52 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Feb. 



Swan's Orange Pear. 



Satan's Orange, (Ellwanger & Barry's Catalogue.) 



Onondaga tieedling, (of some.) 



Onondaga, (Horticulturist, and some Catalogues. ) 



Our readers will excuse us for introducing 

 this pear again to their notice. We wish to give 

 them all the information respecting it that has 

 been obtained, opinions of ether journals, &c. 



The last number of the Horticulturist con- 

 tains a figure, description and history of this fine 

 fruit, all of which we gave a year ago in this 

 journal, with some additional information respect- 

 ing it in our December number. In our notice, 

 (January, 1846,) we stated that " its large size,, 

 productiveness, beauty, unsurpassed richness of 

 flavor, and delicacy of texture, rank it among 

 the very best autumn pears we have ever seen." 

 Mr. Downing says : 



" It is a fruit of the first class unknown, to our cultiva- 

 tors, and we have very little doubt, from what we have 

 ourselves seen of Van Mans Leon te Clerc, a very celobra- 

 ted recent variety^ about the same size and season, thatlhe 

 Onondaga will prove superior to it." 



This is no small recommendation for the 

 "Onondaga," surely, as Van Mons Leon le 

 Clerc has been generally considered the best of 

 all pears. We expect to have it bear next sea- 

 son, and if it equals our Swan's Orange or On- 

 ondaga, we will be well pleased — better we can 

 hardly expect. 



We must be pardoned for claiming a little 

 credit from the pear growing world, for our- 

 selves and others in Rochester, for the public 

 notice and general dissemination of this variety 

 during the past two or three years. Many years 

 ago an attempt was made to sustain a Horticul- 

 tural Society in Rochester. Capt. L. B. Swan 

 was one of its projectors and supporters. He 

 brought this fruit from his father, in Onondaga, 

 without name, and the Horticultural Society call- 

 ed it "Swan's Orange," to distinguish it. Mr. 

 H. N. Langworthy got some scions from Mr. 

 Swan, and some three or four years ago his tree 

 began to bear. As soon as we saw it, we began 

 to cultivate it ; and since then we have grown 

 and sold several hundred trees, (perhaps 1000,) 

 scattered all over the country — and we have it 

 now bearing in our own specimen grounds. — 

 Here around Rochester, we feel indebted to 

 Capt. Swan. 



Downing says: "Neither Swaii's Orange, 

 nor Onondaga Seedling, local names, by which 

 this fruit is somewhat known in western New- 

 York, can, with any propriety, be retained as 

 the name of this variety," and suggests that it 

 be called simply "Onondaga." We have no 

 objections. We like the name very well ; but 

 we cannot see that it has any more meaning or 

 appropriateness than " Swan's Orange." In this 

 matter of nomenclature uniformity is of all 

 things most desirable ; a change of name should 

 be studiously avoided except where an error is 

 to be corrected, or an act of plain justice to be 



done. Neither object was to be attained here. — 

 Several hundred cultivators have prccjred this 

 variety, and now cultivate it under this name ; 

 and it is not known to a dozen cultivators by any 

 other. Any other fruit might be re-named in the 

 same way, and for similar futile reasons. We 

 ought to have kept the popular name till we had 

 traced out, if possible, the original. 



We find another instance of this throwing 

 away a popular name and adopting a new in the 

 case of the Oswego Beurre. This pear was 

 originated by Mr. Walter Reed, and called 

 there, and known, where known at all, as Reed's 

 Seedling, a most appropriate name surely. We 

 repeat that this changing of names is the very 

 way to perpetuate and multiply the errors and 

 difficulties in which American Pomology is so 

 deeply involved. It seems that every man who 

 finds a fruit he does not happen to be acquainted 

 with, wants to give it a name of his own. The 

 Horticulturist should discountenance this. 



Peaches. , 



We cannot forbear to call attention to the subject of an 

 increased effort on the part of our horticultural friends, to 

 produce new varieties of this delicious fruit. 



Our friend Dixie of Worcester, Mass., from a few stones 

 taken from a basket of White Flesh Peaches from this mar- 

 ket, six years since, has thirteen trees, each of which pro- 

 duce difierent varieties of fruit, and none like those from 

 which the seed was selected. Many of those raised by him 

 this fall measured ten inches in circumference, and a few 

 measured thirteen inches. The largest fruit, which is very 

 early, he has named Eureka. Hehas alsoMalacaton, Yel- 

 low and White Cheek Clingstone, Rareripe and late Frost 

 Peach, and all from the same planting. Of his new variety, 

 Mr. D. has sold buds and young trees budded from the Eu- 

 reka, to the amouut of several hundred dollars. — Farmer and 

 Mechanic. 



We have seen several seedling peaches of fair 

 quality exhibited the past season in Rochester. 

 Mr. H. N. Langworthy, of Irondequoit, had 

 some beautiful specimen's of seedlings in the 

 Horticultural Society's show-case, some of which 

 may prove to be valuable. We hope the matter 

 of producing new varieties will receive due at- 

 tention at the hands of our peach-growers, who 

 have the best facilities for conducting such ex- 

 periments. What we want most of all, is a first 

 rate early peach, to take the place of the poor 

 Early Ann, and keep the New Jersey people 

 out of our market. — Ed. 



The Weather. — So far our winter, here, has 

 been remarkable for sudden changes and gener- 

 al mildness— heavy and frequent rains and little 

 snow. Some days in January have been as 

 warm as May — succeeded immediately by se- 

 vere frosts ; thermometer within 2 or 3 degrees 

 of zero. We fear that young, tender trees and 

 plants will suffer considerable injury. 



A Large Yield.— -Mr. Nathaniel Swift, of Andover, 

 Mass., has picked this season sixteen barrels of merchanta- 

 ble apples, and four barrels of inferior quality, from one 



tree ; twenty barrels in all. 



