1863. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



367 



very early, the best of the season. A great many 

 fine cherries are annually gathered from trees that 

 never have been budded or grafted, and yet are 

 good cherries. The varieties that have been shown 

 at the rooms of the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society, this year, were Elton, Belle de Choisy, a 

 pretty good cherry. Napoleon Bigarreau, Black 

 Bigarreuu, Walsh's Seedling, &c. The exhibition 

 of this fruit has been very meagre. 



The cherry crop comes at a very busy season of 

 the year, just in haying time, so that with the oth- 

 er obstacles in the way, its cultivation is hmited. 

 I cannot think it can be very profitable. 



Blackberries have attracted considerable atten- 

 tion within a few years. First in the list, accord- 

 ing to my experience, comes the Dorchester Seed- 

 ling. This, when well grown, is very large, long, 

 quite black, sweet, and of good flavor. Some say 

 bitter sweet, and prefer a more aci^} berry. If for 

 table use, I should say without hesitation, Dorches- 

 ter Seedling is the best, holds its color well, and 

 is valuable for home use or market. 



The Lawton caused considerable excitement 

 among fruit growers when it was introduced to the 

 public. It*s a very large fruit, not so long as the 

 Dorchester, but thicker, color black, quite acid, 

 unless fully ri])e, when the fruit turns red, which 

 is a great objection to it as a market fruit ; great 

 bearer, and a desirable variety for those who wish 

 to make blackberry wine, or for home use, when it 

 can be left on the bushes until fully ripe. This 

 variety is more popular in New York markets 

 than it is in Boston. Winter kills badly, should 

 be laid down like the raspberry. 



Rose of Sharon, is a large fruit, in shape a«d 

 color very much like the Lawton, later. When 

 fully ripe, is a good fruit for the table, not a great 

 bearer. On the whole, not a desirable variety. I 

 have dug it all out of my grounds, not finding it 

 profitable. 



Needhara's White, was cultivated to some ex- 

 tent a few years ago, but is not worth the room it 

 occu])ies ; nor is any white blackberry I ever saw. 



Holcomb, is a new variety exhibited at Horti- 

 cultural Rooms by Hovey & Co., and tested by 

 the committee. It is a good fruit, of good size, 

 and when fully ripe rather tender for market, per- 

 haps ; worthy of a further trial. 



All the prizes this year were awarded for Dor- 

 chester Seedling Blackberry. 



The blackberry does much better on a stony, 

 clayey soil, than on light lands. They should be 

 laid down in winter like the Raspberry, to ensure 

 a full crop. On a soil well suited to this crop, it 

 will prove profitable. 



The Summer A])plcs are on exhibition with the 

 Blackberries, and I will devote some space to a 

 notice of the leading sorts. 



Early Harvest, is an apple of fair quality, ri- 

 pens early in August, good size, not a great bear- 

 er, — fruit often cracRs badly, too uncertain, and I 

 should not advise any person to undertake to 

 raise it for market. A single tree for home use 

 will answer. 



Sopsavine, is an old variety, and a favorite with 

 Bome, good grower and bearer, fruit fair quality, 

 rather tough, may do to grow for market. 



Early Strawberry, is a small apple, beautiful, of 

 a bright red color, good quality, but too small for 

 profit for market — the tree is' a very upright 

 grower. 



The Williams Apple is probably the most popu- 

 lar market apple among the summer varieties, 

 its size and magnificent color, when allowed to 

 ripen on the tree, make it very salal)le. It is not 

 a high flavored fruit, and for qualitj would rank 

 almost or quite second rate. It requires peculiar 

 cultivation, of which I will briefly speak. It should 

 be left to ripen on the tree, or it will not color up 

 well. It does not ripen all at once, but continues 

 to ripen and drop for some two or three weeks. 



A person intending to make this variety profi- 

 table should have several trees of it, say from five 

 to twenty, which he should keep well trimmed 

 and rather thin of wood ; and which he should 

 manure freely — don't be afraid to do that — then 

 he should mulch the trees as far as the limbs ex- 

 tend, with meadow hay, or something of that sort, 

 so that the a]3])les as they drop, will not be bruised, 

 — for the Williams should never be picked from 

 the tree but allowed to ripen and color up fully, 

 and then drop, when they may be picked up daily 

 and sent to market. The advantage of having 

 several trees is that one or two days' picking will 

 furnish enough to make it an object to send them 

 to market. If treated as recommended above, 

 they will be very fine, and will always command 

 a ready sale with good prices ; this year a high 

 price. The best Williams apple tree I ever saw and 

 the one that produced the largest apples, stood 

 right by a cow-yard and got the benefit of a pool 

 of manure water. 



No apple on the whole list will better pay for 

 cultivation than the Wdliams, when properly 

 grown. This variety took the first prize at the 

 Horticultural Rooms this year, for summer ap- 

 ples. 



The River is a good apple, rather sour and not 

 a first-rate bearer, and for some reasons not very 

 popular. 



The Foundling is a fruit resembling the River, 

 though more irregular in form and of superior 

 quality ; color yellow, striped and splashed with 

 red ; tree a poor, straggling grower. 



The Red Astrachan is a very handsome apple, 

 of good size and quality, though rather too acid 

 to suit some ; it has a bloom like the plum ; fruit 

 usually of good size and fair ; good bearer alternate 

 years ; excellent for cooking. 



I will close with the Primate which is one of 

 the very best of apples in quality, tender and fine, 

 good size, of a whitish color ; good bearer, but 

 will not probably be a popular market fruit. All 

 lovers of good apples should have a tree of this 

 sort. These comprise most of the early apjjles of 

 the finer kinds, or certainly those most generally 

 cultivated. J. F. C. H, 



Sappers and Miners. — A farmer located in 

 Ridley County, Kansas, is much annoyed by the 

 gopher and'mole ; both of whom, he writes to the 

 New York Farmers's Club, "burrow under ground, 

 and in our light, rich soils, perambulate in every 

 direction, eating the roots, and thus killing vegeta- 

 tion. Many fields of sweet potatoes, which flour- 

 ish finely and produce abundantly here, and many 

 of the common potatoes, are nearly destroyed by 

 these animals. In many cases, in spite of all our 

 efforts, our gardens are nearly destroyed by them." 



