236 Notes and Gleanings. 



Arnold's Yellow Canada Raspberry. — We received from Mr. Charles 

 Arnold, of Paris, Ontario, C. W., !he originator of the above-named raspberry, 

 last September, a note, in which he stated that the specimens sent the year previ- 

 ous, from which our illustration in the September number was made, were consid- 

 erably below the natural size, having been sent, not for the purpose of illustration, 

 but merely to show that they had escaped hard frosts up to the i8th of Oc- 

 tober, when the specimens were sent. Accompanying the note was a specimen 

 which he said would demonstrate the inferiority of the former ones. The largest 

 of these were decidedly larger than the largest in our cut, being by careful 

 measurement one fourth more in diameter. 



We make this statement as an act of justice to Mr. Arnold ; but we wish to 

 take advantage of this occasion to say that it has always been our aim, in our 

 illustrations, to make them from such specimens as would give a fair and just idea 

 of the production, whether fruit, flower, or vegetable, so as to avoid that disap- 

 pointment to those who may by our notices be induced to procure them, which is 

 always the result of exaggerated specimens, and which is always exactly propor- 

 tioned to the exaggeration. 



Cutting Asparagus. — By referring to the June number of the Journal for 

 1869, our readers will find a somewhat elaborate article on this subject from 

 Mcintosh's Book of the Garden, published in answer to an inquiry from one of 

 our correspondents. The plan there recommended, and which is almost univer- 

 sally followed by foreign growers, does not, it appears, find full favor among the 

 cultivators of asparagus in this country ; and the criticism of Mr. Baldwin on 

 page 300 of vol. vi., will, we think, be generally commended. 



Mr. Baldwin's theory, however, has an opponent in one of our western corre- 

 spondents, who writes us as follows : — 



" Mr. Baldwin says that the portion of the shoot which grows beneath the 

 surface of the ground is never eatable ; and he also advocates a growth of ten or 

 twelve inches before gathering. Now, I have been a grower of asparagus for 

 many years, and during its season cut about two bushels daily. As soon as the 

 crowns of the shoots show themselves above the surface, they are in fit condi- 

 tion for cutting, and they are never more tender or of better quality than when 

 so cut and used. Many persons refuse asparagus after the sprouts have attained 

 a considerable growth, or when they are in what is termed the "green " state ; 

 and I think they are right." 



As an offset to this, another correspondent, Mr. C. F. Hathaway, of Water- 

 ville, Maine, makes the following statement : — 



" With Mr. Baldwin, I think it is better to allow asparagus to make a growth 

 of from nine to twelve inches before cutting. But breaking off the shoots is a 

 method of gathering not generally advised. It has been said that cutting a little 

 below the surface of the ground will cause the wound to heal more readily, and 

 with less detriment to the root. Now, every one knows how difficult it is to cut 

 them thus without injury to shoots which have not reached the surface ; and if the 

 new theory be correct it will be of great advantage. Who can testify by actual 

 experience of the relative merits of the plans recommended ? " 



