NOTES AXD COMMEyrS. 



Smith's Earlv Pi.um seems to lie one 

 of the earliest of plums. It colored up 

 this year about the end of July, and was 

 sweet and good : but small. 



Thk Wii.i.ard Pi.UM ripened with 

 Mr. A. M Smith this season about the 

 25th of July. He sold it for 75c. per 

 basket, but thinks no one will buy a 

 second basket, on account of its misera- 

 ble astnngent fla\or. 



Stk.awberrv Raspberry — We have 

 just received (Aug. 14) sonif samples of 

 this novelty from our experiment station 

 in Huron. They are certainly very in- 

 teresting, having characteristics of both 

 the berries mentioned \\"e measured 

 an average specimen and found it i }{. 

 inches long and i inch broad. It is 

 very attractive in appearance, but not 

 equal to either the strawberry or the 

 raspberry in flavor. It is said to be a 

 hybrid from Japan. 



The Aitkins Plum has just come to 

 hand (Aug. 14th) from the Jewell Nur- 

 sery Company. It is a pretty plum of 

 American origin, of medium size, oblong, 

 measuring i}'i inches by i^, somewhat 

 lop sided ; suture none ; stem slender ; 

 about a half an inch in length ; skin 

 bright red and very attractive ; flesh 

 tender, melting, sweet and fairly agree- 

 able ; a freestone. The points claimed 

 in favor of this plum are its hardiness, 

 earliness and uniform size. 



The Alexander Peach is yearly 

 proving itself less desirable for the com- 

 mercial orchard. It is productive 

 enough, indeed it overloads, and must 

 be thinned in order to produce fruit 

 large enough to be worth shipping at all. 

 Then it is very subject to the Rot fun- 

 gus, which u.^ually destroys the fruit be- 

 fore it ripens ; and, even if it does ripen, 



the quality is poor, and the markets do 

 not want such stock, except at very low 

 prices. 



The Ha.mburg Exposition. — The 

 attention of our readers is called to the 

 advertisement of the grand exposition 

 now in progress at Hamburg. A spe- 

 cial fruit exhibit is to he opened about 

 the middle of September and continued 

 until the close of the exposition. We 

 have received letters from the manage- 

 ment asking whether our horticultural 

 societies would not combine and send 

 an exhibit of our fruits with the hope of 

 extending our trade with that country. 

 Unfortunately it is now too late for an 

 arrangement to be made for such an ex- 

 hibit. No doubt it would be very de- 

 sirable, but, in view of the approaching 

 exposition at Paris in 1900, we presume 

 it will be wise to concentrate all our 

 efforts in making as large and creditable 

 a:) exhibit as possible on that occasion. 

 A magnificent display can be made in 

 Paris, and it will there reach many of 

 the same people interested in handling 

 fruit as it would do if exhibited in Ham- 

 burg. Let ub not delay too long in 

 making preparation for the Paris Exposi- 

 tion. The Government of the United 

 States has already appointed a commis- 

 sioner to take charge of the preliminary 

 work. 



Whites.mith Gooseberries. — Mr. 

 Thos. Beall, of Lindsay, sends us sam- 

 ples of the finest Whitesmith Gooseber- 

 ries we ever saw. The dozen weigh 

 6.057 ounces I and one sample measures 

 1^8 inches long by I's inches wide. 

 We wrote questioning whether they 

 could be indeed Whitesmith, to which 

 Mr. Beall replied, saying, "There can 

 be no doubt about the berries being 

 Whitesmith. I did not grow them more 

 than about half the present average size 



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