STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 113 



" Raspberries. — Among the black-caps, I could recommend the Doolittle and 

 McCormick, or Mammoth Cluster; and the Kirtland and Philadelphia, among Ihe red 

 ones ; the Clarke is very tender ; 1 have planted the Turner, which I found very hardy, 

 and a good grower; it is only beginning to bear, wherefore I ,am unable to say whether 

 it is a good bearer or not, but its fruit is fine and rich. 



^'Blackberries. — I have tried the Lawton and Kittatinny, and found the former 

 too tender, but the latter perfect in every respect, except for its awful spines. 



" Stratvberries. — Wilson's Albany is still the most generally cultivated ; but I had 

 to give it up because it did not stand our hot and dry summers well enough. I replaced 

 it by Green Prolific and Downers Prolific, which proved hardier and more enduring. 

 The latter is an early and the former a late variety ; both are very good bearers, of fine 

 size and good quality. I have others on trial. 



" I do not know whether you want me to say any thing about 



" Ornamental and Shade Trees. — Concerning these my experience is very limited. 

 As far as I know, the best of evergreens are the pines — Austrian, Scotch, and White 

 pines — they are the hardiest, fastest and heahhiest growers; cedars, spruces, and firs 

 do not quite as well generally, and are of a slower growth. Of deciduous trees, the 

 White maple, Sugar maple. Box elder, American linden, and elm, (particularly the 

 White) and the Silver poplar grow well, and are quite hardy and fine. Oaks and nut- 

 bearing trees are rather difficult to transplant successfully. The ashes are fine shade 

 trees, and good growers, but the foliage is too much exposed to attacks from insects. 

 One of the fastest growers is the Golden willow. 



" Grapes. — By far the most generally planted variety here is the Concord, which 

 is not without reason called "the grape for (or rather of) the million." But this last 

 season it has disappointed not a few of those who cultivate it, by rotting very badly (at 

 the rate of fifty per cent.) during and after the rainy season. I have observed that on 

 young vines, bearing their first or second crop, the fruit remained healthy, or rotted but 

 little, and the rot was worst on older vines. Of other varieties, the Telegraph, Rogers' 

 No. 2, and Maxatawney suffered about as much from this disease as the Concord. Of 

 Alvey, lona, Martha, Hartford, Herbemont,and Taylor, about one-fourth rotted. Others 

 have not suffered from rot, but greatly from mildew, such as Delaware, and Wilder, 

 whose fruit did not ripen at all ; or Goethe, only a part of it got ripe. The following 

 have proved quite healthy : Cynthiana, Norton's Virginia, Cottage, Northern Musca- 

 dine, Perkins (which bore an immense crop of rather foxy fruit, making a good Muscat 

 wine), Ives Seedling and Rulander (this is not a great bearer, and very tender). I 

 could recommend, according to the experience of the vine growers in this neighbor- 

 hood, and my own, as tolerably hardy, healthy, and good bearers : Ives, Northern Mus- 

 cadine, Martha, Mary Ann (only for a very early table grape) ; Hartford, Concord. 

 The Rogers' Hybrids are much better table grapes than these, but too tender and too 

 much subject to mildew, though they do well enough in favorable seasons. For wine 

 especially, though not bearing so large crops as the above named varieties : Alvey (not 

 quite hardy), Cynthiana, and Norton's Virginia: Herbemont and Cunningham, excellent 

 wine grapes too, are too tender, and our soil here is too rich for them ; they do not well 

 ripen their wood, and do not bear well. 



" Concerning my Seedlings, I can say : The first ones I raised were from Concord 

 seed. Among these were several bearing white fruit ; from these, I selected as the 

 best, 14 and 32, both quite hardy, good growers and bearers (not inferior in this respect 

 to Martha); bunches and berries medium size; 14 somewhat foxy, although not as 

 much so as Martha, not entirely free from rot in bad seasons like the last one, of fine 

 yellowish green color, ripe with Concord, but hanging late on the vine. 32 is of better 

 quality, has never rotted yet, berries about the size of those of Martha, of a fine golden 

 yellow color, with few seeds, very sweet and not foxy. It is an early grape, ripe about 

 the same time or directly after the Hartford, but hanging, with me, in good condition 

 till late in October, and growing sweeter from day to day. The must of both varieties 

 mixed together, showed on Oechsle's scale, 84° in 1874 Hast fall I did not make wine 

 of them.j 1 have obtained two black Concord seedlings (i and 2,j whose fruit is of 



