WITH THE SMALL FRUITS. 



679 



any good growing ones, and when ten years old, grafted 

 with the best varieties. W. R. Stuart, of Ocean Springs, 

 Mississippi, sent me the finest yet received. On my 

 grounds here are growing grafts of Nussbaumer's hy- 

 brid pecan, grafted on common hickory, several feet 

 above ground. They have not yet borne fruit, but may 

 soon. While difficult to grow when grafted on trees of 



some size (and it must be crown grafting), they take 

 readily when set on young trees a few inches under 

 ground. Several of these hybrids or crosses, whichever 

 they may be called, have been sent to me ; and I find 

 that several of them are larger than any pecan I ever 

 had seen. S. Miller. 



Mon/gonii'i y Co., Mo. 



WITH THE SMALL FRUITS. 



WING TO the dry weather, my crop 

 ""^"^ of strawberries was only moder- 

 ate. The Gandy again has pleas- 

 ed me better than any other var- 

 iety on my grounds ; it is very late. 

 The berry is large, smooth, and 

 of more than average quality. 



Among raspberries, Souhegan and 

 Marlboro come earliest, and about 

 together. Both begin to ripen fully 

 a week before the season for the Gandy strawberry 

 has closed. This year, both the Souhegan and Marl- 

 boro had their season remarkably prolonged. We 

 gathered fine berries from the Marlboros almost as long 

 as from the Cuthberts. This last is our best berry 

 in quality and productiveness. The Gregg and Cuth- 

 bert for late, with Souhegan and Marlboro for early, 

 cover the whole raspberry field, unless for special occa- 

 sions one desires on his table a royal beauty, in which 

 case he needs the Golden Queen, which fruited with 

 us this year for the first time, and greatly pleased us 



The Marlboro and Gregg seem to be deficient in vi- 

 tality, and a good many of the bushes have died from 

 no apparent cause. Other varieties growing beside 

 them have been unaffected. Our raspberries have been 

 planted in rows four feet apart ; experience would place 

 the minimum distance at six feet. 



The Fay currant far surpassed all other varieties on 

 our grounds. The bushes were so heavily laden that 

 they lay prostrate on the ground. The bunches were 

 very large, the fruit of excellent quality. The Cherry 

 variety was much smaller in the berry, than Fay. The 

 White Grape we found again a beautiful fruit and fine 

 for the table, it being the sweetest of currants. Our 

 future plantings will be of Fay, White Grape, and Vic- 

 toria for late. We have been little troubled with the 



currant worm this season, the bushes keeping in foliage 

 well without the use of insecticides. 



The Houghton and Downing gooseberries bore mag- 

 nificent crops. If our plants are true to name (which 

 we begin to doubt), the Houghtons were the better. 

 The Smith fell behind either. Industry is free from 

 mildew, but bore little fruit ; Crown Bob seems deficient 

 in vitality. The Mountain, Late Green and Golden 

 Cluster were all free from mildew. 



We had Early Harvest blackberries ripe June 28. 

 This berry is a beauty. The vines seem vigorous and 

 fairly prolific. Early King follows in ten days, but has 

 not commended itself to us. Erie is fine, but not pro- 

 lific with us. Wachusett, Wilson Jr., Kittatinny and 

 Lucretia have so far done no good for us. We have 

 fruited Lucretia three seasons, and it only cumbers the 

 ground. Time has shown that we have two very dis- 

 tinct blackberries, both bought for Snyder. One, a 

 strong upright grower (while the other is inclined to a 

 trailing habit), we consider our best blackberry. 



Of the juneberry Success we have two distinct var- 

 ieties. That is, both were bought for Success. Both 

 fruited sparingly. No plant on our grounds made a more 

 vigorous growth than a Japanese wineberry. The fruit 

 was worthless, the plant itself of little value for orna- 

 mental purposes. We have not noticed that anyone 

 has called attention to resemblances between this plant 

 and our American thimbleberry . To our minds, the 

 thimbleberry is the much more valuable for ornamen- 

 tal purposes. We have been trying to grow huckle- 

 berries. The plants were received in a dry time, after 

 having been on the road over four weeks, and yet they 

 live, even if they do not grow much. We have not 

 mulched them, and the soil in which they are planted 

 is probably not very favorable. 



Union Co., Penna. Geo. G. Gkoff. 



