1876.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



13 



rich green, nothing need be done to them, but if 

 they have a yellow cast, hunger is what is the 

 matter. This of course is supposing they are not 

 infested by borers, in which' case they will be yel- 

 lowish in the richest soil. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



FREE AND CLING-STONE PEACHES. 



BY H. M. ENGLE, MARIETTA, PA. 



In the September number of the Monthly 

 you compared several of the new early Peaches 

 with mine (the Downing), which was quite favor- 

 able to the latter, but closed by calling it a cling- 

 stone. Please define what you consider a cling- 

 stone. In my experience in peach growing, we 

 have three classes, viz : free, cling, and half or semi- 

 cling. In the latter we class Hale's, Early York, 

 Early Kareripe, Walter's Early, and others, all 

 of which part from the pitt, but not freely. My 

 Early Seedlings are of this class. My experience 

 is, that in some seasons they adhere to the pit 

 more than in others, but are never true cling- 

 stones. 



A few years ago I shipped to a friend a few 

 crates of true Old Mixon free. He wrote back 

 that he wanted no cling-stones. That season our 

 free-stones were about as much clings as the 

 Hales and its class generally are. On the other 

 hand, we have had seasons when the latter were 

 received without objection to their being clings. 



Am I wrong in classiijang as above ? Or is the 

 experience of peach growers different from mine? 

 Please explain. 



[Mr. Engle is right. Peaches are divided into 

 two classes, free and cling. There is another, 

 which is generally free, and yet often clings 

 considerably to the stone. We have never thought 

 so much about this, as since Mr. Downing's note 

 in regard to the Alexander. There should be 

 three recognized classes. — Ed. G. M.] 



BLACK WALNUT. 



BY THE REV. J. H. CREIGHTON, COLUMBUS, O. 



Almost every man and boy thinks he knows all 

 about gathering and cracking and eating Wal- 

 nuts — ^but may be not. Our native Black Wal- 

 nut [Juglans nigra) is hardly ever treated right, 

 and is when rightly preserved one of the best of 

 all nuts. It is commonly left too long in the 

 hull after it is ripe. Sometimes it is allowed to 



lay for a long time on the ground in its thick 

 moist hull till the kernel goes through a kind of 

 change that makes it not only unpalatable, but 

 unhealthy. Hence, a great many persons have 

 an idea that this nut is strong, and hard to digest. 

 But it should be gathered immediately after it is 

 ripe, and not allowed to remain in the hull. It 

 should not even be allowed to remain on the 

 tree till it falls itself, but as soon as the kernel is 

 ripe take it oflf and dry it quick and it is a very 

 different nut from what is commonly found. 

 The kernel is white and delicious, no strong flat 

 taste, and has a delicate flavor that is hardly sur- 

 passed by any nut. And then when thus treated 

 there are little cracks in the hard shell that make 

 it easy to crack out the kernel. These little cracks 

 are formed by the sudden drying. 



There are great differences in difierent trees as 

 to the size and quality of fruit. There is a tree near 

 Duncan's Falls, Muskingum County, Ohio, that 

 bears fruit of uncommon size and quality. We 

 have thought it worthy of propagation. 



GRAPE GROWING AT GALVESTON, TEXAS. 



BY J. FALCONER. 



Many kinds of American Grape vines are 

 grown in the gardens in and around Galveston, 

 and although some sorts of them, do well, the 

 more experienced gardeners (I apply this term 

 to those people interested in and doing their own 

 gardening) are of opinion that it is a waste of 

 room, time and means to grow the American 

 grapes, when the finest European kinds can be 

 as easily grown, besides being so very much more 

 remunerative. At Mr. Stringfellow's gardens^ 

 some two miles southwest of the city, I saw the 

 European grapes in as healthy and fruitftil a 

 state as I ever did under glass. His gardens are 

 near the sea beach, and like all the south coast of 

 Galveston, subject to most devasting south winds 

 that do more harm than north ones. To guard 

 against these winds he has his gardens fenced in 

 with a wooden fence, just inside of which, is a 

 high " sea-cedar " and oleander hedge ; oleander 

 hedges some eight feet high and fifty feet apart 

 run east and west through the grounds to act as 

 wind-bteaks too. In these sheltered plots Mr. S 

 has the Black Hamburg, Canon Hall Muscat, 

 Bowood Muscat, Muscat of Alexandria, several 

 kinds of Chasselas, and other sorts that he has 

 fully attested, and is satisfied that they are decid- 

 edly better adapted for Galveston than the Amer- 



