it? Try it next year on a portion of your trees, and let us know the result. - Ed].