290 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 334. 



a disease of the same type as the yellows, but its first stages 

 are more striking and its progress more rapid. Nothing is 

 known of its cause, but it is virulently contagious, and in re- 

 gions infected by either of these two diseases successful 

 Peach-culture can only be assured by well-directed, vigorous 

 and united effort in digging out and destroying diseased trees. 

 This bulletin is well illustrated, and will be found interesting 

 to every fruit-grower. 



Notes. 



Mr. E. G. Lodeman, instructor in horticulture at Cornell 

 University, has sailed for Europe to investigate the diseases 

 of grapes in France and Italy, and the methods of treating 

 these diseases there by spraying and otherwise. He will spend 

 the summer among European vineyards. 



Maple- wood is so rapidly growing in favor in this country as 

 flooring material that improved methods of preparing it have 

 recently been devised. The demand has already reached ex- 

 tended proportions, and the Northwestern Lumberman states 

 that the larger dealers are now obliged to make contracts for 

 millions of feet far in advance of requirement, as is done with 

 pine or any other wood of extensive consumption in the build- 

 ing trades and manufactures. It is now more generally used 

 than any other wood tor the floors of public buildings, and is 

 largely employed in dwelling-houses also. 



Occasionally there comes to this market from the West In- 

 dies a yellowish-red fruit, shaped like a hen's egg, but rather 

 larger and usually called Grenadilla. This is bdtanically the 

 fruit of Cyphomandra betacea, or the Tree Tomato, which is a 

 native of the tropical Andes. In courseof time it found its way 

 to Jamaica, from which place it was sent by Mr. D. Morris, of 

 Kew, then Director of the Botanical Gardens there, to India, 

 Ceylon and other tropical countries. In South America it is 

 largely used for cooking in place of the ordinary tomato, and 

 in India it is becoming popular, where, when fully ripe, it is 

 made into tarts, and is sometimes eaten raw like gooseberries, 

 which it is said to resemble slightly in taste. 



Many theories have been proposed to explain the absence of 

 forests in large portions of the great inland basin of the 

 United States, including both prairies which lie mainly east of 

 the Missouri and the plains which lie west of that stream. A 

 new explanation for the absence of trees in this area has lately 

 been offered in the London Geographical Journal by Mr. J. W. 

 Redway. He holds that seeds have been mainly carried and 

 distributed through the agency of water, and that the spread 

 of forest-growth without this natural aid, or some artificial aid, 

 would be very slow. He argues that our treeless regions have 

 never been overflowed by running streams since they became 

 dry land, and consequently they have never been sown with 

 forest-seed. Wherever the water of running streams has 

 spread, seeds have been carried and forests have appeared. 

 According to this view, these regions have always been tree- 

 less, and therefore Mr. Redway considers that the nature of 

 the soil, which was the explanation offered by Lesquereux and 

 Professor Whitney, and sweeping fires, which has been the 

 most generally accepted view, are not the principal agents in 

 causing this treeless condition. 



It is definitely announced that the American Forestry Asso- 

 ciation will hold two meetings consecutively, one at Brooklyn, 

 conjointly with the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science, and the second in the White Mountains. The 

 meeting in Brooklyn will be held on Wednesday evening, Au- 

 gust 22d, at the Packer Institute, and on Tuesday evening Mr. 

 B. E. Fernow will deliver an illustrated lecture at the Acad- 

 emy of Music. On Friday, August 24th, the members of the 

 Association will go to North Woodstock, New Hampshire, and 

 in the evening a lecture will be delivered upon "The White 

 Mountains," by the Hon. J. H. Walker, of Concord, New 

 Hampshire, and an illustrated description of the itinerary of 

 the excursion will be given by George H. Moses, Secretary of 

 the New Hampshire Forest Commission. On Saturday there 

 will be excursions in carriages and by special trains to dif- 

 ferent points in the White Mountain forests, and in the even- 

 ing a session will be held at the Profile House. On Monday 

 the members of the Association will have an opportunity to 

 inspect the forest at various points, and in the evening at the 

 Intervale House, Professor J. T. Rothrock will deliver a lecture. 



The editor of the Rural New Yorker has been trying new 

 varieties of Strawberries at the rate of about seventy-five varie- 

 ties a year for fifteen years past, and the result of his expe- 

 rience is that he has only found one new variety in three years 



that could fairly be pronounced superior to the then existing 

 varieties; that is, in fifteen years of trial he can count five superior 

 varieties which have succeeded in his particular location, 

 namely, Crescent, Sharpless, Parker Earle, Timbrell and (doubt- 

 fully) Brandywine. For home use the old Charles Downing is still 

 Mr. Carman's first choice where it thrives, and it does thrive 

 over a wide extent of country. For earliest he would name 

 Rio and Beder Wood. Of course, many other varieties ara 

 valuable in particular places. Mr. Durand's seedlings, for 

 example, are incomparable in certain soils and exposures. 

 The fact is there are few Concords among Strawberries. 

 Timbrell, which Mr. Carman considers unrivaled as a late 

 berry in regard to firmness, productiveness and quality com- 

 bined, makes a very poor showing in some other places, and 

 so good an authority as J. H. Hale writes that his plants of that 

 variety made a poor growth last year, rusted considerably, and 

 in the trial-beds have been the most unsatisfactory of the 

 sixty-eight varieties which fruited with him this year. Judging 

 from what he has seen of it at home and in other places he 

 should pronounce it practically of no value and utterly un- 

 worthy of cultivation. 



Although not a single car-load of California fruit has reached 

 this city for more than ten days, California plums and California 

 cherries are still sold on the streets at prices not much above 

 the ordinary retail figure. This is an indication of the extent 

 to which cold-storage is employed in this city. But for the 

 railroad blockade sixty or seventy car-loads of California fruit 

 would be coming into this market every week at this season, 

 and no doubt the absence of so large a portion of the supply 

 explains why pineapples bring such good prices, why sum- 

 mer oranges from the Mediterranean are selling from $5 a box 

 and upward, and why bananas, although in great abundance, are 

 in still greater demand. Niagara grapes are coming from 

 Florida, but they are sour and not mature enough for 

 market. The cherry season is practically over, although oc- 

 casionally some good fruit comes from western New York. 

 Good cherry currants can be had for ten cents a quart. The 

 supply of huckleberries is still abundant, and the best ones 

 now come from Shawangunk Mountains. Le Conte pears, 

 from the south, bring $6.50 and upward a barrel, and a few 

 Jargonelles are coming from Maryland with Early Harvest, 

 Sugar Tops and other summer varieties from near-by points, 

 many of which are unripe, tasteless and deservedly cheap, 

 while well-grown and well-ripened fruit is scarce and high. 

 The Government crop reports show that the peach crop, tak- 

 ing the country all through, will not be one-quarter of an aver- 

 age, although in California it is almost up to the standard. 

 Apples, too, will be in meagre supply and not reach half a crop. 

 These reports also tend to strengthen prices, so that it is 

 no wonder that hand-picked Astrachans and Sweet Boughs 

 bring $4.00 and upward a barrel, while standard peaches, like 

 Hale's Early and Early Rivers, from Maryland and Delaware, 

 are considered cheap when sold in quantity at $2.00 a basket. 



Edmund Williams, for two years past President of the New 

 Jersey Horticultural Society and for many years its Recording 

 Secretary and controlling force, died on July 12th, after a 

 long illness, at his home in Montclair. Mr. Williams was 

 recognized throughout the country as one of our leading au- 

 thorities on fruits and their cultivation. He devoted his life to 

 this work, and his habit of accurate observation and his sound 

 judgment, added to absolute honesty and freedom from preju- 

 dice, gave his expressions of opinion unusual weight. He was 

 a frequent contributor to this journal and other papers, and 

 what he wrote had sterling practical value as the expression of 

 a wide experience and a singularly clear insight. In character 

 Mr. Williams was as simple as a child, modest, generous, pub- 

 lic-spirited, truthful. Every one who casually met him was 

 drawn to him at once by his kindly bearing, his sincerity and 

 frankness, and yet few beyond the circle of his intimate friends 

 knew the genuine worth of the man. His death means a loss 

 to the cause of horticulture in his native state that is almost 

 irreparable. He belonged to that older generation who pur- 

 sued their chosen calling with an enthusiasm and devotion 

 which seem to be lacking in more recent times, and there is 

 no one left to fill his place, especially in the Horticultural So- 

 ciety, which he did much to organize, and which owes a large 

 part of its success to his self-denying zeal. For many years 

 Mr. Williams had been afflicted with an incurable disease, and 

 his sufferings for the past three months have been so great 

 that when the end came it was a relief to his friends to see 

 him lying at rest. He was sixty-three years old, and he 

 always lived on the farm where he was born and where he 

 died. 



