"B. F.": We do not know that there is any good to be gained by " inviting the opinions of eminent men " on the quality of this fruit, for, as we have recently noted, their opinions must necessarily vary according to their facilities for managing the fruit. It is certain that much depends on management. So far as the Kieffer pear is concerned, it is well known, on the testimony of a very able fruit committee at the Centennial Exposition, that the fruit exhibited there by Mr. Kieffer himself were absolutely delicious in every sense of the word, and the award to him was made solely on account of the delicious quality and the beauty of the fruit. No one could have a word to say against the "opinion" of this eminent committee. On the other hand, other growers equally as eminent have had fruit before them which we have just as good reason to believe were absolutely worthless; but these pears had not been managed by Mr. Kieffer. Of what use then are further "opinions?" It is not only on this pear, but on every fruit, that opinions of eminent men will vary according as they know how to manage the special idiosyncra-cies of a fruit or not.

For instance, most of the German-Pennsylvania farmers will assert that there is no better table apple than the Smokehouse. For our part we know that we have tasted a Smokehouse apple which was as delicious in flavor as any apple we ever tasted. Yet so eminent an authority as Charles Downing, in his large edition of " Fruits and Fruit Trees of America," says that it has only culinary value.

We are satisfied that while soil and climate have a great deal to do with the character of a fruit, the grower's own skill or facilities in the proper management of a fruit after nature has done her part has much to do with starting its reputation.