284 



THE POMOLOGIST AND GARDENER. 



1871 



The Ktttatlnny BlacUberry. 



A coiTospondent of the Western Farmer says he 

 has fruited thirty distinct varieties of the black- 

 berry, and that " no other variety is worth a mo- 

 ment's notice in comparison with the Kittatinny." 

 He measured several berries that averaged an inch 

 and a half long, four inches In circumference the 

 long way, and two inches and a half the shorter. 

 He finds one great requisite for success is not to 

 cut back the canes iu spring, as they never furnish 

 more blossoms than they can perfect iu fruit. But 

 thorough pinching back the previous season is of 

 great importance. About New York city, we are 

 told that the Kittattinny loses its bright color in 

 marketing ; and although it is very productive and 

 the berries are large, juicy and delicious, it cannot 

 compete at all with the inferior but more showy 

 Wilson and Rochelle. Both of these latter sorts 

 prove of little value to us iu western New York, 

 always winter killing badly, the Wilson especially. 



Seedliug Frnits. 



" Plants propagated by buds, as sugar-cane, po- 

 tatoes, and fruit trees, are pecidiarly liable to consti- 

 tutional weakness, and are less able thnn seedlings to 

 endure rough treatment in violation of the laws of 

 vegetable life." — D. Lee. 



The above fact is, I believe, universally admitted, 

 but it seems to be lost sight of in the present rage 

 for multiplj'ing varieties, and consequently the 

 weakne8.s and diseases of plants. It is suggestive 

 too as seeming to point out an opposite course in 

 which more gratifying results may be reached. I 

 move the question then. Can our fruits, any of 

 them, be propagated by seed and hold true in every 

 case to the original ? and, if so, which of them 

 may be propagated ? In reply we want facts. 

 And being the mover of the question I will set the 

 example by giving the following : Some thirty 

 years ago my wife's mother, taking a liking to the 

 fruit of a neighbor's peach-orchard, took home a 

 quantity of the stones from which her husband raised 

 a number of trees, all of which upon fruiting, proved 

 true in every respect to the original. Time wore 

 on, and from these trees another generation of 

 trees was produced ; and again all were alike, and 

 true to the first parent tree. No variation in any 

 respect has been discovered in tree or fruit' — Cor. 

 SoiitUcrn Oardener. 



The Califonbi.\ Fruit Market. — We glean 

 the following from the California Horticultvrist for 

 Sept : 



The second crop of Figs is now coming in plen- 

 tifully. The first crop generally produces the larg- 

 est specimens. The brown Ischia is the most deli- 



cious species in flavor, and preferred to the blue or 

 black varieties. 



Amongst the Peaches one of the juiciest and 

 best flavored is the old and well known Heath 

 Cling. The large and beautiful late Crawford 

 Cling is plentiful now, and is rich and very juicy. 



The Seckel Pear is mostly small this year, owing, 

 probably, to too heavy crops and want of thinning 

 out. 



The Belle de Flanders Pear is, on the contrary, 

 very large and fine. This Pear is very different 

 from the old reliable Bartlett, lasting but a short 

 time from its more tender and delicate texture. 



The Gravenstein is now the most popular Apple 

 on the stand. It is of second quality. Its color a 

 bright yellow with distinct red and orange stripes, 

 and very handsome. 



The Kittattiny Blackberry is in market, a large, 

 richly flavored fruit. It is a late kind. 



Mention is made of fifteen immense, perfectly 

 formed, and uniformly sized pears, on a length of 

 limb measuring sixteen inches only. 



A correspondent of the Country Oentkman says 

 if copperas and saltpetre water is used around pear 

 trees, the trees will show the effects in a large yield 

 of fruit. He tried this on a Bartlett pear tree that 

 had yielded no fruit for two years previous ; that 

 very year it yielded 15.5 large, fine pears, and the 

 following year 250 large, fine ones, and it is still 

 doing finely. If pear trees want iron which most 

 soils are deficient in, sulphate of iron or copperas is 

 a good way to supply it. 



Cause op Peach Rot. — On this subject Dr. 

 Spalding, St. Louis, Mo., says he would lay it down 

 as an axiom, that peach rot is caused by breaking 

 the skin of the fruit at or near maturity. Previons 

 t o that, if it is done when the fruit is small and un- 

 ripe, it does not rot, but if the skin is broken near 

 the maturity of the fruit, the rot is sure to follow. 

 The only difference between its being done with a 

 priek of a pin or the puncture of the curculio, was 

 the difference there was in the puncture itself. He 

 thought that root-pruning would be no possible 

 remedy. 



Over-Feeding Grape Vines. — The London 

 Gardener's Magazine says : ''If there be any one 

 prevailing fallacy in grape culture which we should 

 always be on our guard against, it is, without ques- 

 tion, the tendency to afford the vines more nutritive 

 aid than they can appropriate, and we may be sure 

 of this, that many more vines are injured by excess 

 of food than by deficiency. In the vegetable king- 

 dom the same law prevails as in the animal ; it is 

 not the quantity o the food taken into the system 

 which affords nourishment, but the quantity ac- 

 tually digested." 



