176 



THE GARDENERS* MONTHLY 



[June, 



is more vigorous and more robust, as our contem- 

 porary well remarks. 



Overbearing Pears. — The recent discussion 

 on the quality of the Kieffer pear raises the ques- 

 tion, how many varieties of pear have been pro- 

 nounced worthless because they have been per- 

 mitted to overbear, that might have been pro- 

 nounced delicious if the grower had the knowledge 

 or disposition to thin the crop ? And again, many 

 of those which had stood the test of widespread 

 popular experiment, have gained general approval 

 simply because they will not attempt to do too 

 much. Mr. B. O. Curtis, of the Illinois Horticul- 

 tural Society, says that "many pear trees kill 

 themselves by over-production. I have a notable 

 example in the Beurre d'Anjou of a variety that 

 never overbears and never blights. It annually 

 produces a moderate crop, evenly distributed over 

 the branches, a single fruit on a spur, not in clus- 

 ters as it is with many other sorts. The fruit is 

 large, of fine appearance and scarcely surpassed 

 in quality." 



Melons Not an Exhaustive Crop, — At a re- 

 cent meeting of the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society, Hon. Marshall P. Wilder said that " he 

 had grown melons on the same land for ten years ; 

 the ground has a south aspect. He prepares a 

 compost of manure, soil and guano, which he 

 spreads on the land in addition to manuring in 

 the hills. Surface manuring is very important, as 

 the plants root from every joint. He has no trouble 

 with insects ; he gets up in the morning before 

 they do. He has grown nearly all the kinds in the 

 catalogues. The Christiana can be grown by any 

 one who can grow melons at all. The White 

 Japan is the earliest and most delicate. The 

 Casaba is vigorous and reliable. The Bay View 

 resembles it strongly." 



The Prentiss Grape. — We have from time to 

 time expressed the favorable impression this grape 

 has made on the editor, in so far as he could judge 

 from specimens of the fruit before him. We now 

 note that Vi'cA's Magazine expresses a doubt 

 whether any white variety of grape will prove as 

 good a market variety as the Prentiss. 



Thinning Fruit. — Though we have so often 

 reminded the pear grower that trees overburdened 

 with fruit give us pears almost unfit to eat, recent 

 discussions show the wisdom of continually re- 

 peating this caution. We are again reminded of 

 this by the statement of a correspondent of the 

 Country Gentleman, that "to have the best suc- 



cess, most of the pears must have good cultivation 

 and not be allowed to overbear. The Winter Nelis, 

 for example, sometimes has its branches loaded 

 like strings of onions ; if thinned, the fruit will be 

 larger and keep better." 



Plums in Russia. — Prof. Budd says : " No va- 

 rieties of the plum are grown except of an Asiatic 

 race, which seems perfectly hardy. . The fruit is 

 superior to our best wild plums in solidity of flesh 

 but not in flavor. The normal form seems red, 

 but yellow and black ones are seen here on every 

 street in reality. I think it will prove valuable if 

 not destroyed by the curculio. I say this, as it 

 ripens very early in the season. The fruit of all 

 the varieties is oblong, with a deep and peculiar 

 structure on one side like some peaches. Some of 

 the choice varieties of this race ripen, it is said, 

 later in the season." 



Peaches in Illinois. — Mr. Parker Earle says : 

 "In the East it is probable that the production 

 of peaches has kept up with the growth of mar- 

 kets, and possibly has got ahead, but in the 

 West the absolute production of peaches is 

 much less than half what it was a dozen 

 or fifteen years ago, while the markets have 

 at least quadrupled in capacity. It is true that 

 Delaware and Maryland peaches are often sent 

 West in large quantities, but rarely in fine condi- 

 tion; and they could not compete at all with 

 choice peaches grown here." 



Improved Blackberries. — Though we have 

 had the luxury of blackberries for a quarter of a 

 century, our improved kinds seem unknown to 

 any extent in Europe. A correspondent of the 

 Garden has recently visited America, and thus 

 writes : 



"The bramble, or, as usually called, the black- 

 berry. They have no wild brambles more edible 

 than our wild ones, and yet by selection and care- 

 ful culture they have brought the blackberry to be 

 a fruit in no way to be despised. There are a 

 great many varieties, and some of them have been 

 in cultivation for thirty or forty years, but I must 

 say that 1 think our wild bramble, which is natu- 

 rally a most variable plant, would by culture and 

 selection soon produce something as good as any 

 the Americans yet have. It may be noticed that 

 there are some of our wild brambles much sweeter 

 than others, and some much larger than others, 

 and as this seems to belong rather to individual 

 plants than to varieties, 1 think it only requires se- 

 lection to give a good start towards British black- 

 berries. These i would expect to produce good 

 crops that would at least pay the trouble of cul- 

 ture on ground that is at present worth nothing. 

 Bramble treatment is very similar to that of the 



