187B Tlie Western Pomologist and Gardener. 127 



Acknowledgments, Etc. — We have a long string of acknowledgments to make for 

 favors received — fruits, plants, seeds, books, etc., since our last issue, all of which will 

 receive attention in June number. For the last two months out-door business in the 

 orchard and nursery has required the most of our attention. 



Eastern and Western Grown Apples. — A correspondent of the Maine Farmer 

 draws rather a forcible contrast between home grown apples and those found in their mar- 

 kets from the West, by pronouncing the former " simply disgraceful, as any one who walks 

 in the streets of Bath can see daily." In support of this assertion he says: "Take the 

 Baldwins lately exposed here in a shop window — of the sizes of different sized hen's eggs, 

 down to the smallest, pale, yellowish, tasteless, dry and astringent. Contrast with these 

 the large, well grown, finely and high colored Baldwins from the West, lately retailed 

 here. Contrast the little Roxbuiy russet grown in Maine with the large, broad, fair and 

 handsome apples of the same kind grown in the West, both now on sale here. This Rus- 

 set, in many parts of the West, is called the Putnam Russet, (see Warder on Western 

 apples.) It is past its season now — that is, the Western grown. But its appearance in 

 contrast with those grown here and the miserable things called Baldwins, grown in the 

 grass without manure or care, about a bushel or two to a tree, ought to make every Maine 

 farmer blush with shame. It need not be so. 



Ch.\nging Dwarf Pears to Standards. — An agricultural exchange gives directions 

 for changing dwarf pears to standards. — " Make a sloping cut with a drawing knife into 

 the trees below the intended surface of the ground, cutting into the wood and running 

 up two or three inches, and into these cuts crowd pieces of glass to keep them open. 

 Two or three cuts should be made in each tree. Cut all pear wood and not the quince, 

 and leave bark on the tree between the cuts, so as not to girdle it. It is well to mulch 

 the surface after covering the cuts with earth, to keep the earth moist and favor the strik- 

 ing of roots. Do the work early in spring." This, like many other things, looks better 

 to us on paper than in practice. We have had some little experience in this direction, 

 and from results so far, would be more inclined to cut square off with an ax than to 

 "make a sloping cut with a drawing kfiife." 



Keeping Grapes Fresh. The Detroit Tribune speaks of having received fine spec- 

 imens of Diana grapes raised near St. Joseph, Mich., last season, and kept through the 

 winter in a high state of preservation, and remarks : " The peculiar point of interest 

 attached to the matter is the fact that Mr. Brown ' wintered ' seventeen baskets of Dianas 

 by simply placing them in a cool, dry cellar, and covering them with a paper on the top, 

 care being taken that the baskets should not be jostled or disturbed. The grapes kept 

 perfectly, being in their flavor wholly unimpa'red. Much difliculty has heretofore been 

 experienced in preserving grapes throughout the winter, and the fact that it has been 

 accomplished by a process so simple and inexpensive will be recognized as of the utmost 

 importance to grape growers generally." 



Dwarf Pomegranate. — A Texas correspondent of the Rural New Yorker says of the 

 dwarf pomegranate : " I have been growing it for four years. It bears as large and fine- 

 flavored fruit as the taller-growing varieties, and blooms the entire year here. I think it 

 is as ornamental as any plant I know of In February, 1871, I planted some seeds of it, 

 and put down some cuttings; in six weeks the cuttings were well rooted, and perfectly- 

 full of flowers. The stems were so tender they bent down, and the flowers rested on the 

 ground. The seedlings commenced blooming in September of the same year, at from 

 one-half to one foot tall, and they continued in bloom until I gave them away in the 

 winter ; but they did not ripen any fruit. 



