72 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Mar. 



1i5 



cannot expect to get along well without using them, 

 and that expeditiously and well. Tiie time is com- 

 ing when tiicre will be more competition than there 

 has been in the fruit nuiikct, and those vvlio have 

 pursued the most thorough system of culture, by 

 which tlicy are enabled to present tlie largest and 

 most perfect fruit, will monopolize all the profitable 

 part of the business. The negligent, half-way cul- 

 tivator, will have to be contented with the crumbs. 



RARE AND FINE FRUITS. 



We give below, from the Hortiatllurist, ligures and 

 descriptions of two new or rare fruits that strike us 

 as being likely to prove valuable. We know noth- 

 ing of them personally, but the character given of 

 them by Mr. Dow\ni.ng presents them under a very 

 flattering aspect. A short time ago C. M. Hovey, 

 Esq., of Boston, informed us that a cherry resembling 

 this Great Bigarreau. and very probably the same, 

 had been imported to that vicinity from France, with- 

 out a name, and tiiataname had been given it, which 

 we do not now remember. We hope this point will 

 be cleared up. 



I 



THE GENERAL UAND PLUM. 



" We think this may be called the Largest yellow plum 

 known — cenaiuly ihe largest nalive variety. Its liistory is 

 obscure, but we boheve it was originated somewhere in 

 Maryland. The first trees were, we believe, sent out from 

 the nursery of Messrs. Sinclair, of Baltimore, a number of 

 years ago, but the variety is still very little known to 

 cultivators. 



" We first received specimens of it from Mr. Ei.i Parry, 

 of Lancaster, I'a., and noticed them very hrielly in the IJort. 

 for 13 13. The only accurate account publislicd of tliis fruit, 

 by any reliable practical cultivator, is contained in a note 

 from Mr. A. Fahnkstock, of Lancaster, Ohio, in the Hort- 

 iculturist, vol. ML p. 3.i2, in which he says, ' from the fruit- 

 ing of this tree, f(»r eight years jiasl, and general obscrvaiion 

 —(though the location is a bad one,) I am induced to cull it 

 •one of the most valuable plums, on account of its never 

 having failed to bear a full crop, and its mnturing its fruit 

 perfe«;tly. I admit that it is not so finely flavored as the 

 Waslungton'. 



Our opinion of this plum is, that it is simply a gnnil fruit, 

 not of high flavor, but so large, handsome and productive, 

 lliat it will become a fivoritc for market cuitivaiion. 



I'ruit very large, roundish oval, regularly formed, with an 



obscure suture running half round, and terminating at the top 

 in a sm-.ill scarred point — the remains of the old style. Skin 

 smooth, deep golden yellow, slightly marbled with greenish 

 yellow. Stalk unusually long, niodenitely stoiu, set in a 

 very small shallow cavity — the whole of that end of the fruit 

 being rather llattoneil. Flesh palo yellow, nioilcrulely juicy, 

 swoct and good, though not of biirli llavor. It parts freely 

 from the stone, which is ovate, light colored, aid small for 

 so large a fruit. Branches nearly smooth, leaves large and 

 long, with long foot-stalks. Ripens the first week in Sept. 



THE GREAT BIGARREAU CHERRT. 



This, unquestionably the largest and most beautiful of all 

 cherries, appears to be scarcely at all known to pomologists. 

 A foreign variety, perhaps more distinct than any other large 

 clierry in its foliage, growth, and in the size, excellence, and 

 color of its fruit, — which is equal to the Black Tartarian in 

 llavor, and surpasses it in beauty and productiveness, cer- 

 tainly should not be unknown to American pomologists. 

 And yet we cannot identify it with anything known or de- 

 scribed in the English, French or American bonks on fruits. 



The only tree known to us of the Great Bigarreau, (a 

 name we have adopted temporarily, until the real name is 

 discovered.) is one of pretty large size, upon the premises 

 of Mr. LiNDLKY I\L Ferris, nurseryman, Coldenham, Or- 

 ange county, N. Y. Mr. Fekius first astonished us by 

 bringing branches of this tree in full, laden with superb fruit, 

 2 years ago — supposing we should be able to identify it with 

 some foreign variety, we made a drawing and description of 

 it at the time, and waited to make further research on the 

 subject. So fir, our labor for two seasons to identify it with 

 any other sort, has been in vain, and we now publish the 

 description, to introiluce what we think the most magnificent 

 of cherries, to the notice of our fruit growers, and partly 

 with the hope that some of our pomological readers in France 

 may be able to recognise and give us its true name. 



The Colden estate, which Mr. Fkrris now holds, has some 

 valuable sorts of foreign fruiis upon it ; and among a number 

 of trees imported from Franco about 20 years ago, were this 

 and several other cherries — including the Belle de Choisy. 

 No labels or invoices having been left, all record of the sorta 

 was lost. But the trees have grown finely, and this one in 

 particular has formed a large and luxuriant head, and for sev- 

 eral years has been annually loaded with large crops of fruit. 



As a young tree, the Great Bigarreau is remarkable for its 

 upright growth, with very few side branches. The foliage 

 is also very distinct from that of either the Tartarian or the 

 light colored Bigarreaus, by being unusually lung as well as 

 large — much larger indeed,^ than the leaf of any other cherry 

 known to us. 



The tree is usually a great bearer, producing heavier 

 crops than the 'I'artarian, and nothing can well be more 

 bcauiiful than its branches laden with clusters o( very huge 

 cherries, much ruddier and lighter in color than the fruit of 

 the lUack Tartarian — something in color between red and 

 black. 



1!' 



