18T7.] 



AND HORTIGULTURIST. 



19 



kept a year longer. Then there is the Swazie 

 Pomme Gris, quite as good as its original, and 

 this is surely saying a good deal. And lastly there 

 is a seedling from the Spitzenburg, rather round- 

 er, a little darker and firmer fleshed than its 

 parent, and may prove superior on the whole. 

 This is raised by Mr. Ed. Blogdon, East Flam- 

 boro, Canada, but the specimens were kindly 

 sent to us by Mr. John Freed, of Hamilton. 



St. Augustine Grape. — At the Centennial Ex- 

 position were some bunches of this variety,about 

 which the following appears in the Semi-tropical. 

 There is no doubt about its being a native grape, 

 in many respects approaching the old Elsinburg, 

 if the specimens were accurately labeled : 



" From Dr. Davis' article on the St. Augustine 

 Grape, Messrs. Bush, Son & Meissner, of Bush- 

 berg, Missouri, were led to inquire whether it 

 might not be identical with the Black Spanish, 

 which is now in demand for exportation. We 

 referred the inquiry to Mr. Atwood, of St. Au- 

 giastine, whose knowledge and experience in 

 grape culture qualify him to determine, and we 

 received the following reply : 



" 'The St. Augustine and Black Spanish grape 

 are not identical ; the former is nearly a month 

 later than the latter and a vastly superior grape; 

 indeed T doubt if there ever was a finer grape 

 grown than the St. Augustine; they are truly 

 bags of wine — the seeds so small and the pulp so 

 melting that it seems almost like a seedless 

 grape ; while with the Black Spanish the first 

 thing one notices in eating it is its preponderance 

 of seeds in proportion to its pulp. I doubt if the 

 true origin of either of these grapes is known, 

 only that tradition says the St. Augustine ' was 

 brought from Madeira in old Spanish times.' I 

 have repeatedly thought that I had eaten these 

 grapes in the island of Madeira and still think 

 so, though I dare not trust a very positive ex- 

 pression on this subject, as it was more than 

 twenty-six years since I was there, and then I 

 knew very little comparatively about the quality 

 of the different varieties of what would be called 

 fine grapes. Since then, however, I have propa- 

 gated a great many varieties of grapes, and to the 

 extent of perhaps ten acres, but among all these 

 and all the grapes produced by others that have 

 come under my observation, none have equalled 

 in quality those of the St. Augustine grape.' " 



The James Veitch Strawberry. — A Yorkshire 

 Cf rrespondent of the Garden, Mr. Lovel, Wea- 

 ^orthorpe, says that among forty varieties of 



strawberries which he grew last year, the largest 

 was James Veitch, eight fruits of w'hich weighed 

 1 ft). This season it took from seventeen to eigh- 

 teen to weigh 1 lb., a result partly owing to the 

 cold, frosty weather which we had in May and 

 June ; so severe, indeed, was the frost in June, 

 that all the earliest bloom was destroyed. The 

 large fruits gathered in 1875 were Cockscomb- 

 shaped, not those of a globular or conical form, 

 which is the normal shape of this variety. He 

 noticed also in these large strawberries a great 

 tendency to decay if in contact with the damp 

 soil. He has gathered during the past season 

 very fine and large fruit from Dr. Hogg, Presi- 

 dent, and Sir Joseph Paxton, all first season 

 plants. Many of the finest fruit of these kinds- 

 weighed nearly 1 oz. each. He considers these 

 three varieties superior in many respects to 

 James Veitch, especially as regards quantity and 

 quality of fruit. 



Stump Apple. — At the Horticultural Meeting 

 held in Rochester, January, 187G, President 

 Barry said that there is an apple known as the 

 Stump Apple, that is attracting much attention 

 — an oblong, brilliantly colored fruit, like the 

 Chenango Strawberry, very attractive, and sells- 

 high in market; has been sold as high as $8.00' 

 per barrel the past season. It ripens in October. 

 J. S. Stone, of Charlotte, N. Y., in describing the- 

 tree which he visited says : "The fruit hung in 

 ropes, and was uniform in size and apparently 

 free from imperfections. Ten barrels were picked 

 from the tree which was not a large one." 



" Olivet " Cherry.— S. P. W., Dansville, N. Y., 

 says : "The 'Olivet' takes a place not occupied up 

 to the present time among the list of early cher- 

 ries in central New York. Nearly all of the early 

 sorts, that we possess, are sweet, amber, or red 

 varieties with a limited fruiting season. The 

 'Olivet' Cherry is a large, globular and very shi- 

 ning deep red sort. The flesh is red, with a rose 

 colored juice, tender, rich and vinous, with a 

 sweet sub-acidous flavor. It ripens in the begin- 

 ning of June and continues till July without 

 losing its quality. It possesses the fertility of the 

 best of the ' Duke ' tribe and is perha})S the larg- 

 est of the class." 



QUERIES. 



Butter from the Cvponia japonica.— Some 

 nice fruit of the Japan Quince sent to us from 

 Tennessee, we handed to Mr. J. O. Schimmel, 



