118 



AffffAtiS OF HORTICULTURE. 



which was made at the Exposition, although some of the fruit 

 was shown on tables in the Horticultural Building. 



The chief attraction in nursery displays, however, was in 

 the French section, where displays of fruit trees and a very 

 few ornamentals were shown by Pinguet-Guindon, of Tours; 

 Ausseur-Sertier, of Liensaint ; L. Paillet, of Vallee de Chatenay, 

 near Paris ; Honore Defresne et Fils, of Vitry, and Croux et 

 Fils, of Sceaux. Most of the fruit stock in these displays was 

 trained in various fashions to fit it for growing upon walls or 

 espaliers, or as globe-headed tall trees to stand in the center 

 areas of small gardens. The method of training apples, pears 

 and other fruit trees on wires, much after the manner of train- 

 ing grapes, is rarely seen in America, but in the confined areas 

 of European countries it is common. The fruits which are 

 obtained from these little trees are large and excellent, and 

 usually sell for fancy prices. An apple tree which is trained 

 to a one-arm cordon, the arm being eight or ten feet long, may 

 be expected to mature from six to a dozen fruits. Of the bet- 

 ter varieties, these fruits sell for one to three francs apiece in 

 midwinter. This is especially true of Colville Blanc, which is 

 one of the best varieties and a long keeper. It is interesting 

 to note how different the varieties of these French trees were 

 from our own fruits. Among apples one noticed the varieties 

 of high quality and difficult culture. There were Colville 

 Blanc, Colville Rouge, Pigeon de Bouen, Beinette de Caux, 

 Beinette du Canada, Beinette de Granville, Beinette Franche, 

 Beine des Beinettes and Pomme d'Apis (Lady Apple). Among 

 peaches were Bon Ouvrier, Madeleine de Courson, Alexis Lepere, 

 Madeleine Bouge, Precoce de Hale (Hale's Early), Brugnon 

 Violet. Of pears, prominent kinds were Passe Crassane, 

 Beurre Hardy, President d'Estaintos, Beurr6 d'Hardenpont, 

 Beurre Superfin and Doyenne Blanc. Plums, apricots, cherries, 

 grapes upon American roots, and stocks of the St. Lucie (Maha- 

 leb) cherry were also conspicuous. It must have been a matter 

 of chagrin to Americans to know that the only important 

 exhibits of fruit-tree stocks were from France ; and that there 

 were no exhibits whatever from any source of small fruit 

 plants. And yet America is preeminently a fruit growing 

 country ! 



The evergreen exhibits of the Midway were but three in 

 number — by D. Hill, Dundee, Illinois ; E. H. Bicker Co., 

 Elgin, Illinois; George Pinney, Evergreen, Wisconsin. The 

 largest collection of varieties was made by Pinney, who showed 

 189 species and varieties. The displays of the other firms 

 were devoted rather more to the showing of large lots of well- 

 grown small nursery trees of comparatively few varieties. All 

 the exhibits were attractive and well made. 



