332 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHL Y 



YNovemher J 



ously. If taken up with small balls of earth, 

 and set in a damp cellar, they will still perfect 

 themselves. 



Asparagus beds, after the tops have been 

 cleared off, are better covered with litter or sta- 

 ble manure. The plants shoot easier for it next 

 season. 



When the ground becomes frozen, or no other 

 work offers, preparation can always be made for 

 advancing prospective work when it arrives. 



Bean-poles may be made ; and if the ends are 

 charred, and then dipped in coal tar, the com- 

 monest material will be rendered nearly equal 

 to the best cedar. 



some of the more experienced contributors of the 

 Monthly, or you Mr. Editor, can tell us about 

 this matter, or at least give an opinion of the 

 efficacy of this remedy? 



COMMUNICA riONS. 



NOTES FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



BY JAMES M. HAYES, DOVER. 



The fruit crop of 1879 is a surprise to all, 

 there being much more than was expected. This 

 is noticeable of apples, the great staple fruit of 

 New England. Last year was produced one of 

 the heaviest crops ever gathered; so much so 

 that many fine lots of No. 1 apples were manu- 

 factured into cider, the price being so low that 

 this was considered the best method of disposing 

 of them. So it was not expected that the pres- 

 ent being the " off-year " would give us but lit- 

 tle fruit; hence when the Baldwins and Green- 

 ings in the Spring gave us a good bloom, we 

 were surprised. The old varieties maintain 

 their prestige, — the Baldwin, Rhode Island 

 Greening, Roxbury Russet, and Porter still 

 being the standards in the market. The Rus- 

 sian varieties over which there has been so much 

 enthusiasm in northern localities fail, we think, 

 to come up to the standard as a table fruit, but 

 are excellent for cooking purposes. The pear 

 crop is not so large as was anticipated when the 

 trees bloomed, still there will be a fair crop. 

 The bloom indicated a very large crop, but for 

 some unexplained reason the fruit did not set 

 heavy. There has come under my notice a 

 Flemish Beauty pear tree, well loaded with 

 smooth uncracked fruit, which in former years 

 was worthless through cracking. The owner of 

 the tree, soon after the pears set, sifted over the 

 tree a mixture of equal parts of plaster and sul- 

 phur; to this he attributes his smooth, fine 

 pears. Is this anything new, or is' it well known 

 to horticulturists? I do not remember of ever 

 seeing any account of the use of sulphur to pre- 

 vent pears cracking. It may be, however, that 



CATS AND PEAR TREES. 



BY S. M., GERMANTOWN, PHILADELPHIA. 



About fifty years ago, my residence was on 

 9th street, near that of Jacob Ballanger, a wor- 

 thy citizen, referred to in the last number of the 

 Gardener's Monthly, in the article headed 

 " The Black Cat and Pear Tree." He was then 

 quite noted for having in his small yard a pear 

 tree which produced large crops of very beauti- 

 ful and luscious butter pears. Perhaps I should 

 never have thought again of the tree or its fruit, 

 or even of my old neighbor, who has been de- 

 ceased many years, if not reminded of them by 

 the story of the black cat, which is wound up 

 with the remark that " The philosophy of its 

 produce was no doubt owing to his cutting the 

 tap root in the burial of the cat." I have a 

 number of thrifty-looking pear trees, but no 

 fruit; cats plentiful, but no faith in the inter- 

 ment of them, black, white or gray. I should 

 like very much to know that I could get such 

 crops as my old friend J. B. displayed by ampu- 

 tating the tap roots. 



[Never mind the cat, — but if pear trees have 

 reached what ought to be a bearing age, and are 

 yet of vigorous growth, cut some of the roots, 

 and they will soon bear freely. We may 

 have been indebted to the cat for this knowledge 

 originally, as we were to a donkey for the bene- 

 fit from stem-pruning the grape — "as it is writ- 

 ten."— Ed. G. M.] 



NOTES ON THE SEASON AND FRUITS IN 

 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA. 



BY A. HUIDEKOPER, MEADVILLE, PA. 



1879 brought us here a late spring, and a sum- 

 mer characterized by a few^hot days, and many 

 cold nights when the mercury would fall below 

 50° under glass. 



This produced on some vines a succession of 

 fruiting and a Clairgeau tree on my premises 

 has some very large matured pears below, and 

 a small crop of fruit about a quarter grown on 

 the upper branches. Crops generally have been 

 satisfactory. Some buckwheat and corn got 

 touched with the Fall frosts, and potatoes, very 

 fine in some localities, were badly diseased and 

 unsound in others. The Colorado beetle is much 

 less dreaded than it was at fii-st. 



