186 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETr. 



in 1874. He had never seen a reputed new variety of any vege- 

 table the type of which, after sufficient search, he had not been 

 able to find described or fignrei in some old book. The Perfect 

 Gem squash, which has lately been introduced as a new and fine 

 variety (and which is really valuable) , excited much curiosity in 

 Europe in the sixteenth century. 



One variety of pepper was prickly like a cucumber, and had the 

 leaves somewhat wrinkled like lettuce leaves, and the fruit was 

 upright ; he had thus far found nothing like it in the literature 

 of peppers. One variety, C. umbellatum, figured by Vellozo, was 

 acorn-shaped, port bottle bottomed, with four cells ; it has been 

 described lately for the " Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club." 



He had some perennial species but had had little opportunity as 

 yet to completely study them, and knew but little about them ; 

 among them is C. frutescens. Another came from New Iberia, Lou- 

 isiana, where the pepper-sauce of American commerce is made, and 

 a similar variety was received from the Gaboon, Africa. One re- 

 ceived from Texas and Mexico was indescribably acrid ; the leaf 

 also was acrid. He had seen no mention of this property extend- 

 ing to the leaf. 



Dr. Sturtevant showed water-color drawings of the different 

 varieties mentioned, which added much to the interest of his 

 remarks. 



Some inquiries by Lererett M. Chase as to the effect of grafting 

 varieties of fruit on other varieties had been referred to William 

 C. Strong for answer. Mr. Chase's first query was, Will graft- 

 ing a small fruit like the Seckel pear into a large variety like the 

 Vicar, increase the size of the fruit? In answer to this quer\-, Mr. 

 Strong said-that many years ago the late John Fisk Allen, who 

 was then a very extensive exhibitor of fruit, showed Seckel pears 

 of remarkable size, which he attributed to the stock'on which they 

 were grafted being a large fruited variety. There are many 

 instances of marked increase in growth by grafting weak growing 

 varieties on strong stocks, as, for instance, the delicate varieties of 

 magnolias on Magnolia acuminata, and all rose growers are 

 familiar with the effect of grafting weak varieties on the Manetti 

 and Brier stocks. 



The second query was, Does grafting a vigorous growing wood, 

 like that of the Vicar pear, into one of a weaker habit and slower 



