280 



THE POMOLOGIST AND GARDENER. 



1871 



have a hardy grape, a great grower and a most 

 prolific bearer. But as the question has been 

 and is now agitated,; it would be as well to 

 find the true position of this grape and 

 let it go by its right name. If Prof Math- 

 ews of the Iowa Agl. College has been the 

 means of bringing it into notice and develop- 

 ing its superior merits, let him have the credit of 

 the same, and let it be called Mathews' No. 13. As 

 there are plenty of the Goethe in this place 4, 5 

 and 6 years old, I have had a fair opportunity 

 of comparing both vines and fruit. Without wish- 

 ing to detract from the merits of the Goethe in its 

 fine growth and healthy foliage, I will here say, 

 that I have vines of "No. 13" one yearold last April, 

 that have produced from 1.5 to 20 lbs of fruit tliis 

 season and are now much larger than any Goethe of 

 5 and 6 years of age in this place. If any one 

 doubts my word let him come and look at these 

 one year old vines and he will no longer doubt. An- 

 other test. Mathews "No. 13" is at least 10 days or 

 two weeks earlier than the Goethe, and by close 

 examination a person can et.sily see a marked dif- 

 ference in the shape of the clusters and the fruit. 

 The clusters of the Goethe are more compact and 

 the berry is ovate or with a rounded taper from base 

 to apex, while the No. 13 is oblong and obovate or 

 rounded ovate, the small end of the berry being at 

 the k bse, similar in shape to the Isabella, but much 

 larger. These tests and comparisons are suflicient 

 to convince me that the two are not identical. If 

 others are not convinced let them read the article 

 in the last July No. of the Pomologist, by Prof 

 Mathews giving his experience in the early his- 

 tory of this grape. 



Frutt In Tennessee, 



By W. C. Condit, Maktsville, East Tennessee. 



Ed. Pomologist AND Gardener: — The climate 

 and soil of Tennessee, in its eastern portion, proba- 

 bly afford as many of the requisites for a good fruit 

 region, as can be found in any portion of as large 

 an area of our country. In the valleys are found 

 plats and elevated ridges, bluffs, mounds and high- 

 lands. And among the mountains there are ridges, 

 spurs, bluffs, high plateaus of large extent, ravines 

 canyons, bottoms, and peaks. And altogether there 

 may be found every variety of exposure, and a 

 great variety of temperatures. The great plateau 

 of the Oimiberland range of mountains is about 40 

 miles wide and three times as long. And through- 

 out the whole extent of its borders, are locations, 

 which for successful fruitgrowing of all such kinds 

 as are common to temperate latitudes, cannot be ex- 

 celled. The sides of the mountains are also well 

 adapted to the same purposes. Peaches and ap- 

 ples seldom fail in any of these localities. And 



there is no reason, to the best of my knowledge, 

 why grapes, pears, and other fruits may not do as 

 well ; but they have not been much tried yet. The 

 peach and apple crop was a failure the past season 

 in certain portions of the plateau ; but there was a 

 heavy crop of peaches in the valleys and on por- 

 tions of the plateau, and also a good crop of apples. 

 The failure in some sections was due to the frost 

 23d of April, which also destroyed the fruit in a 

 large portion of the North. 



In favor of this region, it may also be said that 

 the insect enemies of fruit are much less numerous 

 than in many other fruit regions ; and indeed there 

 are fewer of them here, than the writer has seen in 

 any place he has ever observed — and he has lived 

 in Iowa, Missouri, Ohio, New Jersey, and New 

 York. The tent caterpiller is rarely ever seen on 

 the mountains, I understand the same is true in the 

 valleys. The bark louse is almost if not entirely 

 unknown. There are some wormy apples and 

 jjeaches, but they are very scarce. I visited a nur- 

 seryman's orchard and garden a year ago, in the 

 valley west of the Cumberland range, and found 

 that he had some rotten grapes, of the lona, Isra- 

 ella, Adirondac, Martha, Concord, Delaware, and 

 perhaps some others. But the Concord was least 

 affected. He also spoke highly of one other kind. 

 But on the Cumberland plateau the grapes I 

 noticed, Concord, Catawba, Clinton, Norton's 

 Virginia, and Isabella, (I think) were perfectly 

 sound. I believe there will generally be much less 

 rot in high locations than in the valleys. 



I am located for the present about 15 miles from 

 the foot of the smoky mountains and 45 from the 

 Cumberland, in the Tennessee valley. The peach 

 crop here the past season was large, and I believe 

 it generally is. There was a moderate crop of ap- 

 ples. I have seen no grapes except wild ones. The 

 people of this section have not yet been waked up 

 to the beauty of grape growing. I will say more 

 in another letter. 



Pears in Texas.— The San Antonio Herald tells 

 us that Gus Jones, of Gonzales, has been successful 

 with the Pear for the last twelve years, " drouth or 

 no drouth ;" and states that he recently exhibited, 

 from a tree of his own raising, a twig fifteen inches 

 in length, with twenty-six pears on it ! Mr. James 

 Vance, of San Antonio, has also raised the Pear 

 very successfully, for many years past. 



Large Pear. — The Eddyville Advertiser says: 

 Mr. Robert Oldham took from a tree on his farm 

 in Harrison township, Mahaska county, this year, 

 a pear that weighed 13.4 lbs. Also one that weigh- 

 ed 18 ounces, and another of 13}^ oz. weight. Four 

 weighed 3 lbs. and 12 ounces. 



