1879. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



333 



Summer fruits were very abundant in the mar- 

 ket, furnishing at reasonable prices, strawber- 

 ries, raspberries and blackberries, and the 

 smaller wild fruits of the forest. Anion;; the 

 strawberries, Captain Jack, measuring four in- 

 ches in circumference, and Colonel Cheeney 

 measuring if taken the long way from six to 

 eight inches, made their first appearance here, 

 and certainly make a magnificent show on the 

 table — while the market gardener may still 

 cling to the Wilson, the producer for home use 

 can certainly now do better in the way of selec- ! 

 tion as to what to grow. 



The symmetrical top shape of the Captain 

 Jack variety seems to conform more to one's 

 ideal standard of form for the strawberry, than 

 the coxcomb form of some of the larger kinds. 

 Peaches. — Last Winter the mercury several 

 times reached a point of depression when theo- 

 retically the peach blossoms should have been 

 killed, but though many of the better kinds of 

 this fruit were killed, the trees which survived 

 were full of blossoms ; some of those which 

 perished, blossomed out well and set fruit, and 

 then dried up seemingly from lack of sap circu- 

 lation. The dryness of the winter winds, and 

 not the severity of the cold apparently did the in- 

 jury. Hardy seedlings on the hills, though late 

 in maturing, are bending with fruit. 



The Foster Peach bore with me for the first 

 time, and came hardly up to its primitive repu- 

 tation. The fruit measuring about eight inches 

 in circumference, was of a bright yellow and red 

 color, showy and juicy, but somewhat stringy 

 and coarse. 



Apples. — With the great yield of last season, 

 this should have been an off-year for this 

 fruit, but. our farmers at the Fairs make a very 

 creditable show of all the leading varieties. 

 Somewhat unevenly distributed, many of the 

 trees are heavily freighted with fruit. The 

 quantity would be amply sufficient were the ap- 

 ples all sound, but the codling moth smiles at 

 the entomologist, and like the oil drillers goes 

 on boring, irrespective of the final result on the 

 market prices. 



Pears. — In common with many beginners, 

 years a^jjo I felt discouraged in trying to grow 

 pears, I think now that patience and potash are 

 the true essentials of success. Keep the limbs 

 strong by occasional shortening in, accomplish- 

 ing at tlie same time symmetry of form ; wash 

 the trunks twice a year with lime, or wood 

 ashes, or a dilution of the potash of the shops, 



and the bark will be smooth, the growth vigor- 

 ous, and the pear trees will be things of beauty, 

 and a joy as long as they last. Blight will come 

 sometimes despite all this, but the amateur does 

 not need for family wants more than a dozen of 

 well selected pear, and still fewer peach trees, 

 and it is easy always to have a young tree 

 coming on to supply the place of one that fails. 

 Pear trees are often too prolific, and the fruit 

 needs severe thinning, leaving no pears to come 

 in contact or rub against each other. On a 

 moderate sized Seckel Pear tree, last Spring, 

 with me, from three to four out of every five 

 pears were cut out soon after the fruit formed, 

 yet even this seemingly thorough work was 

 really not sufficient. One thousand and thirty- 

 five Seel? el pears by actual count were taken 

 from this tree last month, leaving half a bushel 

 of Lawrence pears on a top graft of the same. 

 Some of my Clairgeaus this year weigh twenty 

 ounces, which is almost California size, while 

 Duchesse with a full crop yields specimens of 

 three-quarters of a pound, and Winter Nelis of 

 half a pound, which is a good size for the latter. 

 The Sheldon is one of our nicest pears, the fruit 

 resolving itself into sugar and juice on being 

 eaten. Beurre Giflard is one the earliest to ma- 

 ture, bears well, is fair in quality, and though 

 not a sweet pear it is jucy ; and the smaller 

 sized Tyson which follows it, though not juicy is 

 sweet and well worth a place even in a small 

 collection. The fruit of the Lawrence a.s it 

 grows here is longer in shape than the drawing 

 in Downing represents it to be, and when well 

 matured is juicy, melting, and sweet with a fla- 

 vor distinct and peculiar of its own. 



Grapes. — The season was rather short for 

 grapes; we get wagon loads of well-colored 

 Concords brought here from the Lake Erie re- 

 gion, but here the Concord did not mature as 

 well as usual ; with me Isabella, lona, Crevel- 

 ing, Massasoit, and Delaware ripened pretty 

 well, the Creveling bearing very fully and 

 ripening among the best. 



I notice a late commendatory notice of the 

 Telegraph grape. Here it fruited so thickly 

 that the grapes as they enlarged would some- 

 times wedge each other from the stem, and I re- 

 jected it, classifying it among varieties that 

 popular taste has outgrown. Allowance lias 

 however always to be made for results which 

 come from varieties of soil and climate. 



On the 4th of October we are still enjoying 

 string beans, though we liad a frost on the 26th 



