98 



DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



whrlly of articles of real merit — the pro- 

 duct of the highest intelligence and skill of 

 the agricultural body of the State— applied 

 directly to the object in view. 



We have doubtless said enough on this 

 subject— more, we fear, than will be pala- 

 table to all our friends interested. But we 

 have said no more than the duty, as an or- 



gan of strong public feeling on this subjectj, 

 has made it necessary for us to say — and, 

 Avhile we give our heartiest commendation 

 to the labors of the State Society in the late 

 volume of its Transactions^ we must again 

 repeat that there are great and lamentable 

 defects in its Annual Shows, which may 

 be, and should, be speedily remedied. 



DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



OiVoNDAGA Pear on Quince Stock.—./?. J. 

 Downing, Esq.— Dear Sir : The Onondaga, or 

 Swan's Orange Pear, has been very favorably 

 noticed, both in the Horticulturist, and in Hovey's 

 Magazine, at tlifferent times during the two last 

 years ; and in some instances it has received the 

 unqualified appellation ot ''one of our very best 

 pears," " the king of pears," &c. &c. But whether 

 it will uldmately prove equal to all that has been 

 said in its favor, or whether its good qualities, as a 

 desert fruit, will come up to the standard which 

 has been assigned it, remains yet to be seen. We 

 may however, even now, I presume, accord to it 

 the merit of being a new fruit of good quality, and 

 consequently any information, either in relation to 

 the quality of the fruit or the habits of the tree, 

 its growth, culture, Sic. can not fail of being inte- 

 resting to the Pomologist. It it also important for 

 the cultivator to know whether it will succeed 

 upon the quince. Upon this latter point the follow- 

 ing is the result of my own practice. 



In the spring of 1847, 1 received from Ellwanger 

 & Barry, of Rochester, N. Y., five small trees of 

 this variety, of one year's growth from the graft, 

 portions of which were used for scions. These 

 scions were worked upon almost ever}' variety of 

 pear stocks, from small seedlings of less than half 

 an inch in diameter to the leading shoots of strong, 

 healthy trees from two to four inches in diameter. 

 They were also grafted upon vigorous, healthy, 

 bearing pear trees, originally grafted upon the 

 quince, and were consequently ''double worked" 

 on the quince. Those upon the pear, in every in- 

 stance, made, last season, and now continue to 

 make, strong growth, with extremely healthy 

 looking foliage ; whilst those that were double 

 M'orked upon the quince made very indifTerent 

 growth last season, with very little thus far this 

 season, the foliage now having a pale, sickly ap- 

 pearance, and hardly to be recognized as the same 

 variety with those growing upon the pear. 



In the autumn of 1847, I also inoculated this va- 

 riety, both upon the pear and quince. The dif- 

 ference of growth in this case is much more appa- 

 rent than in the other. Whilst the inoculations on 

 the pear have made a growth at the present time 

 of 12 to 18 inches> looking extremely healthy and 



vigorous, those upon the quince have only made 

 from ten to twelve inches, having a very weak and 

 sickly appearance, with a large proportion of total 

 failures. The Buerre d'^njou, Louise Bonne of 

 Jersey, Glout Morceau, Duchesse d' Angoultme, and 

 other varieties, which were worked upon the quince 

 at the same time, and in the adjoining rows on each 

 side, have made a uniform growth of 24 to 30 

 inches, looking very strong and fine, with scarcely 

 a single failure. 



From my own limited experience, as above de- 

 tailed, I should therefore apprehend that this pear 

 will not succeed well upon the quince ; or at least, 

 but very indiflerently ; and cultivators, I think, 

 would do well not to work it very extensively upon 

 that stock. 



The variety of quince used by me for stocks, is 

 the Angers, [or apple quince, Ed.] which is un- 

 doubtedly the best for that purpose. Respectfully. 

 Henry H. Crapo. New-Bedford, June 15th, 1848. 



Belle Magnifique Cherry. — We find on fur- 

 ther trial that we have not done justice to this 

 cherry in our work on Fruits. It has borne a good 

 crop with us this season, and we find it one of the 

 most valuable of all the acid cherries. It is in 

 flavor much milder or less acid than the common 

 Kentish (pie cherry) or Morellos— double the size 

 of the Kentish, of a handsome light red, bears 

 good crops, and ripens among the late sorts — a 

 week after the late Kentish. For cooking or pre- 

 serving it is one of the very best sorts, and we are 

 inclined to rank it before the Carnation or the Plum- 

 stone Morello — two of the most popular of the acid 

 cherries. 



Cutting out fire blight. — We have been 

 troubled in'this neighborhood with that form of the 

 pear tree blight termed by you " insect blight," 

 and I wish to say to your readers that they cannot 

 too highly rate the advantage of promptly cutting 

 out every limb attacked, down to the fresh, sound 

 wood, as soon as it appears. My own place is be- 

 tween that of two neighbors, both of whom are 

 fruit-growers, and both having about an equal num- 

 ber of pear trees in orchard or garden cultivation. 

 One of thera takes little or no care of his trees,- 



