of Rural Art and Taste. 



317 



Strnii'l>'^>'>'i<'s. 



At the discussions of the Illinois Horticul- 

 tural Society, two cultivators of the straw- 

 berry pronounced the Wilson and Green 

 Prolific as the two best and most productive 

 sorts. Others objected to the Green Prolific 

 as being too soft. It was stated that the 

 Colfax is so rampant a grower that it kills all 

 the weeds and takes care of itself. 



Mitlchiitg J^ctir Tr'-'S. 



A writer in 'i he Tribune mulches his pear 

 orchard over the whole surface with salt hay, 

 in June, and rakes it up in November. This 

 gives fine crops, and protects the fallen fruit. 



Laineiitiihle lynoruiice. 



S. B. Parsons, in his address before the 

 New York Rural Club, said, he had known 

 an intelligent city lawyer call a dahlia a rose. 

 John J. Thomas, says, as an oifset to this, 

 that he has known a country doctor call a 

 poppy a rose at a public exhibition. 



Gtirili'ixinij «« «»* .-Lrt. 



Mr. Parson also in his address, said : 

 " Gentlemen of large income, with country 

 places, the proper management of which 

 would give more pleasure to a whole family 

 than anything else, are unwilling to pay 

 more than $800 or $1,000 per year for a good 

 gardener, whose knowledge is the work of 

 half a lifetime. They will give $3,000 to a 

 bookkeeper, whose knowledge can be acquired 

 in a year ; they will expend one to five 

 thousand dollars in a camel's hair shawl or a 

 pair of horses, and yet would think themselves 

 very extravagant if they gave $2,000 per year 

 to a skillful gardener, who could produce for 

 their use Muscat grapes and all other luscious 

 fruits, and who could make their grounds and 

 gardens like a veritable paradise. Once 

 establish the fact that a skillful gardener can 

 be sure of $2,000 or $3,000 per year, and 

 numerous young men would give their educa- 

 tion that direction. Wealthy men, also, who 

 expect to leave their sons a horticultural 

 education, both as a means of producing en- 

 joyment for themselves, and as a profession 

 upon which to fall back in case of disaster. 

 Young men so educated will never become 

 blase ; the world is for them toQ full of 

 delightful c£(,p£tbilities," 



Wild Goose 'fluiii. 



The late J. S. Downer said of this plum 

 that the flavor, if not equal to some of the 

 popular varieties, was nevertheless good ; that 

 it is not proof (as often asserted) against the 

 curculio, but the puncture does not seem to 

 injure it ; that it comes into early bearing 

 and gives abundant crops every year, having 

 failed but once with him in ten years. In 

 Kentucky it ripens the latter part of June. 

 The fruit is large, handsome, pinkish red, 



Etister Vlotvi-yn. 



The flowers displayed in the churches of 

 New York during Easter day, were mag- 

 nificently costly. Hundreds of dollars were 

 expended in private houses, and thousands in 

 the churches. In a list of over one hundred 

 Protestant, Episcopal and Catholic churches 

 on Easter Sunday, not less than $20,000 were 

 expended for flowers alone. The displays 

 at Christmas and New Years, are very fine, 

 but not quite as much efibrt is spent as on 

 Easter occasions. It is one of the most 

 beautiful, pure and tasteful forms of celebration. 



Tetofsh-y Apple, 



A. G. Tuttle, of Baraboo, Wis., is men- 

 tioned by The Western Farmer, as possess- 

 ing trees of this variety already bearing fruit, 

 although not more than two years old. This 

 early bearing quality together with the hardi- 

 ness of the tree, and its early ripening, as 

 well as beauty of fruit, will commend it 

 particularly to thousands of Northwestern 

 fruit growers, in sections now destitute of 

 apples. Additional testimony is alsp given 

 by The Vermont Farmer adorsing its cul- 

 tivation in northern cultivation. This variety 

 will be found to be a desirable one to plant 

 where the Early Harvest does not succeed 

 well. In point of richness of flavor it is not 

 quite equal, but we are sometimes obliged to 

 accept some deficiency of character that we 

 may have fruit at all. It begins to bear 

 fruit at two and three years of age, and yields 

 very large crops every year. It is a very 

 handsome apple, of medium size, beautifully 

 striped with red on a yellow ground and 

 covered with a light bloom, The flesh is 

 white and juicy, with a pleasant, slightly acid 



