RUSSIAN AND OTHER FRUITS. 311 



■within the season, and resort being had to protection in winter in regions in 

 which very low temperatures are to be anticipated. 



Vitus vulpina {rotundi folia), which includes the Scuppernong, also cancli- 

 cans, cinerea, monticola, Novo Mcxicana, and rupestris, are southern species, 

 generally lacking hardiness at the north ; few if any of them having produced 

 varieties of value for northern planting. The fact that Catawba and Isabella 

 grapes, perfectly ripened in the open air at Excelsior, Minn,, on the banks of 

 Lake Minnetonka, were awarded a premium at the New Orleans Exposition, 

 was a surprise to very many, since the former especially is not, with ordinary 

 surroundings, considered sure to ripen fully north of latitude 39° or 40*^. 



That these varieties can be fully matured in the open air five or six degrees 

 further north, would indicate that the summers there are especially favorable 

 for the purpose. A visit this year to the vineyard which supplied the speci- 

 mens in question showed that it is favorably situated on dry, warm soil, slop- 

 ing rapidly to the east and south, and that the cultivation and pruning were 

 of tlie best and most effective kind, rendering the laying down and covering 

 of the plants (which is indispensable here) e&sv and effective. Under only 

 ordinary circumstances, however, many varieties were in an advanced stage 

 of ripeness, and "Minnetonka grapes" were freely offered in the markets of 

 Minneapolis and Saint Paul as early as the 18th of August. 



That there is little difference between this region and those further east, 

 so far as choice of varieties may be concerned, is clearly indicated by the fol- 

 lowing list, the relative popularity of each variety being indicated by the 

 numbers attached to each, and the varieties being those recommended in the 

 discussions of societies and the reports of committees: 



Concord, 133; Moore, 27; Worden, 27; Delaware, 12; Pocklington, 12; Martha, 

 12; Janesville, 12; Agawam, 9; Lady, 9; Cottage, 8; Brighton, 7; Salem, 6; 

 Telegraph, 6; Elvira, 6; Niagara, 5; Ives, 5; Dracut Amber, 5; Lady 

 Washington, 5; Empire State, 4; Wilder, 3; Woodruff Red, 3; Coe, 2; 

 Early Victor, 2; Perkins, 2; Vergenues, 2, Eumelan, 1; Barry, 1; Massasoit, 1; 

 Lindley,l; Champion, 1; Jessica, 1; Florence, 1; Hartford, 1; Crevelling, I; New 

 Haven, 1 ; Wyoming Red, 1 ; Northern Muscadine, 1 ; Clinton, 1 ; Marion, 

 1; Bacchus, 1; Black Hawk, 1; Black Eagle, 1 ; Beauty,^l; Red Fox, 1; El 

 Dorado, 1; Jefferson, 1; Duchess, 1; lona, 1 ; Rogers No. 33, 1. 



The impolicy of the very common pactice among the originators and intro- 

 ducers of new varieties of sending them ouc under numbers is strikingly 

 manifest in the almost universal custom in the northwest, in the discussions 

 and reports of horticultural gatherings, to continue the use of the original 

 numbers, sometimes coupled with the name, but quite frequently without 

 such accompaniment, not only greatly to the inconvenience of the hearer or 

 the reader of a report, but also with a greatly^^increased liability to error conse- 

 quent upon the use of figures. 



It would, beyond doubt, inure greatly to the convenience of all con- 

 cerned, if all societies could be induced, in cases in which names exist, to 

 resolutely exclude the numbers from their discussions, and especially from 

 the reports of their transactions. 



IHE PEAE. 



The pear of Europe and America {Pyrus commiuiis) is indigenous in 

 Europe and Asia. It 1 al early been subjected to cultivation in Syria, Egypt, 



