DECEMBER. 573 



ious as we ever ate. We kept it in excellent order up to the last of No- 

 vember. 



Splendid California Fruits. — Our correspondent residing at San Jos6, 

 sends us the following account of some splendid fruit, exhibited at the late 

 Fair of the California Agricultural Society, held at San Francisco : — 



" Taking the youth of the State it was a great deal, when, in the fruit 

 department four years ago, there was not a dozen apple trees in California ; 

 and now a long table down the City Hall, I should say about ninety feet 

 long, was laden with the finest apples, &c. I ever saw ; some Gloria Mundi, 

 two pounds three quarters. To show you the difference of climate ; this 

 apple at home is not worth a cent only for cooking ; it is here a first rate 

 apple, and all the judges coincide in that opinion. Porters over one pound 

 each. In fact, all the apples here are much larger than in the Eastern 

 States, — whether they will continue so or not I cannot say. 



Pears are at home in San Jose. A Mr. Fallow exhibited six Duchess 

 d' Angouleme, weighing only sixteen pounds ; one of them was three pounds 

 lacking an ounce. There were Catillac pears as large as marrow squashes. 

 Six peaches, Heath Cling, weighed six pounds six ounces ; and Capt. 

 Macondray's show of foreign Grapes were extra fine ; he had about fifty 

 bunches, none of them under three pounds : coming from one establishment, 

 I thought they were the finest collection I ever saw." — Yours, B. S. F. 



The Concord Grape is gaining friends as fast as we supposed it would 

 until it had been cultivated longer. We have evidence from all quarters 

 of its hardiness, earliness and excellence, although the vines are yet alto- 

 gether too young to produce a good sized bunch. The American Agricul- 

 turist speaks thus in regard to this much-abused variety : — 



" The Concord Grape, which caused so much discussion at its introduction 

 some four years ago, [only three] is settling down to a place among stand- 

 ard fruits, in northern climates. No grape was ever introduced with a 

 louder flourish of trumpets, and few were ever assailed with severer criti- 

 cism. It is gradually winning favor, and appears destined to become 

 popular where the Isabella will not ripen. A fruit grower in Connecticut 

 recently informed us that it had done remarkably well with him, ripened 

 this year by the 1st of September, while the Diana did not mature till the 

 J 6th, and the Isabella not until the last of the month. This is valuable 

 testimony to its early maturity. The price has fallen from five dollars to 

 one, and is now within the reach of all who desire it. We hear of gentle- 

 men who are making large plantations of it." 



Peabodt's New Strawberry. — Mr. Peabody informs us in a recent letter, 

 that his requisite number of subscribers is nearly made up, and the plants 

 will probably be sent out in the spring. — Ed. 



