March 



1897.] 



Garden and Forest. 



89 



theless, there are several good long-keeping varieties which 

 appear to be specially adapted to that locality. 



The Jackson apple is a variety regarded very highly for its 

 keeping qualities throughout the state. The tree is a prolific 

 bearer, the fruit is of good size, the color is a dark purplish 

 red on a green background. The skin is sufficiently tough 

 and thick "to make it a most excellent variety for handling. 

 The color of the flesh is greenish white, and when in its 

 prime, late in the season, it is tender, juicy and of excellent 

 quality. The Lily of Kent, a native seedling, is an excellent 

 variety with good keeping qualities. It is not as yet exten- 

 sively disseminated in the state, but is rapidly growing in popu- 

 larity. The old Winesap is a good keeper and bears very 

 heavy crops. It is one of the best grown in Delaware. Stay- 

 man's Winesap bids fair to be valuable. In keeping qualities, 

 productiveness and flavor it is superior to Winesap. The Rox- 

 bury Russet is a favorite variety in nearly all sections of the 

 country on account of its good keeping qualities, and the 

 Northern Spy, if carefully handled, can be had in its prime 

 throughout March and April. 



The keeping qualities of apples would be greatly enhanced 

 if they were gathered as soon as fully grown and stored in a 

 cool place. It is the custom with many fruit growers in Dela- 

 ware to allow the apples to remain, without gathering, until a 

 buyer is found for the crop, which is often long after the fruit 

 should have been picked and stored. Recent experiments in 

 spraying fruit give evidence that the keeping qualities are 

 greatly improved by the use of fungicides. 



Throughout Delaware the Kieffer pear is very largely grown, 

 as it is one of the most profitable varieties. It is an excellent 

 keeper, is a heavy bearer and makes a fine appearance. These 

 pears are grown mostly for canning. When eaten out of hand 

 they have little flavor, yet they sell well, and are among the 

 most profitable of market fruits. 



The firmness of the flesh of the strawberry greatly enhances 

 its keeping qualities, but it must be firm throughout, and espe- 

 cially so on its surface. Those vaiieties whose seeds are 

 prominent are usually the ones that will keep best. The flesh 

 of the Bubach is rather soft upon the surface, although it is 

 quite firm otherwise, and it does not stand shipping as well as 

 many other varieties. 



Elmira, N. Y. W. H. BeckWlth. 



College Instruction in Horticulture. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest: 



Sir, — Professor Munson, in closing his very interesting article 

 on "An Outline of a Course in Horticulture," on page 3 of 

 your current volume, invited discussion of the subject. I have 

 since been waiting for some one whose sufficient experience 

 gave him the right to present some positive statement of what 

 a college course in horticulture ought to be. For myself, I 

 confess I have not yet made up my mind, and I should like to 

 venture that a respectable representation of my collaborators 

 are still giving their courses tentatively. Nevertheless, what 

 experience I have had gives me some opinions which differ 

 from those of Professor Munson, and these I submit for what 

 they are worth. 



Horticulture is advanced work, considered beside the average 

 college study. It involves a considerable amount of elemen- 

 tary physics, chemistry, and especially botany. Besides this, 

 the facts and principles of horticulture are not so clear cut and 

 self-evident as in the sciences mentioned, and their discrimi- 

 nation requires a higher grade of student ability. For this 

 reason horticulture ought not to begin before the junior year. 

 It seems to me to be a mistake to require more than three 

 courses in horticulture of undergraduates. As many elections 

 may be offered as circumstances indicate, but more than three 

 required courses in this subject cannot be given without 

 crowding out something else which is of more importance for 

 the symmetrical development of the average student than any 

 fourth course in horticulture. If electives are provided, the 

 students who have a taste for plant study may take as much 

 time in horticulture as they can spare from the general re- 

 quired course. Some strong institutions in this country are 

 giving less than three courses. I think two required courses 

 are better than four, but the two should be strong, and any- 

 thing less would be quite inadequate. 



If three courses are required, I prefer the following arrange- 

 ment: (1) Propagation and pruning. These subjects are closely 

 related, and they come first because of their intimate associa- 

 tion with the elements of plant physiology, which should be 

 given in a preceding course in botany. (2) Pomology, which 

 should be made to include small fruits, grape-growing, etc. 

 (3) The modifications of plants under culture. This includes 



plant-breeding, theories and applications of evolution, laws 

 and limits of distribution, and the critical discussion of such 

 general physiological problems as fruitfulness, hardiness, etc. 



In the first course I have always used Professor Bailey's 

 Nursery Book as a text-book. A text-book has many advan- 

 tages over instruction by lectures, especially with beginners, 

 and, contrary to my preference expressed above, I have 

 always been compelled to begin horticultural instruction 

 with sophomores. In general pomology we are absolutely 

 without a text-book. Barry's Fruit Garden, Thomas' Fruit 

 Culturist and others are valuable guides and reference books, 

 but there is nothing which has the systematic arrangement 

 and which constantly refers facs to principles as a text-book 

 should. In studying the amelioration of plants, we have Pro- 

 fessor Bailey's Plant Breeding and his more extensive Survival 

 of the Unlike. I have used the former, and am now using the 

 latter. Of course, any instructor who is capable of administer- 

 ing such a course at all will not be satisfied with these for text- 

 books, but he will find either a great assistance to pupils. He 

 can then present his own notions and develop other related 

 subjects as his judgment suggests. 



Constant personal contact with growing plants is one of the 

 most essential considerations in the study of horticulture. The 

 effectiveness of this part of the course depends chiefly on 

 the unfailing ingenuity of the instructor. In some colleges 

 the general machinery of instruction and discipline makes 

 this comparatively easy. In other institutions the instructor 

 has the power of precedent and habit against him. It makes 

 comparatively small difference what general plan is adopted 

 if the one condition is secured — constant personal contact with 

 growing plants. Of course, that plan which keeps the student 

 most constantly and keenly on the watch for information from 

 the plants in hand is likely to be the best. For this reason I 

 prefer to assign special original problems to individuals or to 

 small sections of two or three students, rather than to require 

 just so many hours of manual labor. It is extremely hard to 

 prevent shirking by lazy students and lagging by dull ones 

 in work of this kind, but it is worth the effort. Elective 

 courses may be given in landscape-gardening, forestry, vege- 

 table-gardening, floriculture, forcing-house management or 

 other subjects, depending entirely on facilities and demands. 



In conclusion I would like to add my invitation to that of 

 Professor Munson for a wider discussion of this subject. 



University of Vermont. F. A. IValigll. 



Recent Publications. 



The American Fruit Cullurist. By John J. Thomas. 

 Twentieth edition, revised and enlarged. By Wm. H. S. 

 Wood. New York : William Wood & Co. 



The first edition of this work was published a third of a 

 century ago, and that it has kept on reappearing in con- 

 stantly revised editions is a proof of its standard value. It 

 contains, according to its subtitle, practical instructions 

 for propagating and cultivating all the various fruits 

 adapted to the United States, and this edition contains chap- 

 ters on nuts and on wild fruits, subjects which have not 

 before appeared, while the chapter on subtropical fruits 

 has been carefully prepared by Mr. E. H. Hart, of Federal 

 Point, Florida, who writes instructively and with commend- 

 able fullness on the cultivation of the Orange, the Lemon, 

 the Citron, the Shaddock, the Lime, the Banana, the Date, 

 the Fig, the Pineapple, the Guava, the Loquat, the Per- 

 simmon and the Pomegranate. In reference to all these 

 tropical and wild fruits, as well as the more common 

 domestic fruits, great care has been used in describing and 

 figuring the different varieties of the most approved newer 

 sorts, as well as those of recognized standard value, while 

 the final descriptive list and index remains a most useful 

 compilation, preserving the record of the older varieties 

 which are superseded but kept in the lists as a matter of 

 pomological history. The chapter on insects and diseases 

 is brief, but it contains the best recent information regard- 

 ing the more common pests, and Professor Bailey has 

 summed up the matter with a compact little treatise on the 

 spraying of fruits for insects and for fungous diseases. It 

 is needless to say that this practice, which is now consid- 

 ered indispensable by every fruit grower, was not heard of 

 when Mr. Thomas wrote the book originally, and that this 

 most important step forward in the management of fruit 



