146 



/ // / r; . / A' djlA h A"s mo xv ///. ) ■ 



[May, 



cavity rather large, deep, sometimes slightly ' 

 russctcd ; calyx closed, segments long, recurved ; 

 basin rather small, nearly smooth; flesh white, 

 fine grained, tender, juicy, with a mild, sub-acid, 

 pleasant tlavor, slightly aronuUic ; core small. 

 quality very good. 



Nkglectei) Okciiards. — The Country G'ew- 

 tleman explains that its paragraph, at p. 38, to ' 

 which we referred in our March lumiber, was not j 

 really intended for "neglected" orchards, as | 

 stated in the paragrapii, but as a covert hit at 

 the theory of culture in grass. This explanation 

 surprise* still more than the original statement; 

 for what possible connection there can be 

 between an orchard well cultivated with grass, 

 corn, or potatoes, and one neglected and uncared 

 for, whether "grassy" or otherwise, it is hard to 

 see. We repeat that no sensible man expects to 

 get good fruit from a neglected orchard, whether 

 in Michigan, New York, or anywhere else. 



DuYiNo Fkt^its and Vkc^etables. — The 

 progress made in the art of drying fruits and 

 vegetables has been very great of late years. It 

 does not pay any longer to string apples and 

 peaches like beads, and hang them from the 

 iiarret window. There are, however, some 

 small machines, such as the American drier, with 

 which any one who wishes to dry his own, can 

 still save the fruit for his own family use, and 

 perhaps save money by not having to buy. But 



those will I have large quantities to do, and who 

 can make a Imsiness of dried fruit, liy the ex- 

 penditure of one or two thousand dcdlars can 

 put up driers, which, weight for weight, will 

 l)ut fruit on the market at lower rates than the 

 j)erfect and fresh gathered fruit can be. There 

 is now the Williams, a Michigan invention, 

 and the Alden, both in some respects rivals. 

 We have before us circulars of both, and both 

 have good points, the agents of each, f)f course^ 

 dwell on these separate advantages to such 

 good purpose, that after a careful penisal the 

 reader will be most likely to feel that both are 

 decidedly the best However, on reading them 

 we have derived the advantage of being more 

 than ever impressed, that the fruit driers in 

 their several inventions deserve well of the 

 community. Only imagine — as the Williams' 

 claims — 600 pounds of apples dried in twenty- 

 four hours, at a cost of six and a half cents 

 per pound ! We have to pay live cents on our 

 streets for a " twenty ounce" apple weighing 

 less than half a pound. 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Japan Persimmons. — We have samples of 

 dried persimmons, from James Waters, of Wat- 

 sonvillc, California, of about the same good qual- 

 ity as those already noted in these pages. , 



Forestry. 



COMMUNICA T/ONS. 



CATALPA WOOD. 



BY ('. S. S. 



The wonderful durability of the wood of the 

 American Catalpa has long been known ; but 

 Mr. E. E. Barney, of Dayton, Ohio, has done 

 an excellent work in collecting together several 

 letters written by him at different times to the 

 Railway Age in regard to the economical value, 

 especially with reference to the employment, 

 wliich can be made of it, for railway sleepers. 

 To these letters are added satisfactory evidence 

 of the astonishing durability of the wood of this 

 tree, its adaptability to many useful purposes, 

 besides some excellent suggestions as to the best 



methods for cultivating it. The whole forms a 

 neatly printed pamphlet of 2G pages under the 

 title of Facts and Information in Relation to the 

 Catalpa Tree [Catalpa bignonoides). which can be 

 procured from the author. 



Mr. Barney calls attention to the fact, which 

 has hei-etofore escaped our notice, that in some of 

 our Western States a variety of the Catalpa is 

 found in cultivation with very large white blos- 

 soms,appearing two weeks earlier and much more 

 abundantly than in the common form. Exper- 

 iments, too, show that this early blooming vari- 

 ety is of more upright, rapid growth, and consid- 

 erably hardier, and so more valuable for forest 

 planting : a fact well worth bearing in mind. 

 To all with whom the question of a supply of 

 fence posts is getting to be a serious one, and 



