1879.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



303 



home" in the New England States as the 

 apple or peach. 



St. Michael d'Archange Pear.— Just as 

 the writer of this was regaling himself on some 

 Pratt Pears of his own growth, and wondering 

 whether he might not recommend them as per- 

 haps the hest for this region in the first week of 

 September, his neiglibor. Major P. R. Freas, 

 dropped in with a basket of St. Michael d'Arch- 

 ange, not unlike the other in general appear- 

 ance ; and in spite of our predeliction for pears 

 of native origin, we have to give our vote for 

 the foreigner. Mr. F.'s fruit is from dwarf trees. 



Three Good Early Grapes.— There is so 

 little difference in the time of ripening of the 

 Concord, Hartford Prolific, and Telegraph, 

 that for amateurs there is little to choose between 

 them. The writer made careful tests this sea- 

 son, iu order to test the value of each, and 

 would as soon have the Telegraph as any of 

 them. The Hartford drops from the bunch so 

 early as to amount to almost a defect, especial- 

 ly as a grape is not fully at its sweetest when 

 merely black. The Telegraph is no better than 

 a Concord or Hartford, when fully ripe ; but a 

 Telegraph sweetens sooner than any of these. 

 Still there is little to choose between them, ex- 

 cept where one is in the marketing business, 

 when even a day in ripening is of consequence. 



Progressive Development among New 

 Fruits. — A correspondent of the New Jersey 

 Liberal Press is troubled in his mind as to the 

 iK'st strawberry, and thus growleth : " I have 

 been considerably troubled, too, b}' the wonder- 

 ful progressiveness or changeableness of varie- 

 ties. For instance, at one time 'Monarch of 

 tbe West' is advertised as the very perfection 

 of a strawberry — grows large fruit, bears well, 

 and, in short, has all the desirable qualities. 

 Of course I bought the Monarch of the West, 

 and of course I paid a high price for my plants. 

 Well, I have no serious complaint to make 

 against this sti'awberry ; for, while in some re- 

 spects it is surpassed by other varieties, it has 

 grown an abundance of remarkably fine fruit for 

 me, and I am more than satisfied with it. But 

 as soon as I have planted this variety as being 

 the only one really worthy the attention of a 

 man ambitious to have the very best, I read that 

 somebody has brought out a new variety which 

 entirely surpasses the Monarch of the West, 

 and convinces me that I have made a great mis- 

 take, and that next year I must buy the new 

 variety." 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Grapes in North Carolina.— Rev. S. J. B., 

 Charolotte, N. C, writes: "My grapes rotted 

 very badly — rainy in June — and began to rot 

 with the rain when a little more than half 

 grown. _ This year they are entirely free from 

 rot. June and July quite dry." 



Mr. Churchman's Raspberries.— In f)ur 

 notice of this fruit, it was stated that eigbt ber- 

 ries, in receipt at our office, made an ounce. A 

 correspondent tells us that he saw some weighed 

 of which four made an ounce. 



A Productive Strawberry. — Rev. Geo. 

 S., Lexington, Ky., writes : " I may be laboring 

 under a delusion, but think I have a remarkable 

 strawberry stor}' to relate. Last Spring I set 

 some Boyden's No. 30, on ground spread with 

 thoroughly rotted manure, pasty and cornfodder 

 compost made up of droppings of horses, cattle, 

 swine and poultry, deca3'ed to a black mass, all 

 deeply and carefully plowed in and harrowed 

 both ways. A day or two since I gathered 

 some perfectly ripened berries from runners, 

 while others were rich in bloom. From original 

 plants I gathered fruit June last. I am letting 

 runners strike to set other beds. Ought I to get 

 out a patent ? Perhaps you can match it, or 

 know of others who can. I do not remember 

 anything like it in my brief strawberrj' experi- 

 ence. I might add, the Boyden plants were very 

 fine, thrifty ones when set." 



The Lacon Strawberry. — E. R. M., Lacon, 

 111., writes: "I enclose a photograph of the Lacon 

 Strawberry. Please observe that the plant shown 

 had tbirteen crowns and one hundred and eighty- 

 nine berries. The large ripe berries shown were 

 only average size. The box introduced is the 

 regular Michigan quart berry box, introduced to 

 give relative size of fruit. This fruit was picked 

 from matted rows with just the least cultivation, 

 no high farming or filling, and no picking off 

 berries to make these grow large ; but more than 

 half the berries marketed from the patch were 

 as large and some a great deal larger than these 

 in photograph. 



[We can only say tbat the photograph looks 

 very well; but we are getting almost tired of 

 letters with specimens of fruit which always tell 

 us that the fruit is from "neglected" plants, 

 plants growing in "poor locations," growing in 

 "poor seasons," and all sorts of poor conditions. 



