32 



ORCHARD FRUIT CULTURE. 



The head or truss should be of a com- 

 pact globular form, containing not less 

 than seven fully expanded flowers, each 

 flower being the same size, and possessing 

 the same properties. 



The tube, or centre, should be perfectly 

 round, of a rich yellow colour. The an- 

 thers should be bold, and fill the tube well. 

 The tube should terminate rather above 

 the eye. The eye should form a perfect 

 circle of pure white ; clean on its edges, 

 free from blemishes, and quite distinct 

 from the ground colour. 



The ground colour should be bold and 

 rich, forming a perfect circle round the 

 eye. A dark purple, or a brown, contrast- 

 ing well with the eye, and forming a band 

 all around it. It ought to join this margin 

 with a regular, feathery edge, equal all 

 round, but never running into the colours 

 of the rim or margin. 



The margin, or outer circle, should be a 



dark green or gray. The breadth of this 

 should be in proportion to the ground 

 colour, as the ground and the margin 

 form the principal attraction of the flower. 

 They ought to be well contrasted,, and of 

 an equal width, — each circle occupying 

 half the diameter of the corolla. 



Those flowers having a dark purple,, or 

 bright red, or scarlet, or deep crimson 

 ground, are universally considered as the 

 finest flowers. Yet, the flowers may pos- 

 sess some of these colours,, and otherwise 

 be very imperfect. Flowers possessing 

 these colours, however, although not equal 

 to this criterion, are frequently very pretty,. 

 and are generally much admired ;. and 

 what every one admires, I hardly think we 

 are justified in condemning,, by a rigid ad- 

 herence to any standard of floral judgment. 

 Rob't Leuchars, 

 Gardener to Professor &illiman f jr. 

 New-Haven, Conn-, June, 1849. 



EXPERIENCES IN ORCHARD FRUIT CULTURE, 



BY L. P. ALLEN, BUFFALO, N. Y. 



Editor of the Horticulturist — In pe- 

 rusing the many articles which have ap- 

 peared in your journal, on the cultivation 

 of the different varieties of fruits, and the 

 modes and results of such cultivation, I 

 find myself frequently at fault in drawing 

 my conclusions of the utility of the methods 

 of cultivation, and varieties of fruit, adapt- 

 ed, by the entire lack of information as to 

 the particular locality, climate, altitude, 

 and soils of the places where such fruits 

 are cultivated ; and so widely do these dif- 

 ferent elements, which enter into the fruit 

 culture of the United States, influence 

 them, that I can find little satisfactory 

 data for my own government from the re- 



corded experience, or opinions of others. 

 On comparing notes with pomologists from 

 the diffeient states, and from different parts 

 of each state, we find that individual opi- 

 nions also vary greatly as to the relative 

 value and quality of different varieties in 

 all our fruits, the causes of which, one is 

 altogether unable to reconcile, without a 

 distinct knowledge of the above named ac- 

 cessaries, which so largely influence their 

 production. A desideratum of this kind 

 should enter into the discussions of all po- 

 mological meetings and conventions, be- 

 cause without the attendant influences of 

 soil, climate, locality, and altitude, being 

 distinctly understood, any decisions or re- 



