Horticultural Societies. 563 



Art. III. Societies. 



PENNSTLVANIA HORTICOLTURAt. 



Ad Interim Fruit Report, for JVovember, 1853. — Since the October meet- 

 ing of the Society, the following fruits have been forwarded to the Fruit 

 Committee for examination : — 



From P. H. Cassady, 29 Logan Square, two varieties of grapes. 



1. Tlie Cassady. — An accidental seedling white grape, with native leaf, 

 and dark purplish wood, that sprung up in Mr. Cassady's yard in 1847, and 

 fruited in 1852 for the first time. Bunch, of medium size, tolerably com- 

 pact, and sometimes shouldered. Berry, below medium, five-eighths of an 

 inch in diameter ; form round ; color, greenish white with occasionally a 

 faint salmon tint, and thickly covered with white bloom ; flesh, juicy with 

 but little pulp; flavor, pleasant; quality "very good." 



2. The Kilvington. — This may prove a known native variety. It was 

 purchased by Mr. Cassady, seven years ago, before it had fruited, for the 

 Isabella, and removed from Schuylkill, Fourth and Chestnut streets, to its 

 present locality in Logan Square. Bunch, medium, compact. Berry, be- 

 low medium, five-eighths of an inch in diameter; form, round ; color, red, a 

 shade deeper than the Catawba, with much bloom ; seed, unusually large ; 

 flesh, contains some pulp, which is not tough, but half tender, and melting; 

 flavor, vinous and saccharine without any Catawba aroma; quality "best." 



From R. Iredell, Norristown. — A specimen of Duchess of Angouleme of 

 enormous size, nearly five inches long by four and a quarter broad, and 

 weighing twenty-five and a quarter ounces — exceeding in size any pear we 

 have ever seen grown in this country. Notwithstanding its magnitude, we 

 have never eaten a better flavored Duchesse, — a variety, by the way, which, 

 when fully ripened, we regard in quality, at least, " very good." 



From Mr. Eckert, Reading. — Additional specimens of the pear men- 

 tioned in the last " Ad Interim Report" as being probably the Beurre Diel. 

 These were even larger than those previously received, and possessed a still 

 more brilliant cheek, and equally fine flavor. 



From Col. Charles R. Belt, D. C— Specimens of Belt's Hybrid Walnut. 

 The history and appearance of this unique and interesting hybrid present 

 unequivocal evidence that it is a natural cross between the Butternut (Ju- 

 glans Cinerea,) and the English Walnut (Juglans Regia,) the latter being 

 the maternal parent. It originated about twenty years ago at Chevy Chase, 

 the residence of Col. Belt, near Washington, D. C, from an English Wal- 

 nut planted by his brother, Capt. Wm. I. Belt, late of the United States 

 Navy. Capt. Belt procured the nut from an English Walnut tree in the 

 garden of Mrs. Bowie, of Prince George's County, Maryland. Within a 

 few hundred yards of Mrs. Bowie's residence, grew a number of Butternut 

 trees, some of the pollen from the blossoms of which no doubt had been 

 wafted by the wind, or conveyed by insects to the English Walnut tree in 

 the garden, and occasioned hybridism. After the nut had sprouted, Col 

 Belt took it up and replanted it in the locality it at present occupies. The 

 tree is a vigorous grower, and is represented as being exceedingly orna- 



