300 



STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Quinces hav'e fruited much less freely than usual the past season, due appar- 

 ently to the frost of the morning of May 21, at which time the plants were in 

 bloom. 



Quality being a somewliat variable characteristic, dependent upon peculiarity 

 of the season, and the more or less perfect development of the fruit, the grading 

 given in the following table will be liable to modification in other and more favor- 

 able seasons. 



QUINCES (Cydonia). 





Name. 



Alaska 



Champion. 

 Faller. 



Meech i 1888 



Miesoari (Mam.) 1890 



Orange 



Rea 



Van Deman . 



?2 





Alaska, as the name may be supposed to indicate, is alleged to be especially hardy. 

 As yet it is but imperfectly tested here. 



Champion is an early and prolific bearer, but ripens rather late for this latitude, 

 especially in unfavorable seasons. 



Meech so far has in no sense shown itself superior to older, well-known varieties. 



Missouri (Mam.), as tested here, differs but slightly, if at all, from the old well- 

 known Orange quince, which still is without an equal, everything considered. 



NUTS. 



Almonds (Amygdalus communis) are represented here by Luelling, a hard-shell 

 variety, and also by one received as Soft-shell, neither of which has yet shown 

 fruit. 



Chestnuts (Castanea). Hathaway bloomed July 12, and Ridgley and Numbo 

 each produced catkins but neither of them produced fruit. 



Paragon has produced a heavy crop of nuts, which were smaller than usual, 

 probably by reason of the severe drouth. It bloomed July 1 and ripened in 

 advance of frost. 



Spanish chestnut also bloomed and ripened at the above dates. 



Kentish Cob Filbert has produced catkins the past two years, but has not yet 

 shown fruit. 



Japan Walnut (Juglans Seiboldii), bloomed July 11, but the young germs were 

 badly injured by frost so that only a very few survived, which matured and 

 dropped with the first killing frost. 



ASPARAGUS (Asparagus officinalis). 



Three varieties of asparagus, Barr, Conover, and Palmetto, have been on trial 

 since 1890, of which Palmetto has been found the most desirable. A more recent 

 variety, the Columbian Mammoth »Vhite, of which seed was planted in 1894, is 

 promising, but requires another year or two for a complete test. 



RHUBARB (Rheum raponticum). 



In out-of-door culture, none of the so-called early varieties tested here have 

 proved perceptibly earlier than Linnceus, which still maintains a leading position. 



A new variety received two years ago from S. S. Bailey of Kent county, is of 

 large size and excellent quality, with distinct dark-green foliage. It is worthy 

 of extensive trial. 



