1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



321 



PENOBSCOT PLUM. 



"We give this week a beautiful representation of 

 the Penobscot Plum, from a specimen furnished 

 us last fall, by Mr. Henry Vandine, of Cambridge- 

 port. This is a new varietj', which Mr. Vandine 

 has fruited the past two years. We cannot give 

 the origin of the fruit, and as the specimen was 

 used for our engraving, cannot speak of its merits, 

 from our own experience. Mr. Vandine repre- 

 sents it as among the best, and well worthy of cul- 

 tivation. 



Fruit large, about the size of the Jefferson, ob- 

 long, marked with a deep suture. Stem an inch in 

 length, slender, and set in a small cavity. Skin, 

 orange yellow, smooth and fair, with no blush. 



The tree is a very thrifty grower, bears young, 

 and the specimens we have seen of it have been 

 very free from wart or blight of any kind. Our 

 summer and fall fruits perform so important a part 

 both in pleasing the appetite and promoting health, 

 that any addition to their number or variety should 

 be welcomed. We bespeak for the Penobscot, 



the attention of cultivators, hoping, from its beauty 

 and size, it will be found worthy of a place in the 

 first rank of plums. 



Improving Stock. — Glancing the eye over the 

 abstract lately published by the Secretary of the 

 Board of Agriculture, our attention was drawn to 

 the report submitted to the Essex Society by Mr. 

 Payson, pages 340 to 346. If we do not mistake, 

 more sound instruction, on this point, will be found 

 in this paper, than is often met in the ephemeral 

 productions elicited at our shows. Mr. P. is him- 

 self a thinking and observing man, and he has had 

 the good sense to take his ideas from reliable sour- 

 ces. Facts approved by Bakewell, Cotting and 

 Pickering, can be relied on. These authorities are 

 to the breeder of stock, what Hale, Blackstone and 

 Story, are to the student of Constitutional laws — 

 something to be depended on. A series of reports 

 digested like this, on the topics interesting to the 

 farmer, as usually brought together, with notes 



