July 



THE POMOLOGIST. 



83 



Cooper's Early White. 



Fruit, average to large; weight, from eiglit to twelve ounces; form, round, regular, 

 slightly flattened ; skin, smooth, clear, straw color, with an occasional faiut blush ; 

 dots, small, grey; 

 stem, long to me- 

 dium, often thick ; 

 cavity, wide, regu- 

 lar, rather deep, 

 green; eye, large, 

 open; basin, wide, 

 deep, furrowed; 

 core, large, regu- 

 lar, open ; carpels, 

 large, wide ; seeds, 

 large, plump, dark 

 brown; flesh, 

 white, crisp, juicy, 

 mild acid; quality, 

 good; use, kitchen 

 aud market; seas- 

 on, August and 

 September. Tree, 

 vigorous, stocky, 



thorny, making heavy, shnrt-j'>inted growth, 

 spreading open head, very early bearer and 

 very productive; very saleable. This apple 

 has proved so flue and fair in Kansas, aud so 

 early and productive, that it should be the 

 first variety planted on a new place, bearing, 

 as it does, at from three to four years old 

 from the graft. 



This apple is said to have originated in 

 Iowa, and we should like to have its history. 

 We procured it of Mr. A. Bryant, Princeton, 

 Illinois, 1858.— LAssT. Ed. 



For the Western I'omologiet, 



Grafting the Grape. 



Friend Miller:— In reply to S. J. Allis, 

 I would state that at one time my opinion 

 was that we should use vines to be worked 

 upon as near the same class as the grafts 

 to be used ; but since, in my operations, 

 have found that it does not make much 

 difierence. 



I had a brown muscat do splendidly 

 grafted ou a Concord. Last season a friend 

 of mine grafted quite a number of Martha 

 on Concord stocks, and at the same time a 

 part upon Norton's Virginia. The latter 

 succeeded much the best. 



My operating with foreign, as well as 

 improved native sorts ; upon the wild stocks 

 here ( Vitus Cardipleu and Eslavalgis) do about 

 equally well. 



I pay no attention now to making an 

 exact line of the inner bark, but invariably 

 set the graft at a slight angle ; thus insuring 

 a connection. Split the stock with a knife 

 by all means, aud if it splits a little deeper 

 it will not harm. Sometimes I have split 

 with a shoemaker's knife, drawing it down 

 with the hands, inserted the point of*lie 

 widge, then drove it in with a tack hammer. 

 This may seem a rough operation; but 

 [ when the stocks are thick, and the grafts of 



a hard woodi-d kind, it answers first rale. 

 At least I never had better success. Have 

 grafts now three f-et long set this spring. 

 Grafted some last fall (Fuller's plan) nearly 

 all of which prove a failure. 

 Bluffton, Mo. S. Miller. 



For the Weetern Pomolosiet. 



The "Wild Goose Plum. 



With a local reputation without a rival, 

 this really magnificent plum seems to have 

 been unknown abroad until very recently. 

 Curculio and disease, so fatal to the finer 

 sorts, have constrained inquiry for a new 

 kind not liable to these objections. Wild 

 Goose originated on Cumberland river in 

 this State. A seedling, probably of the 

 wild Chickasaw, and is undoubtedly the 

 finest of all the native plums. Fruit, large 

 to very large, crimson with numerous white 

 dots, showy, and very good. Tree, a rapid 

 grower, spreading, comes early into bearing; 

 both fruit aud tree being subject to no dis- 

 ease. The tree attains the .size of a peach, 

 in about the same time, aud so far seems as 

 hardy as a wild crab. It is thought that it 

 will grow well and succeed in every section 

 of our country. Like Oncord grape, Bart- 

 lett pear, aud Wilson's Albany strawberry, 

 which far from being best, are yet decidedly 

 the most valuable of their class. Wild 

 Goose is destined to occupy a prominent 

 place. 



As a market variety it is most valuable.— 

 Fruit may be gathered two or three days 

 before ripe, when slightly colored, and will 

 bear transportation well. The crop is im- 

 meme and always commands the highest 

 price in market. Where such things as 

 blackberries and Philadelphia raspberries 

 find purchasers, an acre of these plums 

 would fill the pockets of the market-man. 



There are many spurious sorts extant. 



being propagated from seedlings of the 

 original. Most of these, as far as seen, are 

 good, some comparatively worthless. The 

 finest trees are produced by root grafting on 

 peach ; successful ou any free growing plum 

 stock. Fruit ripens here about the 20th of 

 June.' Curculio does no damage to the crop, 

 though not entirely free from its attack.— 

 We have tested it in the same situation with 

 many of the most approved sorts for years, 

 aud while the others are worthless, these 

 have remained uninjured. Our soil is strong 

 clay, lime stone, best adapted to plum grow- 

 ing. Have not seen it tested in light soils, 

 but would expect more from it in such sit- 

 uation than from any other sort. To all 

 who can't have ihe best, yet wish to have 

 an abundance of good, aud the market man 

 who would make an easy and sure thing of 

 it, we say plant largely of the Wild Goose 

 Plum. J. E. Majsson. 



Muifreesboro, Tenn. 



«-»-► 



For the Western Potnologist. 



Trees Dying— Planting Forest Tree Seed. 



Mark Miller— Z»ear Sir : I am just in 



receipt of last number of my Pomologist. 



I notice the extract from a correspondent 



of the Country OerUleman, of May 11th, 



writing from Champaign county, Illinois. I 



think it is hardly necessary to conclude that 



trees on our prairies can live only about ten 



years, because some are dying now. If he 



will just look at simple causes, it seems easy 



to understand the result in this case. We 



all know that the extreme wet weather last 



season caused unusual growth, which did 



not fully ripen before the severe freeze that 



caught so many apples still hanging on the 



trees. It seems to me that such a freeze so 



early is sufllcient cause for all the evils 



resulting to evergreens and fruit trees. My 



trees have suflered comparatively little, being 



grown on pretty stift" clay, upland, timber 



soil. 

 Your State has done well, in my opinion, 



to encourage tree planting. I am in a small 

 way doing what I can to help the good work 

 along. I have put in fifty bushels soft maple 

 seeds, forty bushels white ash, ten bushels 

 white elm, six bushels box elder, some Nor- 

 way Maple, and European Ash, etc., etc. 



If your State will do away with the 

 necessity for fences, or enclosures about your 

 farms, etc., iu other words, keep up or herd 

 stock, the raising of forests would be a sim- 

 ple matter, compared to what it now is. It 

 will be required of the West, I think. Very 

 few young trees will grow up even in forests 

 where cattle have free range, so that when 

 the present supply is cut we are done for. 



I hope to meet you at the meeting at Iowa 

 City, on the 23d inst. 



Perhaps I ought to add that the sleet last 

 spring that added so much temporary beauty 

 to our trees probably did its share in injur- 

 ing evergreens, and perhaps other trees too. 

 Wm. a. Nourse, Molirie, Illinois. 



