1885-] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



335 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Newtown Pippin Apple. — A Rochester corres- 

 pondent says : •' L. T. Sanders, Collinsburg, 

 Louisiana, requested me to mail you an apple, 

 which I have done to-day ; no doubt he has writ- 

 ten you about it." 



[We have not heard from the party referred to. 

 We see no difference between it and the green 

 Newtown Pippin as grown North, except that it 

 was earlier. It was in excellent eating condition 

 October ist. Supposing it to have been grown in 

 Louisiana, we should call it an excellent specimen, 

 though the little fungus that gives it the black 

 dotted appearance, indicates that here, as else- 

 where, the tree is not thoroughly healthy. Only 

 for this disposition to unhealthiness the Newtown 

 Pippin would be king of apples. — Ed. G. M.] 



Since the above was written a letter from Mr. 

 L. T. Sanders, Collinsburg, Louisiana, who calls 

 it the " Yellow Forest apple," and says it was 

 found growing in the woods by Captain Winston, 

 and by him transplanted to his orchard, and is 

 now about fifteen years old. It is possible there 

 may be some difference from the Newtown Pippin 

 that we do not recognize in the single specimen 

 before us. 



Eaton Grape. — A new grape by the Moores 

 generally means a good improvement, and this is 

 no exception. The bunch weighed 14^ oz., and 

 the black berries are large. It has a rather tart 

 flavor which is more acceptable to some palates 

 when properly developed than the honeyed flavor 

 of the other class. This property varies with 

 location, generally improving on a Southward 

 march. The leaf is very large also, the blade 

 being 12x9 inches. It is said to be a trifle earlier 

 than Concord. It was raised by Calvin Eaton, of 

 Concord, N. H. 



Fire Blight in the Pear. — A Rahway, New 

 Jersey, correspondent says : " Pear blight is fear- 

 ful this summer — Bartlett, Seckel, D'Anjou, here- 

 tofore free, are now suffering." 



[This is particularly interesting as the Seckel is 

 usually found less susceptible to the fungus influ- 

 ence than others. — Ed. G. M.] 



Ulster Prolific Grape — Messrs. A. J. Cay- 

 wood & Son send us bunches of this. It is a red 

 grape, berries about the size of the old Catawba, 

 but the bunches are small, taking eight to weigh 

 one pound. The skin is rather thick, but the 

 flavor delicious. In this last respect we hardly 

 know how any thing can excel it. The double 



name is a misfortune, as we suppose Ulster is all 

 it will get from the people. 



Hautbois Strawberry — Mr. Geo. W. Dobbin, 

 St. Denis, P.O., Bait, co., Md., cannot find this 

 old fruit in any catalogue. If any one has them 

 for sale he can communicate with the gentleman. 



Grapes from Green Wood Cuttings.— A 

 Canadian correspondent says : " Being interested 

 in grape growing the question has come up, are 

 vines grown from green wood cuttings in all res- 

 pects as good as when grown from ripened wood ?" 



[Years ago when the public first became aware 

 of the great march taken in the progress of im- 

 provement in grapes, the demand was enormous, 

 and propagating from green wood resorted to in 

 order to meet the great demand. In a few years 

 disease and disaster followed, and it became clear 

 that the vital power of vines so raised was not 

 equal to that raised from matured wood. The 

 practice was abandoned, and since then but very 

 little difference has been found in the supposed 

 hardiness of one kind more than another. Florists 

 are now learning the same lesson over again in the 

 case of the verbena and carnation. They are 

 coming to the conclusion that the susceptibility of 

 these plants in modern times, to various diseases 

 they were exempt from years ago, comes from 

 weakened vital power through continuous propa- 

 gation from immature or green wood. All the 

 facts tend to confirm this view, and though we do 

 not suppose there would be any great injury re- 

 sult from one generation of grape propagation 

 from green wood, it is dangerous to follow it 

 through several. — Ed. G. M.] 



Dotted and Russetted Apples. — " M. R.," 

 Honesdale, Pa. : " To what extent are the small 

 black dots and occasional russet characteristic of 

 any one variety of apple ?" 



[If we understand correctly what our cor- 

 respondent means by small black dots, these 

 have no necessary connection with the fruit. 

 They are fungus parasites, though, as in the 

 case of the cracks in the white Doyenne or 

 Butter pear, they seem to have an affection for 

 some varieties more than others. The nature of 

 russet is not clearly understood. It is immedi- 

 ately caused by the rupture and destruction of the 

 external cuticle, and may be produced artificially. 

 But what causes this destruction in a general way, 

 especially so as to give a character to a variety, is 

 not known. Its true nature will probably be as- 

 certained when some one makes the production 

 I of cork a study. This comes from the develop- 



