1871 



THE POMOLOGIST AND GARDENER. 



187 



Not any of these peculiarities belong to the Fox 

 grape, but they all belong to the European grape." 

 To all of which Mr. Husman replies in the follow- 

 ing quaint style : 



" The Catawba and Isabella are pure native seed- 

 lings, according to ail the authorities, excejit Dr. 

 Staymn,n, and he does not produce a single proof 

 that they are not. The evidence lie tries to give is, 

 'that they have the peculiarity of hylirlds,' as the 

 Rogers', for instance. We emphatically deny this. 

 There is no peculiarity in the Catawba and Isabella 

 which is not native, pure and simple. Foliage, 

 growth of wood, berry, llesh, pulp and all, are 

 unmistakably native." 



From the above extract it will appear very evi- 

 dent that Mr. Husman was considerably confused, 

 for he has not only forgotten his logic, but has left 

 off a member of our premise, and then substituted 

 another proposition and discussed it. Why did he 

 omit the Delaware grape which is as much a mem- 

 ber of our jiremise as the Catawba and Isabella. 

 He certainly will not admit we were correct respect- 

 ing it. The difficulty no doubt was, the Delaware 

 grape would not pass through the same ordeal he 

 took the other varities, well knowing it was not 

 considered a "pure native seedling by (/^ theathori- 

 ties." We presented the following proposition : 



" In these hybrids we find every peculiarity 

 belonging to our improved varieties as the Catawba, 

 Isabella and Delaware aud their seedlings," which 

 Mr. Husman corroborates in the following lan- 

 guage : " The evidence he tries to give is that 

 they have the peculiarities of hybrids, as Rogers for 

 instance." Now hear his laconic reply : 



" We emphatically deny this. There is n-o peculi- 

 arity in the Catawba and Isabella which is not native, 

 pure and simple. Foliage, growth of wood, berry, 

 flesh, pulp and all are unmistakably native." 



We have emphasized the parts showing he has 

 evaded a direct reply to our proposition, and has also 

 left off one of the members of our premi.se (the Del- 

 aware grape.) Even if he had sustained his posi- 

 tion logically speaking, we would have been 

 one third correct, for that ]5art has not been 

 denied. 



In concluding our remarks would say, that we do 

 not much admire the spirit of some of Mr. Bus- 

 man's criticisms. For however much we may dif- 

 fer with each other, we should always endeavor to 

 show dignity and respect to others and discuss in 

 the spirit of meekness and kindness for the purpose 

 of eliciting truth. Mr. Husman has used the appel- 

 lation Profe.nor (which we have never assumed) in 

 an ironical and derogatory manner, thus — " so much 

 for this part of the learned Professor's theory." 

 " The members did not generally share the learned 

 Profes,sor's opinions," &c. And then to apparently 

 cap the climax, he added the following misrepre- 

 sentation : 



"Besides, we remember reading a very lengthy 

 dissertation of his .some years ago, in which he 

 proved (to his satisfaction at lea-st), that no lifjht-rol- 

 ored fruit couUl be healthy and hardy." 



Comment on the above is unnecessary except on 

 the last sentence, which we simply deny and 

 respectfully ask Mr. Husman to give the facts 

 wherein we said " that no light-colored fruit cortld be 

 luxdthy find hardy. 



This being so unwarrantable and uncalled for, in 

 justice to one's self we will give an extract from the 

 remarks of Mr. T/miuis Meehan, Editor of the Gar- 

 (fcHow' Montldy, who is well ac((uaintcd with our 

 views, having published the most of them. He 

 says, March, 1866 : 



"It is not more than two years ago, we believe, 

 iu an article on Raspberries and Blackberries, that 

 we pointed out the probability of light-colored 

 fruits being the tenderest, but by the articles of Dr. 

 Stayman, who had, previous to our suggestions, 

 been experimenting particularly on this subject — 

 the matter has become one of great interest to intel- 

 ligent cultivators. The real matter is this :— Pale- 

 ness has long been identified with sickliness ; that is 

 to say, the pale man or the pale plant is not consid- 

 ered so hale and harty as the ruddier neighbor; 

 paleness being used as a comparatiiie term between 

 closely allied individuals. Vai ieties of fruits, in fact, 

 are precisely as individuals amongst men. No doz- 

 en children, from the same parents, are like each 

 other ; and no dozen seedling apples are more like 

 their parent fruit than these. As the pale-faced 

 child will generally be more tender than his broth- 

 er who is darker,— Dr. Stayman so shows the rule 

 holds good with seedling fruits of the same individ- 

 ual families. This we believe to be our correspond- 

 ent's claim to a new discovery and no more — and 

 they have our hearty endorsement. No writer has 

 before put them into a shape to be of practical use 

 to cultivators,— and Dr. Stayman deserves the 

 credit of discovering a valuable rule in pomological 

 science." 



How very difterent are our views presented by 

 Mr. Meehan who is not only one of our most intel- 

 lectual and able horticultural writers, but also one 

 of the most clear and acute observers. Almost in 

 anticipation of what Mr. Husman would say he 

 further says : 



" It is not unfrequent, indeed, it is the rule, when 

 any new subject of philosophical inquiry is pre- 

 sented, that controvertists mistake the position they 

 oppose, and hence mystify and obscure what other- 



