272 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[September, 



from which it appears that in a bushel of ripe 

 Hubbardston Nonsuch there is about six pounds 

 of soluble nutritive material; in Tolman's Sweet, 

 about seven pounds, and in Baldwin about five 

 pounds, and this material will vary to a consider- 

 able extent in value. These results agree with 

 practical experience in feeding apples to animals. 

 When fed in connection with meal they serve to 

 give zest to the appetite, and to keep the animals 

 in health. If cooked their value is much in- 

 creased. 



La Fameuse apples. — Though also with an- 

 other French name, Pomme de Neige, is an 

 American seedhng. It is becoming as popular in 

 the north of Europe as of America. 



Hardy Apples. — It is not frost merely, but a 

 combination of peculiar circumstances irrespective 

 of mere temperature, which constitutes hardiness. 

 Even in France, apple trees suffer in winter some- 

 times. They have also to get up their lists of 

 extra hardy apples. In a list of these, "French 

 Iron clads," we see the names of our Baldwin and 

 Roxbury Russet. 



Pear Growing in the West. — Those who 

 have been taught that it is useless to try pears in 

 the West may take comfort from the following, 

 which we take from an essay by Mr. B. O. Curtis: 

 " I have three trees of the Seckel, thirty-one years 

 old, large, fine trees. One is a dwarf now with 

 strong pear roots, and is two-thirds as large as the 

 Standard. These, and a row of young bearing- 

 dwarfs are healthy and sound ; only one of the 

 standard trees has lost a few branches by blight." 



Crossing Pears. — The probable crossing, by 

 accident, of the common pear with the Chinese 

 Sand Pear, which has given us the Le Conte and 

 the Kieffer, only shows what may be done when 

 we go deliberately to work to improve the pear. 

 Mr. Barber, in the Lancaster Farmer, recom- 

 mends that we drop this accidental plan. " It 

 would be better not to depend on bees to carry 

 the pollen as they may take pollen from the poor- 

 est pears, but by opening the flowers on a Chinese, 

 and carefully removing the pistils before the 

 pollen is ripe, and then with a camel's hair brush 

 take the pollen off of a flower of a superior variety, 

 and apply to the stigma of the one you wish to 

 impregnate, you can hardly fail of success, and a 

 new and superior class of pears will be the result." 



Red Bietigheimer Apple. — A colored plate 

 of this German variety is given in the Canadian 

 Horticulturist for April. It is represented as four 



and three-quarters inches wide, and three deep, 

 bright red, striped with crimson. It is said to be the 

 largest and handsomest apple under culture, and 

 is in season from October till February. 



York Imperial Apple. — When a fruit once 

 becomes widely scattered, it achieves popular 

 favor, simply because people know no better. In 

 the olden time, it was the fashion to take votes at 

 Pomological meetings as to the best varieties, and 

 hundreds of people voted on the best they knew. 

 No new and superior variety could get votes in 

 this way. To-day there would be many votes on 

 apples that would not include the " York Imperial," 

 but the vote would only prove that it takes time 

 for superior varieties to become well known. 



Ensilage in Mexico The drawing of Mexico 



and the United States closer together than ever, 

 by means of that iron bond of universal friendship, 

 the railroad, renders everything our neighbors do 

 of more than old-time interest to us. We note 

 from their magazines that, notwithstanding their 

 favorable climate for stock-raising, the question of 

 ensilage is having a great interest for them. The 

 Boletin de la Sociedad Agricola Mexicana, gives 

 minute directions for the culture of our Rhododen- 

 drons and Azaleas in Mexico. 



Fungus on the Fameuse. — The most profit- 

 able Canadian apple, the Fameuse, is said to 

 suffer severely in Canada, from a black fungus 

 spot on the leaves. 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Brice's Early Peach.— Chas. Black, Hights- 

 town, writes: "I send you a box of peaches — 

 Brice's Early. They were picked from trees set 

 two years ago the past spring, and had on about 

 one-half bushel each; although they are of the 

 same class as Amsden, &c., they are the finest of 

 any of the early varieties we have fruited, and we 

 have Amsdens, Alexandre, Downing, Saunders, 

 Wilder, Waterloo, and Briggs' Red May. You 

 will observe that they are more oblong than most 

 of the early peaches. They ripen about the same 

 time as the above varieties." 



[The fruit reached us in good condition, the 

 flesh quite firm though fully ripe. The specimens 

 weighed about 2^ ounces each, the best 3 ounces, 

 and in circumference were 6 inches. On the ex- 

 posed side the fruit is of a dark brown color, and 

 nicely mottled on the other. It is a juicy cling- 

 stone peach and of good quality. — Ed. G. M.] 



