62 



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THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[February, 



fruit. I consider it the best pear for general cul- 

 tivation. Tree perfectly hardy; fruit smooth 

 and fair, docs not crack or canker, is universally 

 admired by all who have seen it growing, or 

 tasted when ripe. 



Respectfully yours, &c., 



J. T. Whipple. 



QUERIES. 



Plum Culture. — 0. W., Ottumwa, Iowa, asks : 

 " "Will you please tell us something relating to 

 the best curculio proof plums to grow?" 



[The American varieties of the Chickasaw and 

 common red plums are less liable to injury from 

 the curculio than the finer kinds of the European 

 race. They are, however, much inferior in gen- 

 eral qualities, and if with a little extra trouble 

 you could succeed in growing these finer kinds, 

 the profit would be considerably larger. Of the 

 foreign kinds — or rather the kinds of the foreign 

 race — there is no one that resists the curculio 

 more than another, though some think they find 

 diff'erences, but a "proof" variety in one place 

 becomes just as bad as others elsewhere, show- 

 ing that it is rather some congeniality to the sit- 

 uation, giving it more power to resist, than any- 

 thing of a constitutional character — Ed. G. M.] 



Variation in Apples. — H., Oberlin, 0., writes : 

 " By a recent reference in the Gardener's Monthly, 

 I see you refer to the Rhode Island Greening 

 producing sweet apples in California and sour in 

 the Atlantic States. Is the authority undoubted 

 for this statement? It is so remarkable that I 

 think it ought to have confirmation." 



[The authority for the statement is our own. 



We have eaten sweet Rhode Island Greenings 

 from California. If the authority requires 

 strengthening, perhaps the following, from the 

 pen of Charles Downing, may help our good 

 friend to believe. He does not, to be sure, speak 

 of his variations being sour or sweet, but still it 

 goes so far as remarkable variations : "As to the 

 two varieties being found on the same tree, it 

 reminds me of a remark made by a celebrated 

 pomologist, viz.: that he could select twelve 

 apples from a R. I. Greening tree, which any 

 fruit committee would decide to be twelve difier- 

 ent kinds, so you may select both Yellow and 

 Green Newtown Pippins from the same tree, but 

 the general crop of the yellow variety will be 

 yellow, and so of the green." — Ed. G. M.] 



Grape Borders. — B. M. D., Spring Garden, 

 Pa., writes : " Wanting to make a vinery for for- 

 eign grapes under glass, I went to considerable 

 trou!)le to dig out a border three feet deep in the 

 clay, and fill in with good earth, with bones and 

 other rich matters to feed the vines, in accord- 

 ance with the directions in the best works I 

 could obtain on the subject. An English gar- 

 dener whom I have taken to look after my place 

 says this is all wrong, and that it is more hurt 

 than profit. He says that in England they do 

 not let the grape roots go deep, but very often 

 put a mortar floor under the ground about 

 eighteen inches from the top, so as to prevent 

 them. The gardener seems to understand his 

 business, but how about this advice of the 

 books?" 



[Burn the books and listen to the gardener. — 

 Ed. G. M.] 



The Blush Pippin Apple. — A correspondent 

 speaks of an excellent apple grown in Western 

 New York under this name. What is it? 



iMatur. 



ISTORY AND ^SCIENCE. 



GOMMUNICA TIONS. 



"DO PLANTS NEED WATER?" 



BY W. H. BLANCHARD, WORCESTER, VT. 



I wish also to dissent from the opinion of the 

 editor, and say that they do. Air plants are 

 no more fair examples than fresh water Algae 



would be ; but let us take common agricultural 

 and garden plants. 



If moist air, or the vapor in it, is enough for 

 plants, how can they obtain any of the ash con- 

 stituents, nitrogen or hydrogen? Perhaps a 

 little of the two latter from the air, but none of 

 the ash. These must be in solution in water in 

 its liquid state. 



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