2o8 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[July. 



before putting their fancied discoveries into print, 

 would be of great service to them. 



Fruits to Eat or Fruits to Sell. — The 

 Farmer's Home Journal referring to our recent 

 note on new fruits, makes the following good point 

 in addition : 



"To please the eye, is the aim of the fruit 

 seller, and it is no longer an object to consider the 

 quality and taste. Hence only those sorts are 

 grown that will meet these requirements, and 

 nurserymen have a demand for such trees and 

 plants and vines as will produce fruit that suit the 

 demand in the market. Fruit-growers and nur- 

 serymen thus co-operate in supplying such as will 

 compete with transported fruits, and which will 

 themselves bear safe transportation hundreds of 

 miles to other markets. Thus quality is sacrificed 

 to these commercial requirements. The amateur 

 fruit-grower gives up his interest in fruit culture 

 and drops out of competition with the market gar- 

 dener. Horticultural societies fall under the con-, 

 trol of professional fruit growers and nurserymen. 

 Horticultural literature and essays all concentrate 

 on the business aspects of the question and the 

 old time enthusiasm for fruit culture for the love 

 of it and for the glory of its honors has become a 

 thing of the past." 



To Clean Mealy Bugs from Hot-house 

 Grapes. — Hot-house grapes often annoy the 

 grower by having mealy bug on the stems in 

 among the berries. A correspondent of the Gar- 

 dening World tells the reader that he places the 

 bunches under a strong hydrant, the force of the 

 water being turned down the centre of course, 

 and then rapidly dries the bunch ; no injury to the 

 flavor or appearance of the bunch results. 



Classification of Apples. — Dr. Hogg, an 

 eminent English pomologist regards the best char- 

 acters for a classification of apples to lie in the 

 depression or caly.x basin, and the carpellary 

 walls of the fruit — that is to say, the horny walls 

 that enclose the seed in the core. The little tube 

 at the base of the caly.\ basin, affords also good 

 characters for distinguishing varieties he believes. 

 Some of these tubes are mere semi-circular de- 

 pressions, while others are long, slender and 

 thread-like. The shining, horny walls about the 

 seeds arc sometimes almost circular. At other 

 times very narrow in proportion to length. 



The Pear as a Family Fruit.— Whatever 

 may be said of the pear as a profitable or unpro. 

 fitablc fruit for market, there is no doubt that it is 

 one of the most reliable of all for family use. No 

 tree takes care of itself so well. No class of fruits 

 bear so regularly as the pear. This is the uni- 

 versal experience, and from time to time our 

 exchanges furnish remarkable evidences of the 



truth of this. A recent issue of a Macon, Georgia, 

 paper says: 



" There is a pear tree in Montgomery County 

 87 years old, which has not failed to bear a crop 

 of fruit in over 80 years. The tree was set out by 

 Stafford Davis in 1798. The fruit resembles the 

 sand pear in shape and flavor. The tree is six 

 feet in circumference." 



Clapp's Favorite Pear in Europe. — Our 

 seedling pears and apples do not seem to become 

 very popular in the old world, but Clapp's 

 Favorite is fairly swimming along on the French 

 popular tide. It is said to be there "a good, 

 beautiful and excellent fruit," and they are 

 actually talking of replacing the Bartlett (Williams' 

 Bon Chretien) with it. The perfume of the Bart- 

 lett, which we think so agreeable, is offensive to 

 the French. 



The Most Popular English Apple. — For 

 general popularity Lord Suffield is the most popu- 

 lar, followed closely, however, by the old favorite 

 Ribstin Pippin. As a dessert apple alone, this has 

 lost its old position on the top of the list, Cox's 

 Orange Pippin now taking the lead. American 

 varieties seem unknown in England. 



Large Pears. — .4t a pomological exhibition 

 {apple show, they call it in the Old World) at 

 Exeter, in England, a report says that in class 

 twenty-five, six dishes, five fruits each. Sir T. D, 

 Acland, Bart., was first, the sorts being Doy- 

 enne du Comice, weighing 5 lbs. 2 ozs.; Pitmaston 

 Duchess, 6 lbs. 10 ozs., the two heaviest being i lb. 

 9 ozs. each. Both these sorts were, Mr. Garland 

 said, from pyramid trees. The collection also 

 contained Easter Beurre, Glout Morceau, and 

 Winter Nelis, one of the latter weighing 10 ozs. 



Wilson Junior, Blackberry. — Mr. Parry in 

 1870, selected plants of Dorchester and Wilson 

 Early, and planted them together, far away from 

 any other to mix with, trusting that the pollen of 

 one kind might perhaps intermix with the other. 

 In 1875, he selected some of the best Wilson berries 

 for seed. After watching the fruiting seedlings for 

 four years the largest and best was selected, and 

 this is Wilson Junior. One acre of plants yielded 

 in 1884, 1 10;,^ bushels of fruit. Mr. Parry is now 

 trying actual cross-fertilization, by cutting out 

 stamens with a scissors before they mature, and 

 using pollen from other kinds with a camel hair 

 brush, and has numerous seedling plants raised in 

 this way. 



The Regeneration of the Potato. — Our 

 European friends sjem much exercised over the 

 question of crossing the potato with some of the 



