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THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[July, 



Youngken is not of the highest flavor, but is a 

 fair fruit in every particular. If all its other 

 characters come out in every case as Mr Young- 

 ken finds them, it might be worth introducing, 

 though we always dread the prospects of any 

 new addition to the already formidable list of 

 fruits.— Ed. G. M.] 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



A Furore in New Grapes — A gentleman in 

 the East advertised for the first time, a year ago, 

 a new Grape ; and now we read in the annual 

 address of a distinguished pomologist, that said 

 grape is " making a ' furore ' in Ohio." 



If this statement had been made in some 

 advertisement it would have been excusable, for 

 some advertisers — not all by any means— cannot 

 avoid using language which means just nothing 

 to most people whatever it may mean to them- 

 selves. But it reads queer from a cool headed 

 president of a pomological convention. The 

 idea that the few berries that would be obtained 

 from a little plant set out but a few months 

 before, is to make a "furore" throughout a 

 whole State, is suggestive of a more general roar 

 than the " few-roar." 



Blight, Mildew and Rust.— Mr. R. P. Speer 

 has in the Cedar Falls (Iowa) Gazette a very 

 exhaustive paper on the above topics. He 

 believes fruit trees never blight seriously except 

 after remarkably warm, damp weather. Mr. Speer 

 believes that fungi are connected with the dis- 

 eases named ; but that previous circumstances 

 unfavorable to vital power, aid the germination 

 of the fungoid spores. 



American Grape Vines and the Phylloxera. 

 —The Gardener's Chronicle says: "As to the 

 powers of resistance to the grape-louse offered 

 by certain of these American varieties (for this 

 precious faculty is not possessed by all), there is 

 no doubt whatever. The fact has been proved 

 in various districts in France, and in particular 

 in one instance, where out of 150,000 cuttings 

 which were put in to replace some vines de- 

 stroyed by the grape-louse, none are now left, 

 except a few American varieties planted by acci- 

 dent. 



" M. Foex has set himself to discover the 

 reasons, for this comparative immunity on the 

 part of the American vines, which he attributes 

 to the structure of their tissues. The roots of 



the American varieties are stated to have their 

 tissues of a denser and more woody character 

 than those of the European varieties; their 

 medullary rays (silver grain) are also narrower* 

 and more numerous. The puncture of the Phyl- 

 loxera excites a local irritation and swelling 

 which does not pass far beyond the original 

 point of injury, and the traces of which soon 

 disappear. Of course there are variations as to 

 these points according to the particular kind of 

 grape and .the nature of the soil." 



Investigations on this side of the Atlantic have 

 shown that the American vines are just as 

 subject to attack as the foreign varieties The 

 writer of this has seen roots of Clinton as densely 

 granulated as ever he has seen in the case of any 

 variety. It is not that the American species are 

 less liable to attack, but they suffer less from the 

 the attack. And the reason for this seems to be 

 in the different rooting habits of the species. A 

 careful examination of those liable to injury 

 from the insect attack, shows them to have few- 

 long and slender roots; while the other, like 

 Clinton and allies, make innumerable branch- 

 ing fibres. One rootlet is no sooner injured, and 

 its growth checked, than it sends out many 

 more from the main root above. In this easy 

 rooting power lies its strength. 



Large Japan Persimmon. — The largest fruit 

 matured in California so far, measures about 

 eleven inches round, and two together weighed 

 a pound and a half. 



Cherry — Ne Plus Ultra. — Mr. Charles Arnold 

 regards this as a great acquisition. It has a 

 strong resemblance to Napoleon Bigarreau, and 

 not superior to it. It was raised by Mr. John 

 Mosely, of Goodrich, Ontario. 



Apples for Australia. — Notwithstanding the 

 beautiful display of apples made by Australia 

 at the Centennial Exposition, California seems 

 inclined to try the export of American fruit to 

 that distant land. Delong & Co. made a large 

 shipment last fall — Roxbury Russetts and Tulpe- 

 hockens'. (" Talpahawkins," our correspondent 

 says.) 



Rivers' Early Silver Peach. — The Florist and 

 Pomologist gives a colored plate of this variety. 

 It seems larger than any of the early Peaches of 

 Mr. Rivers as known in this country. The 

 plate represents the fruit as three inches across. 

 It was raised by the late Thomas Rivers in 1859, 

 from seed of the White Nectarine. 



