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6 



THE HOLLAND PIPPIN APPLE. 



Syn. — Summer Pippin. 



The true Hollana pippin, that described in Down- 

 ing s Fnut and Fruit Trees of America, in the Lon- 

 don Society's Catalogue, by Lindlet and other Eng- 

 lish writers, is very little known or cultivated in 

 Western New York. In three-fourths of our orchards 

 the Fall Pippin goes under this title, having been so 

 introduced by the earlier nurserymen and orchardists. 

 It IS time the error should be corrected. This Hol- 

 land Pippin is a good apple, but very far from being so 

 valuable as the genuine and unrivalled Fall Pippin. 

 bizE — large, nearly as large as the Fall Pippin.— 

 1 ORM — roundish, slightly conical, generally very reg- 

 ular though some specimens have a square outline. 

 bTALK— half to three-fourths of an inch long, and 

 pretty stout and inserted in a deep cavity. Calyx 

 —small, closed in a very shallow and somewhat fur- 

 rowed basin. Skin— pale green in the shade, becom- 

 ing yellow as it matures ; dull brownish in the sun ; 

 usually some russet at the stem. Flesh— yellowish 

 white, juicy, sub-acid, rich, and excellent for cooking. 

 It is remarkable for ripening gradually — for two 

 weeks or more previous to this date (Aug. 29,) it has 

 been dropping from the tree in fine condition for use, 

 while a large portion of the crop remain apparently 

 quite green. In England its season is November to 

 March. The tree is large and spreading, resembling 

 in habit, as well as in wood and foliage, the Fall 

 Pippin. Standard trees, as a general thing, begin to 

 bear the seventh or eighth year. 



STRAWBERRIES. 



Mr. Pell, proprietor of the celebrated Pelham 

 orchard on the Hudson, seems no less successful in 

 the culture of strawberries than in Newtown Pippins. 

 He has produced, the past season, so the "Horticul- 

 turist'^ is informed by an eye witness, a Hoveij's 

 Seedlmg berry weighing two ounces and measuring 

 eight and a half inches in circumference— the largest 

 ever grown in this country, we presume; but "still 

 they are trifles te the British queens raised in Eng- 

 land, as will be seen from the following extract. It 



is a fact worthy of putting on record, 

 that, abroad or at home, wherever we 

 have found extraordinary large straw- 

 berries we have also seen extraordinary 

 supplies of moisture. 



Cultivation of the Strawberry. — Mr. Beach, 

 a market gardener, at Isleworth, having sur- 

 prised every one this year with liis British 

 Queen strawberries, both in Covent-garden, 

 at Chiswick, and the Great Exhibition, they 

 having been not only extremely large, but 

 fine in flavor, I got an introduction to bim in 

 London, and lie at once asked me to go down 

 with him to Isleworth, and see his place. lie 

 is one of those John Bull ready-wilted class 

 of men, dark and sun-burnt, somewhere al;out 

 55 years of age, and looking altogether as if 

 he had spent a mouth on the south side of the 

 Rocky ftlountains. We took the train at the 

 Waterloo station, and turned ofl' by wliat is 

 called the loop line, at Mortlake, through a 

 large tract of market gardening ground. Mr. 

 B.'s garden lies near the bottom of a gentle 

 declivity, about a mile from Hounslow ; 

 there is a large pond at the east end of his 

 land, with about 20 springs continually llow- 

 ing into it, and this pond afiords the means of 

 irrigating the whole of his ground. Ills 

 Strawberry land, which consists of about ten 

 acres, forms aparallelogram, whose longest side runs south 

 and north, thesouth end being about six feet below that on 

 the north, whie there is also a declivity from v^est to east ; 

 making it altogeher peculiarly suitable for irrigation. WIk n 

 Mr. Beach tool this Osier ground, for so it was, about live 

 years ago (and here is part in Willows now), he saw tliat 

 owing to the spiingj and the two falls of the ground, as well 

 as the texture oithe soil being a sandy, dark, loamy, soapy, 

 vegetable niaternl, that it would answer the purposes to 

 which he has appied it well. lie took a lease of it, and llie 

 first thing he did was to make a cart-way on the west upper 

 side, throwing up tie earth some two feet above the general 

 ground, so that the pith where the horse goes is from ten 

 inches to a foot deeptr than where the wheels pass along, 

 thus forming water-cou;ses all along. The next thing he did 

 was to form his ground into ridges, about 40 feet wide, run- 

 ning the short way of the square ; the centres of these ridges 

 are planted with Pears and Apples, and between with black 

 Currants, all being loaded, especially the black Currants, 

 with crops such as never were seen before. About three 

 feet from the trees on either side, are water-courses leading 

 to the bottom of the ground, where there is a mill stream, 

 and on the two declivities between the rows of trees are his 

 Strawberries, some five or sij rows of which are planted 

 along the sides of the two feat broad ditches, between the 

 ridges. These ditches receive the irrigating water, which 

 percolates under the plants down into them. It is unneces- 

 sary to describe the size and strength of the plants, as well 

 as the enormous crops they produce. His heaviest Queens 

 weighed 3 ounces : all his plants stand 2 feet apart each 

 way. The laying out ofthis ground has cost him much, but 

 it will in time well repay all expenses. Mr. B. was also the 

 first to form Violet ridges, with a sharp decli\ity, upon a 

 light sandy soil. Russian Violets planted on eacii side of 

 these long ridges, not only come in early, but bear blossoms 

 in abundance. The ridges are nearly as sharp as a jiuish- 

 room ridge. I advised Mr. B. to try Water-cresses, which 

 he could grow admirably, on account of the continual How 

 of spring water, which he has at command. James Cut- 

 hill. — Camberwell. 



Wm. R. Prince, Esq., of Flushing, has recently 

 returned home after an absence of about two years 

 in California. He states that he has sent and 

 brought home seeds and bulbs of over two itundred 

 species of trees, shrubs, and plants, "new to the 

 Atlantic States and the rest of the world." 



Rice has been cultivated more than 150 years in 

 South Carolina. It was planted there in the year 

 1693, and has been grown every year since that time. 



