336 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[November, 



edge the error (plants all sold I presume first) 

 but, they now have something really good, very 

 large, just the thing, etc.; price high, but not 

 too high for such a treasure ; so it goes. Even 

 temporary King Sharpless, is named in Moore's 

 newspaper. New York, the Shapeless." 



Statistics of Fkuit Culture.— Mr. J. R. 

 Dodge, of the Census Bureau, 1228 N Street, 

 Washington, D. C, sends us the following let- 

 ter, which we print hoping that those who may 

 be interested in the success of Mr. Dodge's ex- 

 cellent endeavors, will aid him by suggestion : 

 Department of the Interior — Census OflBce — 

 Washington, D. C. — "I am preparing a circular 

 of inquiry, as special agent under the Superin- 

 tendent of the Census for the collection of 

 Agricultural Statistics, relative to fruit grow- 

 ing, designed to be sent to experienced pomo- 

 logists in every section of the country, and 

 desire suggestions from you as to inquiries 

 desirable in such a circular, such as the distri- 

 bution of fruits, proportion of area occupied 

 by each, preferred varieties in each locality, soil 

 and situation favorable to growth and produc- 

 tiveness, soil preparation, culture and treat- 

 ment, age of bearing, average rate of production, 

 diseases and remedies, etc. It will afford an op- 

 portunity never before presented of obtaining a 

 universal expression of experience and general 

 collection of facts upon disputed points in prac- 

 tical pomology that will be of immense service. 

 As other industries will be exhaustively studied 

 and reported, I desire also, to procure a collec- 

 tion of facts and experiences worthy of the age 

 and of the intelligence ajid skill of American 

 fruit growers. Please suggest as many specific 

 points of inquiry, and with as much minuteness 

 as you choose, under the above or other heads, 

 as may at once occur to you, and oblige." 



Blodgett's Miss Percival Peach. — With 

 some fine specimens of this excellent, juicy, 

 late, white, free-stone peach, we have the fol- 

 lowing memorandum from Mr. Blodgett : "I 

 send you a sample herewith of my seedling No. 1, 

 Miss Percival, a white, melting peach that has 

 now borne for ten years without failing in quan- 

 tity and quality. My general crop of peaches is 

 larger this year than the tenth in succession of 

 uniform crops. There are eight trees heavily 

 laden with yellow clings and free-stones j'et to 

 ripen, though none this year will be later than 

 October 10th. Not one of the thirty trees of my 

 collection has failed to produce a crop every 



year, except the finest yellow free-stone. No. 2, 

 which broke to pieces with its heavy crop in a 

 September storm, two years ago. The samples 

 I send you are only an average ; and of the en- 

 tire number of seedlings, all are equally large 

 and tender when ripe, except the Willow 

 Peaches, white melting free-stone, of small size, 

 very sweet, and extremely profuse bearers." 



The "Jessie" Grape. — F. W. Loudon, 

 Janesville, Wis., sends a bunch of a seedling 

 grape named Jessie, which he says is a cross 

 between Delaware and Diana. It has some- 

 what the look of Diana, but perhaps of a better 

 flavor, and this is saying a good deal, for the 

 Diana is yet one of our most popular varieties, 

 though it has had many attempts at rivalry 

 during late years. 



White-washing Trees. — F. B., Brooklyn, 

 New York, writes : " I see you recommend 

 white-washing the stems of fruit trees. I was 

 about to order mine done so, when I happened 

 to read in a standard work on horticulture that 

 it would kill the trees, and there was a long ar- 

 ticle to show that trees so treated must of a cer- 

 tainty die, because the white-wash stopped up 

 the pores of the bark through which the trees 

 breathed. I have suflficient confidence in the 

 teachings of the Gardener's Monthly to 

 have my trees washed this Winter, but I cannot 

 help calling your attention to the different teach- 

 ings of science and practice." 



[There is no difference between science and 

 practice, but the teacher of science referred to 

 did not happen to know exactly what he was 

 writing about, and this is a very common mis- 

 fortune. Trees do " breathe ?' if absorbing the 

 gases of the atmosphere through their der- 

 mal tissue can be called " breathing," but this 

 is only when such tissue is young. If we were 

 to cover leaves and the young branches with 

 white-wash, it is likely the trees ' would suffer. 

 But old branches make a different condition. 

 The tree itself throws old bark off as soon as it 

 can. There is no " breathing " through this old 

 bark, and you may safely help the tree to get 

 rid of it. The work you refer to must be very 

 old. Such statements were frequently met with 

 before the Gardener's Monthly came into 

 existence, and amongst the first sneers at our 

 magazine came some because we showed that 

 the old " Dutch " practice of white-ys^ashing 

 trees, was not to be classed with planting under 

 the " signs" of the moon. No good cultivator 



