346 



THE GENESEE FAK:^£ER. 



lious, which have been so successful on my light porous 

 soil, are now over ten years old, and have been bearing 

 fine' crops for five or six years. In our county, it cracks 

 badly \ipon a heavy soil, with hard and retentive sub-soil 

 not imderdrained. , . . 



Mr. Langwortht thought that in the cultivation ot 

 Pears for profit, it is desirable for the varieties to have a 

 succession of ripening periods that should not interfere 

 with each other nor with peaches. They would then be 

 proiitable, and not being in competition with each other 

 or with other fruits, would bring very good prices in the 

 market. On my soil, (before described,) Virgalieu does 

 not either crack its fruit or blight the tree, and I have not 

 one case of tree blight. 



(lEO. Ellwaxger, of Monroe county, says that the v ir- 

 <ralieu fruit has never been so large as this year in our 

 Grounds, both as Standards and Dwarfs. The fruit, how- 

 ever, is larger upon .Standards trained as pyramids than 

 on Dwarfs. Considers it more disposed to crack upon a 

 light, dry soil, than where they have a heavy clayey sub- 



C. L. EoKG, of Niagara county : Have looked carefully 

 at this matier of the V irgalieu, and from all that I have 

 seen, could sav that it cracks less in light than heavy 

 soils. One orchard of Standards planted in a clayey soil, 

 which, although easily drained, had produced hardly a 

 perfect specimen in the whole orchard. In a location not 

 .')i> rods distant, upon soil a litlle heavier, the frnit was 

 badly spotted ; while upon a sandy portion of the orchard, 

 it was not cracked at all. The Dwarf Virgalieu did not 

 spot as badly as the Slandard. Would contirm what Mr. 

 Lat says— Belle Lucrative is a'most splendid pear. What 

 Mr. Bakry says as to good cultivation, but not too rich, 

 is exactly my experience. Once saw a man who wanted 

 to have his trees grow finely, put a wagon load of manure 

 around each tree, enough to kill any tree, and then com- 

 plain that Dwarf Pear trees would not succeed well with 



^Ir. Barry here again remarked in regard to the diflfer- 

 ences in soils. His land is a sandy loam, and the varia- 

 tions m different parts of the plantation are where the 

 claj or sand predomiaates. Sandy soils are very fertile, 

 but the Pear will not hold out in them for more than eight 

 or ten years. The Pear needs a good loam. It is not 

 safe to draw conclusions from onejor two cases as to the 

 causes of Virgalieu cracking or spotting. Two years ago, 

 the oulv place where it was found was the heavy soil. 

 Thinks"^the spotting upon the Pear is a fungous growth, 

 dependant upon atmospheric causes. Last year our Vir- 

 galieus did not crack at all, but spotted badly. These 

 spots developed their fungous growth in the barrels while 

 on the wav to market, and the Pears were worthless upon 

 their reaching the market. The Virgalieu is fairer than 

 usual this season. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



The first question taken up iu the afternoon session 

 was : " Granting that the Louise Bonne de Jersey and 

 Duchesse d'Angonleme are the Best Two, which Variety 

 of Pear Stands Third for Profitable Cultivation on the 

 Quince ?" It was explained that this was a pure question 

 of dollars and cents — a money question. 



Mr. HoAG wanted to put Seckel, while 



H. E. ilooKER, of Monroe county, would hardly put 

 Seckel as third, while he would surely make it one of 

 twelve varieties. Thinks Flemish Beauty and Bartlett 

 double worked would prove a good investment, and pro- 

 duce good returns. 



Mr. Hopkins, of Tompkins county, thought very highly 

 of Vicar of Winkfield, taking into account its time of 

 ripening. The fine growing habit of the tree, and its ex- 

 cellent bearing qualities, would cause me to select it as 

 the third. It always brings a good price, because of its 

 ripening at a time when few competing fruits are in mar- 

 ket, and there is a great demand for fine specimens. 



Mr. Ellwaxger spoke of Stevens' Genesee Pear as this 

 year being extremely fine; stating that for market no 

 variety will bring a 'higher price, when well grown and 

 well ripened. It is a truly beautiful fruit, although it 

 may be not of as high a flavor as the Barti-ett. Spoke of 

 the Vicar of Winkfield as being variable iu character of 

 the fruit according to the seasons. It has one desirable 

 quality — that of dui-ability upon the Quince stock. It 

 keeps up its vigor well. Our trees l\i to 15 years old bear 



annually very fine crops. The American Pomological 

 Society, which had previously placed it on the rejected 

 list because it frequently rotted at the core before ripe, 

 took it from that rejected list this year. 



Mr. IIoAtt spoke of Stevens' Genesee as having done 

 very well this season. The fruit seemed sometimes a little 

 variable; but that was because of too late picking. You 

 should pick this sort early, when you first see indications 

 of a change in color. 



The next subject in the afternoon was " Grapes ; Which 

 Among the New Hardy Varieties have Proved to be 

 Adapted to our Climate"?" 



P. Barky thought more highly of the Delaware this 

 year than ever before. In favorable situations and under 

 good treatment, it is vei-i/ fruitful. It is not hard of culti- 

 vation, and it is a fine, truly hardy open air grape. We 

 had one vine on the east end of our dwelling-house, 

 where justice was not done to it as to soil, and yet it has 

 made a very fine growth. The vine is only three years 

 old, yet it lias borne quite a large crop this year upon the 

 old \vood. The shoots of this year are long, strong, and 

 well ripened. In our open vinej^ard the wood of the 

 vines has not yet (25th September) ripened up as well. 

 Requires good treatment to ripen up the wood well ; but 

 when well ripened, nothing can be finer. Our Delaware 

 fruit was ripe enough to eat two weeks ago. Mr. B. has 

 also cultivated the llartford Prolific to a considerable ex- 

 tent, and is quite pleased with it. The bunches have 

 been generally complained of as very loose ; but with us 

 they are reasonably compact, and the berries are sweet 

 and good. It is much better in our grounds than I have 

 seen it elsewhere; because it is a vigorous vine, a strong 

 grower, with most luxuriant foliage, and well deserves its 

 name of Prolific. With us it grows tied up to a stake, 

 upon the south side of one of our hills, and in the basin ' 

 at the bottom of the declivity, where the wash from the 

 hill has made the soil rich and nice. The Concord also, 

 with Mr. B., ripens perfectly every year; and under all 

 exposures is a very hardy vine. On stakes in our open 

 vineyard, the fruit is now quite ripe; much riper than 

 the Isabella is. The Diana, with Mr. B., is one of our 

 most valuable grapes. When young, the vine is a healthy, 

 strong, and thrifty grower; and it bears fruit well when 

 it acquires age. The Diana is certainly a variety which 

 we can always rely upon here, under ordinarily good 

 treatment. The Rebecca has commonly been called a 

 delicate grape, except under particular treatment ; for 

 instance, trained up handsomely upon a wall. In my 

 opinion, no American grape is equal to it in high flavor, 

 although the bunches are small. It will be found a very 

 valuable garden grape ; although not a grape for the, 

 vineyard, nor for extensive cultivation. In Hartford Pro- 

 lific, much of the looseness or closeness of the bunch de- 

 pends upon the mode of pruning. This grape is said 

 to fall badly from the bunches as soon as ripe, and with 

 me the berries did fall last year ; but this year they have 

 ripened up finely, and with no signs of falling at all. 



H. E. HooKEu, of Monroe county, is- cultivating the 

 Delaware grape, both upon an open trellis and trained 

 upon the south side of a building, and has found a very 

 few days ditierence between the llartford Prolific and the 

 Delaware as to the time of ripening. Hartford Prolific is 

 not as good flavored a grape as the Delaware ; yet in size 

 of the fruit and in vigor of growth I esteem it highly. 

 While there are few grounds which have grapes as early 

 as people desire, this sort is sure to ripen, and to be as 

 good as the Isabella at a time when the Isabella is not 

 yet colored. The Hartford Prolific is an earlier grape 

 than the Concord, and so is the Delaware an earlier varie- 

 ty. I think that the Delaware is our very best grape. I 

 have fruited it on my place, and have uniformly found it 

 very productive. With fair culture it fruits well, and is a 

 fine sizeable grape; while for home use, the Delaware is 

 beyond comparison better than the Concord. Concord 

 and Diana, with me, ripen up their fruit together; a 

 showy grape, and uniformly hardy. Rebecca, with me, 

 has not grown well enough. It does not make very 

 strong wood upon my place, and the foliage sunburns. 

 As towhich among the new hardy grapes 1 would recom- 

 mend, I say Hartford Prolific, Concord, Diana, and above 

 all, the Delaware. The Delaware, with me, is entirely 

 and perfectly hardy ; even the lateral shoots are hardy, 

 and no part of a well cultivated vine is ever killed back. 

 For training upon a trellis, I would recommend planting 



