SOME NORTHERN FRUITS. 



141 



wet weather. The Tobias Gage never cracks in any 

 weather except an occasional fruit from over-ripeness. 

 Most plums are at their best when mellow, but the 

 Tobias Gage when fully ripe, and just before it is mel- 

 low, is as crisp as any apple, very juicy and more 

 sprightly in flavor than when mellow. That it is a 

 seedling here is evident from the fact that it has always 

 been propagated from suckers. 



Speckled Gage. James Tobias, son of the pioneer, 

 many years ago got some grafted plum trees from Mont- 

 real, and a sprout from one of them bore plums that from 

 their appearance were named Speckled Gage. The tree 

 is small with slender twigs, is very hardy and very 

 productive. The fruit is small, round with a slight 

 suture, reddish purple and speckled all over with small 

 dots. It is liable to crack when over-ripe, and then the 

 flavor near the skin is exceedingly sweet and sugary, 

 but near the pit, to which it clings, it becomes quite 

 acid. This plum is more highly valued for cooking and 

 canning than any other plum grown here. 



Golden Gage. This plum originated here on the farm 

 of my father, Benjamin Macomber, and is a seedling of 

 Coe's Golden Drop. The tree is small and very hardy, 

 so much so that it will bear fruit when the fruit-buds of 

 all other European sorts are killed. The tree is liable 

 to over-bear. The fruit is medium, oval, yellow with a 

 crimson cheek. This plum has no "neck" like its 

 parent, being very even in outline. Flavor rich, sweet 

 and delicious. Two weeks earlier than its parent. 



Macoinher Pears. These are all chance seedlings on 

 my father's farm, being trees that were left unbudded in 

 the nursery rows, except Grand Isle, which came up in 

 the garden and has never been transplanted. This 

 Grand Isle was outlined and described by Charles 

 Downing in one of his supplements to "Fruits and 

 Fruit Trees of America." This and all others of these 

 pears have been figured and described in the Rural 

 New-Yorker, and I need say but little about them here. 

 All the trees are very hardy, and are productive in 

 alternate years. Grand Isle is pyriform, medium size, 

 slightly acid, does not rot at the core, but is dry and 

 insipid if mellowed on the tree. Season, September. 



7'lie Refreshing is the most closely upright grower 

 of any pear I have ever seen. At a distance it might 

 be mistaken for a small Lombardy poplar. The fruit is 

 shaped very much like the Sheldon. It is yellow, 

 sweet, juicy and rich. Good mellowed on the tree. 



The Little Gem tree is rather tall, pyramidal in growth, 

 very productive of small, yellow fruit, of pyriform shape 

 and true Bartlett flavor. Ripe the middle of September, 

 the same as Refreshing. 



Dr. Hoskins Fear has been called a seedling of 

 Flemish Beauty because it resembles that sort. But 

 its parentage is not known. It is the largest of our 

 seedlings, and by a careless observer would be called a 

 Flemish Beauty, but it is broader at the stem and has 

 more of a neck. It is about as large as Flemish Beauty, 

 ripens with it and differs from it in flavor, mainly in 

 being a little inferior, but is not subject to that sort of 



fungus that is so destructive to the fruit of the Flemish 

 Beauty. 



All the above seedlings came into bearing about 

 twenty-five years ago. 



The Vermont Beauty was described in the Rural Ne7^<- 

 Yorker under the name of Macomber, but the intro- 

 ducers, W. P. Rupert & Son, of Seneca, N. Y., have 

 given it the above name. It was the last to come into 

 bearing, about five years ago, and deserves more than a 

 passing notice. The tree is yet small, of low pyramidal 

 growth with slender twigs and is a good bearer in alter- 

 nate years. The fruit is small, a little larger than the 

 Seckel. It is pyriform in shape and as even as if 

 turned in a lathe : no basin at the calyx, slightly in- 

 dented at the stem. But the color! This is one of the 

 fruits that the lover of the beautiful will delight to see. 

 It is bright yellow, with a clear, brilliant, crimson cheek 

 rivalling in beauty the most beautiful crab apples. It 

 is very juicy, with a mild sub-acid, sprightly flavor. It 

 is so solid that it could be safely sent across the con- 

 tinent in the mail with no more than ordinary packing. 



[Note. — The Vermont Beauty was favorably men- 

 tioned at the recent meeting at the Western New York 

 Horticultural Societv. — Ed. Am. G. ] 



The London .Apple originated a few years ago on the 

 farm of the late Buel Landon, of South Hero, Vt., one 

 of the towns on the island of Grand Isle. The tree is a 

 rather slow, upright grower, very hardy, but a rather 

 shy bearer. The fruit is above medium size, slightly 

 flattened, purplish-red, obscurely streaked and specked 

 all over with dots that are slightly indented. Calyx 

 open, in a shallow basin. Stem short, rather deeply set, 

 Flesh firm, crisp and juicy, with a mild sub-acid flavor 

 which is of the best. Would bring a high price in a 

 market where known. Season December to May. 



De-ioherry. The Lucretia dewberry has been spoken 

 agamst by some, but I think it is the most valuable 

 blackberry to plant at the north. It may not be so 

 hardy as some of the bush sorts, but its natural 

 position on the ground makes it one of the easiest of 

 plants to cover. A few evergreen boughs I find to be 

 sufficient. Some complain that the fruit gets covered 

 with dirt during rains, but it is not necessary that it 

 should become dirty. I make a horizontal trellis about 

 two feet from the ground upon which 1 lay the canes in 

 the spring. This puts them in the best position to be 

 protected from birds by mosquito netting. 



Chaiiiplain Kaspberry. This berry is a chance seed- 

 ling in my father's garden, and is believed to be from 

 White Antwerp. The canes are very much like the 

 White Antwerp. The berry is as large, lighter in color 

 and more freely produced, ripening at the same time. 

 The seeds are a third smaller, while the drupes are fully 

 as large and filled with a little pulp and a good deal of 

 juice. It is the most melting raspberry I know and at 

 the same time the best : I doubt if any other raspberry 

 can equal it in its high, delicious flavor. It is too soft 

 for the general market, but a superior sort for the family. 



Grand Isle County, I't. J. T. Macomber. 



