How to Judge Novelties 
"The ripe fruit is dropped at last without violence, but the lightning fell and 
the storm raged, and strata were deposited and uptorn and bent back, and Chaos 
moved from beneath, to create and flavor the fruit on your table to-day." 
Emerson. 
The Improved Larkspur. 
It is very rare that a fruit 
variety of any kind will thrive 
under all conditions of soil, cli- 
mate and locality. No fruit 
thrives equally well in all parts 
of the United States even. Two 
or three of the ancient European 
and early American standards 
approach this cosmopolitan ten- 
dency. The old Bartlett pear 
thrives fairly perhaps in half the 
States of the Union, the Ren 
Davis and the Rhode Island 
Greening apples thrive over a 
large territory, perhaps inclu- 
ding nearly one-third the United 
States, though their usefulness 
as standard varieties is very 
much more limited. 
Among the older plums the 
Wild Goose type, though not of 
superior quality, thrives widely. 
Among peaches, the types which 
thrive best in the South and 
West are generally worthless in 
the Northern States. The same 
state of affairs exists with grapes, 
apricots, almonds, oranges, lem- 
ons, olives, figs, prunes and cher- 
ries, strawberries and other ber- 
ries. The old hardy Concord 
grape thrives as generally as any 
among grapes, but the territory 
on which it is grown as a stand- 
ard variety is quite limited. 
When we extend our study of 
fruits from a narrow local point 
to a more comprehensive view 
of the whole subject, it is at once 
seen that success in the produc- 
