1883.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



45. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



: market. The tree is a strong grower, and appears 

 I to be very hardy. 



THE LORD NELSON APPLE. 

 BY CHARLE.S A. GRKEN. 



While there is no dearth in the varieties of apples 

 now before the public, I have thought there was 

 room for the Lord Nelson, of which the cut given 

 herewith represents an average specimen. Though 

 well known in England, I have never seen it men- 

 tioned in any catalogue in this country. It was 

 brought to my notice by my neighbor, whose father, 

 being a man of remarkalilc fancy for fine fruits 



Lord Nelson Apple. 



and flowers, brought the scions to this country 

 when he adopted it as his home. Though an early 

 winter apple, I first tested it late in January, and it 

 will keep later. It is growing in an orchard with 

 nearly all of our leading varieties, and is notice- 

 able for abundant yield of good sized, fair, mer- 

 chantable fruit, peculiarly free from worms and 

 other defects. Charles Downing identifies it \vith 

 the Lord Nelson of the English books. John J. 

 •Thomas says if it is always as good as the speci- 

 men he has seen it Is worthy of cultivation, its 

 beauty adding much to its value. 



Fruit large, oblate, yellowish skin, shaded and 

 streaked with red and russet. Stalk long. Cavity 

 medium. Flesh white, crisp, tender, juicy, some- 

 what aromatic, mild sub-acid. Quality good to 

 very good. It is an apple that will be prized for 

 eating out of hand or for cooking, and sells well in 



IMPROVEMENT OF THE PERSIMMON. 

 BY H. I". HILLENMEYER, LEXINGTON, KY. 



I have sent to-day by mail samples of persim- 

 mons for your inspection. They are not ripe, and 

 of course not edible, though they will house-ripen, 

 like pears. A ripe persimmon is not suited for 

 shipment, being so tender, and the object of send- 

 ing these is simply to call your attention to the 

 marked difference in the three samples. The seeds 

 from which all our bearing trees 

 were raised were gathered from a 

 tree in an adjoining county, in the 

 >>s. autumn of 1863 or '64. The trees — 



some two hundred — were permitted 

 :. to fruit in nursery row, and then 



such types as pleased us best were 

 saved. Though seedlings from one 

 tree, there were strongly marked 

 differences in size, quality, color 

 J I and time of ripening. 

 ' The sample with bright blush is 



an early variety, the fruit being 

 nearly gone, having ripened gradu- 

 ally since the last of August. The 

 other sample, of similar shape, is 

 just beginning to ripen, and the 

 green, egg-shaped ones will not be 

 fit to eat before Christmas. The 

 first when ripe is so tender that it 

 must be eaten from the tree, while 

 the third is fully as firm in texture 

 of flesh as an Early Rivers peach. 

 The persimmon is, I think, one of the neglected 

 native fruits. The samples indicate how readily 

 changes from a type may be obtained, and I think 

 that the same care that has developed so wonder- 

 fully the oriental species, would work a like result 

 in ours. 



In our next fruiting of seedlings grown from the 

 very best specimens, we hope an improvement in 

 fruit quite as marked as between that of the first 

 seedlings and the fruit of the original tree. 



I will also send you shortly some seedless per- 

 simmons, in which I feel a great interest. Should 

 this feature prove constant — a fact that we hope 

 to determine next year — I think it will be a great 

 step gained. 



Even though we do not improve this fruit fur- 

 ther, it still has merits to recommend it. Our trees, 

 in the twelve or fifteen vears that thev have been 



