372 The Canadian Horticulturist. 



first, flavor and then, appearance — earliness of ripening being a great advantage. 

 The Delaware, Rogers 3, 9 and 44, Brighton, Vergennes, are all delicious, vary 

 in- their flavor and are all showy. I should recommend the Creveling were it 

 not that other experiences are against it, and my good fortune may be unusual 

 I find my grapes to ripen in the following order : Early Victor, Jessica, Rogers 

 3 and 9, Delaware, Agawam, Brighton, Creveling, Rogers 44 and Vergennes. 



My soil is sandy and I use barn-yard manure. I expect the Concord 

 varieties succeed better on clay soil, and, probably, some of the varieties I grow 

 would not succeed so well in heavier soils. 



I wish nurserymen would be more careful (to use a mild term), for I have 

 twice ordered a Damson tree, and on each occasion it turned out some other 

 variety. I have a white grape on a vine which was sent to me as a black variety. 

 I have a Mount Vernon pear which ripens early in September, and a Petite 

 Marguerite, which ripens late in October, and a Seckel much larger than a Bart- 

 lett. Often I think nurserymen, not having the variety asked for, send what they 

 think suitable, and thereby cause a good deal of annoyance and improper langu- 

 age. It is annoying to wait four or five years and find you have what you did 

 not want. I have a seedling grape three years from seed, which has grown this 

 year two shoots, one twenty feet the other seventeen feet long, and will, I 

 expect, bear next year. The Mills grape you sent me made a short growth, but 

 the wood has not ripened fully. I summer prune my grapes at least four times dur- 

 ing July and August, and I think the labor repays me, for I do not suffer much 

 from mildew. About the middle of last August, the leaves of the Delaware were 

 severely attacked with mildew, but the fruit was untouched ; the cause, I expect, 

 was the rain following the spring drought. 



Among raspberries, I find the Caroline a heavy bearer — its flavor is not first- 

 class, but it mixes in well with others. The Golden Queen is good and hardy. 

 I summer prune mine freely and have them like currant bushes. Smith's 

 Improved and Downing gooseberries always mildew heavily with me ; they did 

 not bear at all this year. Among plums, I like the German prune, it is not 

 highly flavored, but is a heavy cropper, remains long and late on the trees and 

 has no equal for stewing. The Cory sweet corn smuts so much that it is not worth 

 cultivating. I find apples disappointing ; if you get a good show of blossoms, 

 the greater quantity of the fruit drops off. This is my experience. 



Among flowers, I have gone in for the Columbine lately, and this year had 

 twelve or more varieties. Some are very handsome ; one just like the purple 

 passion-flower. Another, like the large, single fuchsia, a new yellow variety 

 flowered from early June till late in September. Some of the perennial poppies 

 are very handsome : they flower early, but one advantage is that they come up 

 every year. The Iceland poppies are very pretty and free bloomers. The 

 Canterbury Bell is too much neglected. It is a handsome, showy flower, a free 

 bloomer and easily raised ; it comes up. as a rule, self sown. The Fox-Glove is 



