The article under this caption, Mr. Editor, in your February number, would, at first sight, appear to inculcate a doctrine greatly at variance with the practice of the most scientific and successful cultivators in the country, but, as I will endeavor to explain, you admit, in effect, the correctness of the theory, and, as I understand you, object to the practice itself in peculiar cases only.

You admit that "the true theory in planting Dwarf Pears is, to set them up to the point of junction when the trees are worked low, but otherwise to plant them as they stood in the nursery".

Permit me to examine the premises upon which you found the latter clause of your recommendation.

Deep planting, in the abstract, is. without doubt, one of the moat serious, and, at the same time, one of the most common evils with which transplanted trees are forced to contend; and with your remarks upon this point in regard to trees in general, I fully concur. All reason is contrary to the practice, yet it is so much less trouble to set a tree upon the bottom of a hole prepared for it, without regard to the surface of the ground, than to make the calculation necessary to bring the tree to its proper level after the earth has settled, that I have found the greatest difficulty in inducing even good and careful workmen to plant trees as I wished, without personally superintending the operation; and I have even, in some cases, obliged them to take up and re-plant trees which were too deeply set, before I succeeded in having them placed as I directed.

The principle, in general, is too well established to require argument: respecting Dwarf Pears in particular, I think that the tame principle holds good, but the practice requires, in some cases, slight modification.

Your opinion. Mr. Editor, would appear to be chiefly grounded upon your experience with trees obtained "many years ago,"and" worked from fifteen to twenty inches high." I see nothing remarkable, or adverse to the usual practice of planting "up to the junction of the Quince and Pear,"in the fact, that these trees, when so planted, refused to live and grow. I should consider it more wonderful if they had consented to do so. What tree would live for any length of time with twenty inches of its stem below the surface? No fruit-tree, certainly, that I am conversant with. I have observed several instances in this city, where a large proportion of the streets are planted with maples and elms, in which even these hardy trees - well established, and frequently of large size - have been destroyed by the "filling-in" rendered necessary by an alteration in the grade of the streets. And I had the satisfaction, a few years since, of rescuing a fine oak, of considerable size, from a like fate, by recommending to its proprietor the expediency of removing a portion of the mass of earth which bad been placed upon its roots, which he did, in the form of a large concavity, to the manifest injury of his small inclosure, but the preservation of his valuable tree.

The truth of the matter is, simply, that a Dwarf Pear "worked at twenty inches" from the ground is totally unfit for planting in any manner, or under any circumstances, unless, indeed, it were the last of its race; and I am very much mistaken if any "leading nurseryman" would, nowadays, acknowledge that he grew any such trees. "When we first planted Dwarf Pears" the case was very different, and their culture and propagation were alike misunderstood. Instances are not yet extinct of the practice, then quite common, of growing dwarf trees in standard form, all the lower branches being persistently pruned away.

I was once so unfortunate as to be interested in a lot of imported trees, of the greater part of which the heads were as high as my own - some, indeed, higher. The worst of the matter was. that most of them being double-worked at standard height, pruning them down was an impossibility. And these trees were exported not many years since either, by a nurseryman who has undoubtedly sent more trees to this country than any other in France.

Now that dwarf culture is better understood, the stocks are worked as near as possible to the ground, rarely exceeding six inches above it. (Indeed, it would be difficult to work a Quince stock of the usual size at twenty inches.) Worked in this manner, the practice of planting at the junction is unquestionably the correct one. The Quince has been proved to possess a peculiar aptitude for emitting roots from the few inches of stem which was formerly above the surface; and it being generally a plant of but three or four years' growth from the cutting, the reasons which are in general valid against planting a tree more deeply than it formerly stood, do uot in this case apply with equal force. A dwarf of proper age for removal will usually be found well furnished with roots, especially near the surface. If not previously root-pruned, there may, very probably, be from ten to twelve inches - possibly more - of stem, constituting the lower end of the cutting below the surface. A portion of this is worse than useless to the tree in the end, even if it is of some slight present benefit.

Being so far below the influence of the sun and atmosphere, as they necessarily will if the tree is planted properly in other respects, the lower roots, if not in a peculiarly dry soil, will shortly decay, (as you found to be the case, Mr. Editor, with your own trees,) and endanger, if not destroy, the life of the tree.

By amputating the stem at six or eight inches below the surface, a sufficient number of roots will generally be left to support the tree, if the branches have been properly reduced; and if then planted at the junction, new roots will almost invariably be emitted up to that point. In this way the roots are kept near the surface, where they are most needed, the health of the tree is enhanced, and any subsequent removal rendered much more feasible.

A by no means unimportant point in thus burying the stock, is its protection by that means from the borer, which, if ever so little of the Quince is above ground, will be very apt, and in some locations quite certain, to discover the fact, and effect a lodgment. Many failures which are attributed to other causes are undoubtedly owing, in reality, to the depredations of this insect; for, having once effected an entrance, he labors in safety from any but the most careful examination, the perforations, when near the surface, and the inconsiderable excretions, being, perhaps, concealed from a passing glance, by the swelling commonly arising at the union of the Pear and Quince.

It is somewhat singular that, while the insect rarely perforates the hark of the Pear, he is by no means averse to preying upon its wood, after he has safely reached the interior of the stem through the Quince. Working directly upward, he, in some cases, as I have discovered in amputating in order to graft, reaches a point five feet or more from the ground. How are we to attack an enemy thus securely entrenched? I scarcely think that either the " barbed wire,*' which is frequently effectual, or any other generally known remedy, would apply to such a case. Jno. B. Eaton.

[We are glad Mr. Eaton took a second Bight at our Pear article, and got at our real meaning, for we should be sorry to be classed among any but those who go in for improved culture. In most respects he confirms the points we made. We regard deep planting in the abstract and in all respects a great evil, and can not perceive why an exception should be made in favor of the Dwarf Pear. If there is any good reason for it, we have yet to be convinced. We know that the Quince will throw out roots from the stock when buried in the ground, and so stated; but this can hardly be used as a legitimate argument in favor of deep planting, when we know that while these new roots are being made, the tree often becomes diseased and dies.

Mr. Eaton is quite mistaken in supposing our opinions are chiefly based upon our experience with trees obtained " many years ago." We cited that case as a matter of convenience, but stated that we had frequently seen it verified since; and though he wonders at it, he almost immediately cites an analogous case himself. Now we will state, for Mr. Eaton's information, that since "many years ago," we have planted many hundreds of Dwarf Pears, and have seen thousands more on the grounds of our friends; we have been a somewhat close observer, and have seen very many such cases as we speak of in our Pear article. From experiments which we have made with some of these, we have no doubt at all that, in the majority "of cases, deep planting was the chief cause of the diseased condition of the trees. We have already stated that we prefer to plant up to the "junction" when it can be properly done, because we think the Dwarf Pear is longer lived when thus planted; but we can not ignore the fact, that the Dwarf Pear will grow vigorously and produce abundant crops of fine fruit with the quince stock several inches out of ground.

The pears that for several years past have taken most of the first prizes for specimens at our Horticultural exhibitions in New York, were grown on trees with from two to six inches of the quince stock above ground; and this is not a singular instance. We say nothing here about culture; we simply allude to facts within our knowledge; and it is because of such facts that we recommend Dwarf Pears to be planted as they stood in the nursery when they are worked too high to be properly planted up to the "junction." In deep planting, the chance of success decreases with the age of the tree.

Mr. Eaton seems to think that high-worked trees are not now to be found; but in this he is wrong. We already have an acknowledgment from one large grower, that he is "convinced he works his trees too high." We do not say or intimate In any way whatever, that leading and intelligent nurserymen now work their trees fifteen or twenty inches high; we know many of them, and are familiar with their stock, and readily admit that their Pears are mostly worked at what may be called a reasonable height; but we do say, of our own personal knowledge, broadly, flatly, and emphatically, that hundreds and hundreds of trees, worked from six to twelve inches high, are annually sold; they are planted deep, often fail, and throw discredit on Dwarf Pear culture. That is all plain enough to us; and we can not help thinking, in view of our own experience, and all we have heard on the subject pro and con, that the success of Dwarf Pear culture would have been immensely greater if trees had never been worked more than two or three inches high; reasonable success, however, ought to be met with when they are worked even four or five. In our second article on Dwarf Pears, we have named five inches as the maximum height; we at first wrote it lower, and are almost sorry we altered it.

What we wish is simply this: that in recommending the planting of Dwarf Pears, a caution shall be added in the case of high-worked trees. This we conceive to be reasonable and proper. It may not be necessary in the case of Mr. Eaton or the Editor of the Horticulturist, but it is in the cases of thousands of others. - ED].