MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 233 



HORTICULTURAL GOSSIP. 



From the Rural New Yorker. 



Bulletin No. 88 of the Michigan Experiment Station contains the 

 report of Mr. T. T. Lyon, and is interesting reading for the horticul- 

 turist who aims to keep abreast of the times. The report covers his 

 observations on 150 varieties of strawberries, and in his summing up 

 he makes the following recommendations: For a family plantation, 

 Alpha, Beder wood, Cumberland, Parker Earle and Gandy ; for mar- 

 ket, Crescent, Enhance, Bubach, Parker Earle and Warfield. Parker 

 Earle seems to be the most productive, while Sharpless lacks in this 

 direction. May King and Phelps (Old Iron-clad) are rated as good 

 pollenizers, which accords with my experience. The Jessie " fails to 

 meet expectations," while Wolverton, Townsend No. 19, Stayman No. 

 2, Stayman No. 1, Miami, Louise, Great Pacific, Gem, Engle No. 1 and 

 Barton Eclipse are rated as " promising." It is strange that Crescent 

 still gets honorable mention. Its fruit is always small and always poor, 

 but it is productive and hardy. Despite these latter qualifications, we 

 doubt if it is a profitable berry to grow, because it cannot bring good 

 prices in the markets. 



Among raspberries [Buhns Strigosus), Cuthbert, Golden Queen 

 and Marlboro are rated at the head of the list for productiveness, with 

 Brandywine and Hansell second and Reder and Turner third. For a 

 family plot of black-caps, he recommends Palmer, Hilborn, with Ear- 

 hart for an autumn crop and Shaffer or Muskingum for canning. In 

 reds and yellows for the family he recommends Hansell, Herstine, 

 Cuthbert and Golden Queen. For market in reds he names Marlboro 

 and Cuthbert, and in blacks. Palmer, Gregg and Shaffer for canning. 



Mr. Lyon's notes on graper and other fruits are of special interest, 

 and readers should secure the bulletin if possible. Of asparagus, he 

 says : " Of the six varieties of asparagus planted in the spring of 1890, 

 the Palmetto has steadily maintained its superior size and productive- 

 ness. The plant being dioicious, and therefore every seed a cross, the 

 necessary inference' would seem to be that the variety may have ac- 

 quired its apparent fixity through the process of selection. Be this as 

 it may, its obvious superiority in size renders it worthy of a leading 

 position as a profitable variety." 



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