76 



THE POMOLOGIST. 



June 



For the Western Pomologist. 



Hewes' Crab. 



The exact line of distinction between the 

 common apple (Pyrus Malus,) and the Sibe- 

 rian crab apples (Pyrus Baccata), is often 

 hard to define. Hewes' Virginia Crab, 

 is probably .[botanictlly considered, not to be 

 classed with the crabs, 'and the same may be 

 said of several apples known as crabs. But 

 however classed, the Hewes', for its practi- 

 cal uses, stands well up to the head of all the 

 apples to which the name of crab has been 

 applied. For the making of bottled cider 

 and sparkling champaign it has no acknowl- 

 edged competitor. Were it not for its small 

 size it would also have a fame as a culinary 

 apple ; as sauce, mince pies, etc., made from 

 it have a rich vinous flavor peculiar to this 

 apple. The tree is slender and twiggy in 

 nursery, but becomes a wide spreading, long 

 lived, and immensely productive tree in 

 orchard. The apple, in color, is striped with 

 a dark dullish red upon a yellow ground. — 

 Season, November to January. Worthy of 

 having a place in every prairie orchard of 

 Central and Southern Iowa. 



Joseph L. Budd, Shdlsburg, Iowa. 



Pomology in Wurtemberg, 



C. Schickler, president of the Horticultu- 

 ral Society "Flora," sends to the department 

 of Agriculuure the following statement rela- 

 tive to pomology in Wurtemberg: 



Wurtemberg may be called one of the 

 largest fruit growing countries iu Europe. 

 In very good and prosperous fruit years, as 

 will happen once or oftener in every dcceu- 

 nium, (1860, 1864, 1869,) the crop amounts 

 to from three to four liundred weight of 

 fruit for every head of our population. The 

 very perceptible saving in cereals and other 

 provisions during sucli 3'ears reduces tlieir 

 prices increases the export, and has caused our 

 fanners' adage : " Cheat times come out of the 

 wood." 



Our fruit cultivation pervades every district. 

 Tlie orcliards increase in nuntber and .size 

 every yeiir, not only iu the river valleys but 

 on the hill slopes and mountains, so that you 

 may now see tine and remunerative orchards 

 two thousand and two tliousand four hun- 

 dred feet above tide-water, where it was for- 

 merly thought that no fruit could prosper. 



The most fruitful sections are found along 

 the shores of the Nectar, north of tlie Alb, 

 and generally on the northern and north- 

 eastern slopes of the hills, which prove most 

 propitious for fruit. 



According to official statistics, as far as ob- 

 tainable, there were in Wurtemberg during 

 the year 1852, of seed fruit, 5,000,000 trees, 

 with a yearly crop of 8,000,000 hundred 

 weight of fruit; and of stone f uit, 3,500,000 

 trees, with 2,000,000 hundredweight of fruit 

 Since then thenuuiberof trees hasiucreased 

 very much. In some districts there are from 

 eighty thousand to one hundred thousand 

 fruit trees upon a square mile. The city of 

 Stuttgart counts upon a horticultural area of 

 five thousand four hundred and forty-five 

 acres, about one hundred and ten thousand 

 fruit trees. The crops in diflereut years vary 

 from 590,000 to 19,400,000 sei, (three sei per 

 hundred weight,) and as the price per hun- 

 dred weight varies between one and three 

 thalers, gold, (about one dollar to three dol- 

 lars of our currency,) the average crop of 

 fruit represents a value of six to seven mil- 

 lions of thalers. 



The greatest danger to fruit crops lies in 

 the spring frosts during the blooming sea- 

 son ; yet .as this season varies nearly four 

 weeks in the diflereut sections, it is easily 

 understood that frequently one county has 

 plentiful crops, whilst another has a failure, 

 but general failures are rare. For the same 

 reason it is evident that the warmest dis- 

 tricts are not the most favorable for fruit 

 cultivation, as the earlier the time fr.r bloom- 

 ing, the greater is the danger of fro.sts; and 

 for the same reason it is exceptional when 

 good fruits and wine crops are produced the 

 same season, as the former prospers the best 

 under late vegetation and a wet summer, 

 while wine requires early vegetation and a 

 dry and warm season. 



The yield of cider and dried fruits is con- 

 sidered with us of great importance, but ta- 

 ble fruit is also extensively cultivated in some 

 sections, i. e., " Rems hal," " Neckar shal." 

 The apple crop is the most useful of all. 

 There is also some export of this crop, as 

 well as of fre.sh cherries into Bavaria. 



The cherry tree is among the stone fruit 

 most cultivated in the valleys of the Alb and 

 Rems. The prune tree (Zwetscheubaum) 

 is very common all over the country, and 

 yields the most valuable fruit for drjang. 

 The year 1868 abounded in all kinds of .stone 

 fruits, especially prunes. The walnut tree 

 (EnglLsh walnut) prospers most on the slopes 

 of the Alb, and yields good crops and flue 

 cabinet wood. Peaches and Apricots are 

 raised in vineyards and gardens, in the for- 

 mer as standards, in the latter as wall fruit. 



A great advantage and ornament is de- 

 rived from the planting of fruit trees all 

 along the roads of the country, the trees 

 being mostly owned by neighboring farm- 

 ers. 



To promote pomology there are several 

 nurseries, and iu the vineyai'ds there are 

 raised a great many young fruit trees, yet 

 the demand is greater than tlie supply, and 

 there are every year great quantities import- 

 ed from Bavaria, Baden, and France. 



The tree fairs every spring in Esslingen, 

 Rentlingen, Goeppiagen, and Stuttgart are 

 interesting and peculiar features of Wurt em- 

 burg. The prices of young trees vary con- 

 siderably. Trees whicli, from 1848 to 1852, 

 .sold at six to ten kreutser (three to five cents) 

 each, now sell at one to one and a-lialf gul- 

 den (thirty to forty -five cents.) The average 

 price of young apple trees is forty-two 

 kreutzer (twenty-five cents) each ; pear trees 

 forty -eight kreutzcr, (twenty-eight cents;) 

 cherry or prune trees eighteen kreutzer, (ten 

 cents,) varying witli the quality of tlie tree. 



Some j'ears ago a school for pomology was 

 established, which proves of great value. 



The greatest jjortion of the fruit crop is 

 used f(U' eider, the favorite beverage of the 

 farmer. This cider keeps very long, if made 

 of certain species, as, for instance, the orange 

 pear, wax pear, roast pear, sugar apple, 

 Borsdorfer apple, Reine-Hon apple, &c. 



In unfavorable years, and even in average 

 j'ears, during the last decenuium, large 

 quantities of fruit have been imported from 

 Switzerland, Baden, and Hessen, to answer 

 the steadily increasing demand for cider. 

 Esslingen aloue produces in good years 

 10,000 eimer, (800,000 gallons,) mostly of 

 sugar apple. A sugar apple tree is known to 

 have yielded from eighty to one hundred sei 

 (twenty -six to thirty-three hundred weight) 

 of apples, at a value of 600 to 1,000 gulden, 

 (300 to $500.) 



The industry of distilling liquor from cher- 

 ries and prunes (kirshengerst and zwet- 

 schengeist) is also lucrative and important. 



Bladder Plums. 



In No. 4, vol. ii, of the American Ento- 

 mologist, is an article under the above head- 

 ing, from which we make a few extracts, 

 appending thereto my own observation iu 

 legard to tlie same, although it may not 

 throw new light on the question. The arti- 

 cle is from the pen of the Editor : 



" For many years we have noticed iu the 

 middle of June on particular trees of our 

 common wild plum [Prunus Amerkana) that 

 many specimens of the fruit were enlarged 

 to thrice their usual size and were uneven 

 and wrinkled on tlieir external surface in- 

 stead of being smooth aud plumply rounded. 

 On cutting into such specimens, they were 

 found to be hollow and spongj' inside, in- 

 stead of solid and fleshy ; and almost entirely 

 detached from the exterior rind, there lies in 

 the center the juicy white stone which 

 is found imbedded in the flesh of the 

 normal plum at this season of the year. On 

 the closest examination, we could never 

 detect iu these diseased plums any tokens of 

 the operations of insects." 



The Editor goes on to say he has received 

 specimens from several sources, one from an 

 Iowa correspondent in 1868, who does not 

 specify the variety from which it was gath- 

 ered, saying, " the disease commenced about 

 four years ago, and has now taken almost 

 entire possession of his trees. Hence it 

 would appear that, besides the curculio, 

 there is still another destructive pe.st which 

 the unfortunate plum grower has to guard 

 against." 



" We can guarantee that this bladder-like 

 degeneration of the plum is not caused by 

 any insects. What then does cause it, if 

 insects do not ? We answer that, in all 

 probability, it is caused by a jieculiar para- 

 sitic fungus, which may or ma}' not be iden- 

 tical with one which produces very similar 

 eflects in Europe. In the London periodical 

 called Science Gossip, for August 1st, 1869, 

 we notice an observation that bladder plums, 

 which are described as being almost exactly 

 like our American ones, are common on the 

 sloe or blackthorn [Pruuiis spinosa) in Eng- 

 land, and that they arc said to be caused by 

 a parasitic fungus {Ascomyces deformans.) — 

 The fruit presents none of its ordinary suc- 

 culent characters, the stone is not formed, 

 and the ovule is more or less astrophied, 

 while sometimes a second carpel is pro- 

 duced." He says specimens have been sent 

 from Europe to a gentleman in St. Louis, 

 and that in Europe ''they are popularly 

 known as ' fools.' " He also states : " But 

 Dr. Hull, of S. Illinois, informed us some 

 time ago that he had never met with them, 

 and that he was entirely unacquainted with 

 any such disease. Hence we infer that how- 

 ever destructive it may have been elsewhere,- 

 it has not yet made its appearance in South- 

 ern Illinois, and possible may never do so." 



So much for the article iu the Entomolo- 

 gist; I will now state mv observation aud 

 experience. Some thirtj' five years since 

 my father purchased the place whereon I 

 now reside ; in the garden were three plum 



