Messrs. Editors: I was somewhat surprised recently, on reading the American Journal of Horticulture, to find the "Edgewood farmer," a man who writes freely, if not always correctly, assert that our finer pears can not be grown with the same facility and success as the coarser and less high-flavored sorts. Without a word as. to such doctrine being consonant with the Journal in which it appears, for the editor has not even a comment, or even a word, as to its intuitive teachings backward, I will simply say that, in my experience with over five hundred different varieties of pears, and covering over twenty years of practice, the statement has no foundation in fact. I have grown Seck-els in poor soil and without cultivation, as high flavored as any ever grown by the best pomologists. I have grown Jalousie de Fontenay, Buerre d'Anjou, Buerre Su-perfin, Buerre Oris, Madelaine, Rostiezer, and many other sorts under high cultivation, on quince, and the same season on pear roots, and have had equally as fine-flavored fruits on one as the other. There are some men who write well, but all do not practice, and few have really thoughts connected with horticulture beyond the dollar-and-cent view.

If the Journal of Horticulture can not advance any better views in pomology than this writer has given, it should not have countenance of any fruitgrower. Yours, Henry F.