Jan. 



THE POMOLOGIST. 



planted in 1840. Tlicy began to bear fruit 

 in seven years. Tlii.s tree is dia'cious, and 

 at least three out of every four are barren or 

 staniinate. The fruits of no two are alike 

 in size, form flavor, and time of ripening — 

 and they come into maturity, in succession, 

 from the 20th of September to the 1st of 

 March. 



Greatly improved varieties will no doubt 

 be produced by crossing and cultivation. 

 The foliage is rieli and beautiful; hence the 

 tree is ornamental on the lawn. 



The "Monto: Belle." 

 At the late meeting of the Illinois Horti- 

 cultural Society there were three or four 

 seedling apples on exhibition which prom- 

 ise well. Among the number was one from 

 Warsaw, 111., which attracted special atten- 

 tion, and a specimen i5# which we were per- 

 mitted to appropriate to our own use. It 

 was brought home and most deliberately 

 tested iu comparison with other varieties, 

 and we have no hesitation in pronouncing 

 it a most valuable acquisition to our west- 

 ern apple list. Symetry and color render it 

 a beauty to the eye, wliile it is not lacking 

 in flavor with any other apple of its season. 

 We will let Mr. A. C. Hammond, a citizen of 

 Warsaw, and a neighbor of the owner of the 

 tree, speak for this apple; and we most 

 heartily endorse what Mr. H. .says of the 

 fruit. We are .surprised that an apple pos- 

 sessing so many desirable qualities should 

 have remained oblivious so long. But better 

 late than never. One of our specialties at 

 least, in the management of the " Ponwhgid" 

 will be to look after and bring to the knowl- 

 edge of our readers such cases as this. We 

 have already in hand several, which, accom- 

 pained with the illustrations, will give the 

 reader a very correct idea of the fruits: 



Mark Millek. — Dear Sir:— Iu compli- 

 ance with youj request, I send you a brief 

 history of the " Monto Bello " apple. In 

 1833, Mr. Mathcw Gray removed from the 

 East and settled in Monte Bello towiiship, 

 in this county. Mrs. Gray brought with her 

 and planted a small quantity of apple seeds, 

 and one of the trees thus grown produced 

 this magnificent apple. This tree lived 

 about twenty years, wlien it was destroyed 

 by a railroad excavation. Strange as it may 

 appear, there are but three bearing trees 

 known to have been propogated from it. 



One of these trees, now standing in the 

 orchard of Dr. Chandler, attracted my at- 

 tention several years ago, and having become 

 satisfied that the tree was productive and 

 liardy, and the fruit of superior quality and 

 uniformly large and handsome, I brought it 

 to the notice of tlic Warsaw Horti<ailtunil 

 Society, the past season. It was, by that 

 Society, pronounced the very best apple of 

 the season, and named the "Monte 

 Bem.o," in honor of its birth place, Tlie 

 following is tlie description, published at the 

 time: 



President Himi- 



mond lu-ouglit it to 



the notice of the 



Society and pre» 



sented specimens 



of a seedling apple 



from the orchard 



of Dr. Chandler. 



It is a nio.st magnifi- 

 cent apple, of tlie 



highest quality ,and 



is certainly a great 



acquisition. 



Description. — Tree 



rather upright, 



moderately vigor^ 



ous, healthy, very 



hardy, early and 

 constant bearer; 

 shoots, grayish 

 brown ; le;ives medium. 



Fruit large, blate, very handsome, surface 

 smoothe, color yellow, striped and splashed 

 with deep red with, which it is almost 

 completely covered ; dots large and scatter- 

 ing ; basin wide, regular or wavy ; eye me- 

 dium, closed ; cav- 



ity wide, regular; 

 brown, stem short 

 and slender; core 

 medium, regular, 

 melting ; seeds 

 small, pointed; 

 flesh white, fi n e 

 grained, tender, 

 delicate juicy ; fla- 

 vor mild, subacid, 

 spriglill}', vinous ; 

 i|ualit3' very l)est ; 

 season, Septemlier 

 to Deeemlier, 



A. C. Hammond. 

 Warsaw, III 



— The sin of in- 

 gratitude has been 

 universally detest- 

 ed; but that sin 

 will never be 

 charge d upon 

 Mother Earth. 



MONTO BELLO. 



bark and wood may be discolored, and the 

 tree recover, I do not know. I know that in 

 1855, in our State, thousands of trees were 

 killed and many recovered. Our one year 

 olds ( of which we have 100,000 ) appear to 

 all be affected alike, without regard to 



Damage by the October Freeze. 

 Mark Miller — De/ir Sir : Inclosed find one 

 dollar, and place us on your subscription list 

 for 1870 for the "Western Pomoloyist" We 

 take a large number of agricultural and 

 horticidtnral paper.s, but in a nudtitude of 

 council there is wisdom. From our horticul- 

 tural acquaintance with yon, we think it 

 would be wisdom to add the " Western Po- 

 mologist" to our list. 



Since my return from our horticultural 

 meeting at Ottawa, I have been examiniag 

 (Uir young ajiplc trees in nursery, and find 

 the Iiard freeze in October has injured them 

 badly. Many varieties {two and three year 

 olds) are bursted at the collar, the bark loose 

 and discolored all the way round, while oth- 

 ers are much di.scolored ai.d not bnr.stcd — 

 many very slightly. What will be the result 

 I am not prejiared to say. How much the 



OUTLINE. 



varieties— Duchess of Oldenburg as badly as 

 any. 



Our hedge plants were, I think, all killed 

 (I believe I showed you some of ours at Ot- 

 tawa) in our section of the State. Within a 

 few days past I have received letters from 

 Iowa City in your State, sjiying hedge plants 

 were much injured. I think a large majority 

 of the plants in our State, that were not 

 taken up before the hard freeze, are nearly 

 destroyed. I am in hopes those that were 

 not tiiken up, if left standing, may grow and 

 make plants another year. Many fear the 

 root is also killed. If the destruction of 

 plants and trees shoidd pi-ove as general as I 

 fear in our State, the loss will be thou.sands 

 of dollars, and will fall heavily upon many 

 individuals who have all their means invest- 

 ed in trees and jdants. W. T. Nelson. 

 Wilmington, Til. 



