July 30, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



375 



periodically beaten until he mends his ways and brings down 

 the much-needed showers." 



This quotation from Blanford, the meteorologist, is used by 

 a correspondent of the Evening Post to introduce the state- 

 ment that the official position of Gapogari is to be estab- 

 lished in this country. At least this may be inferred from an 

 amendment by the Senate made in the appropriations for the 

 Department of Agriculture. 



Whether the methods of imposing the fine for non-perform- 

 ance are to be the same as in India I cannot surmise, but for 

 the sake of the unfortunate official who is charged with the 

 production of rainfall let us hope they are not. This much 

 difference, at least, appears to be made, that the methods of 

 producing rainfall arc to be found by experiment, and not to 

 be left to be a secret of the unreliable Gapogari. 



There is in the appropriations for the Forestry Division a 

 provision calling " for experiments in the production of rain- 

 fall," for which the vast sum of $2,000 is set aside. One is 

 inclined to think, at the first look, that this was inserted by 

 some one desirous of breaking up the modest beginning of 

 Government forestry interests by demanding proof positive 

 and on the spot that forest and rain-fall have a relation to 

 each other, but inquiry develops the fact that this is a 

 bona fide proposition, and the experiments are expected 

 to be made. Forestry has really nothing to do with it, for it is 

 dynamite, guns, electricity or what not, that is to serve in the 

 solving of the problem. 



Senator Farwell, of Chicago, is referred to as the originator 

 of this remarkable proposition, and he may have a special in- 

 terest in the experiment. He is one of a syndicate who built 

 the Texas state capitol, one of the finest and most substantial 

 architectural works in this country. In payment, the state 

 ceded to the syndicate 3,000,000 acres of land in the so-called 

 Pan Handle, a region which for a large part is devoid of living 

 water (except where the Canadian River traverses it), and 

 which suffers also from deficient rainfall. Rain would make 

 it bloom, for it is very fertile soil. Hence a Gapogari might 

 prove a desirable officer in the Pan Handle. 



If Mr. Fernow, the Chief of the Forestry Division, whose 

 unfortunate task it will be to explode the clouds (or is he to 

 furnish clouds, too, for $2,000?) will be the most famous man 

 of this century, if he succeeds in filling the position satisfac- 

 torily, and will not need to drudge at making forestry accept- 

 able to the nation. 



When asked about the matter he did not express himself 

 very hopeful of success, and while admitting that the subject 

 was not altogether devoid of legitimate inquiry, he did not 

 think that our knowledge of physical forces and meteorological 

 phenomena was as yet equal to the task, and he felt an un- 

 willingness to try experiments without having investigated the 

 basis for them. He said that the idea of producing rainfall 

 artificially had been ventilated for a long time, and the hope- 

 ful expectation of solving the problem had been encouraged 

 by the observation that cannonades on battle-fields or at cele- 

 brations (fireworks on a large scale), prairie fires or other ex- 

 tensive conflagrations were apt to produce precipitation for 

 reasons well understood. But the application of this expe- 

 rience for practical purposes seemed questionable, especially 

 in such parts of the country where there is no moisture to pre- 

 cipitate. An honest effort, however, will be made to arrive at 

 least at a possible basis for such experiments, and to spend the 

 money which, it was evident, the Chief of the Forestry Divi- 

 sion would have preferred to use on the legitimate field of his 

 division. 

 Washington, D. C. M. C. 



The Crandall Currant. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — A late number of Garden and Forest contained some 

 notice of this Currant in connection with the remarks upon 

 new fruits by Mr. H. E. Van Dcman, Pomologist of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture. At the meeting of the nur- 

 serymen in New York in June, Mr. Van Dcman spoke favora- 

 bly of the Crandall as a new variety of Black Currant, of large 

 size, with less of the strong odor peculiar to its class, and con- 

 sequently better flavored. The most important fact, however, 

 was brought out by Professor L. H. Bailey, of Ithaca, New 

 York, which was that there was no one distinct variety that could 

 properly be named Crandall, as the plants sent him were evi- 

 dently a lot of mixed seedlings diverse in character, some 

 bearing large and others quite small berries. It was stated 

 that Mr. Crandall had grown a quantity of seedlings from the 

 Missouri Currant, and that parties had obtained and propa- 

 gated from a lot of these mixed seedlings plants to which they 

 gave the name "Crandall," instead of selecting, as they should 



have done, a single plant, and propagating stock from it for a 

 new and fixed variety. 



The Crandall, as described and illustrated by those offering 

 it for sale, has very large berries, and is represented as re- 

 markably productive. Its peculiarities seem to be small and 

 scanty foliage, with many small clusters, with three to five or 

 six berries to the stem. Samples sent me, for testing, from tin; 

 introducer, indicated that Professor Bailey was probably cor- 

 rect as to their mixed character, as their average was scarcely 

 up to that of the Black Naples. There were a few quite large 

 berries, many medium, and more very small. Raw or un- 

 cooked they had no attraction for me, and when stewed with 

 fine sugar none of my family cared to cat them. Their intro- 

 ducer claims that they are excellent made into pies; but I 

 should not place them high in the scale for any purpose, as 

 compared with raspberries, blackberries, or even with other 

 currants. It is but fair, however, to say that I am not very 

 partial to Black Currants ; and unless the character of the 

 Crandall can be improved and fixed, by growing it from a sin- 

 gle selected specimen plant, I certainly should not regard it as 

 worthy of introduction. In its present condition I think Mr. 

 Van Dcman was inclined to commend it above its merits. 

 Delaware, Ohio. George W. Campbell. 



The Utah Black Currant. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — You inquire (page 352) whether this is still under culti- 

 vation ? You will find it in every edition of our catalogue for 

 the past twenty or twenty-five years, and we suppose plants 

 must be growing all over the Union. It is now over its fruit- 

 ing season ; but I enclose a branch from a yellow fruiting 

 plant. The berries are nearly double the size of the ordinary 

 Missouri Currant ; but the most careful examination fails to 

 find any specific difference between it and the eastern form of 

 R. aureuin. Our stock originally came from Mr. Siler, then 

 of Saint George's, southern Utah. 



When in Salt Lake City in 1873 our party was received very 

 generously by the Mormon people, and one of them, Mr. Jen- 

 nings, gave us the freedom of his beautiful garden. The 

 Black Currants were then growing in great quantity, and they 

 were nearly as large as we grow Houghton Seedling Goose- 

 berries here. The flavor was delicious, and I think most of 

 our party gathered them by the handful, and enjoved them 

 hugely. But I have never found them so piquantly toothsome 

 here, nor are the fruits so large and tempting. They seem to 

 require the dry soil and arid climate of the central regions of 

 our country. 



I have seen notices of this Crandall Currant for a year or 

 more past ; and desiring to try everything, sought last spring 

 to buy a few hundred somewhere. But after reading the state- 

 ment that it was a variety of the Missouri, and suspecting its 

 identity with our own Utah Black and Utah Yellow, we felt 

 very thankful that we had failed to spend our money. 



If careful comparison shows the form more lately intro- 

 duced to be identical with the Utah Bkick it would be advisa- 

 ble to drop the name of "Crandall." 



Gcrmantown.Pa. Thomas Meehan. 



Recent Publications. 



Annals of Horticulture in North America, for the year 1S89. 

 By L. H. Bailey. New York: Rural Publishing Company. 

 121110; pp. 249. 



This is the first volume of a proposed scries of year-books, 

 which are intended to make a current record of horticultural 

 progress. The first half of the book treats of such general 

 subjects as the yields of various crops for the year with their 

 prices, the newer fruits which are adapted to special localities, 

 recent tendencies in ornamental gardening, the diseases of 

 plants, insects injurious to plants, horticultural work in the 

 Department of Agriculture and in the Experiment Stations, 

 with notes on the transactions of the more important horticul- 

 tural associations in the country. Many of the articles in this 

 part of the book have been prepared by specialists and some 

 of them have been taken from the leading horticultural jour- 

 nals of the world. 



The last half of the book is devoted to special annals, the 

 most important of which will be considered the list of plants 

 introduced in 1889, a catalogue of kitchen garden vegetables 

 which were offered for sale in North America in 1889, "and the 

 plant portraits which have appeared during the same year. It 

 will hardly be questioned that a carefully prepared year-book 

 of this sort will have great value for reference and it will be- 

 come of greater value as the years pass on. This particular 



