December, 1891. 
207 
/ ORCHARD t UND fGPLRDEN 
istic, somewhat softened but much too 
prominent to be agreeable. When cooked 
this is lost to some extent but other flavors 
are lacking. As a fruit the value of this 
class would seem to be problematical. As 
an ornamental tree it should be widely 
planted where pears succeed. At this point 
it not quite hardy. — John Craig, Experi- 
mental Farm, Ottawa, Can. 
Fruit Notes from Missouri. 
Among strawberries the Gandy has done 
splendidly with me and is still the most 
valuable late one I have. Monmouth has 
not amounted to very much here and 1 have 
about discarded it. My plants of Lovett, s 
Early were planted last spring and hence I 
cannot speak fully as to its fruiting but it 
promises well. Shuster’s Gem pleases me 
exceedingly. Farnsworth gave a few very 
good berries. The Lovett or $1000. rasp- 
1 berry plants have grown well and will show 
their merits next season. I consider the 
Japan Wine berry well worth having as an 
ornament or curiosity even if it did not bear 
the crop of fruit it does. Among the newer 
blackberries the Erie and Minnewaska 
are very promising. 
Peais have been a slim crop with us and 
most of my trees are going from blight; out 
of one hundred bearing trees I have not 
now ten that are perfect healthy. Kieffer, 
Gerber and Idaho are quite sound, however, 
and I shall not be surprised if these three 
pears take a high rank among the market 
pears of the future. We are just now (Nov. 
10th). enjoying Kieffers that are very good 
indeed; but they are often poorly grown and 
hence it is that we find them sometimes 
denounced. I recently sent some Kieffer 
pears to a friend in Jeffer.-on City and he 
and his friends thought they must have 
come from California. Apples are but a 
medium crop here and the winter apples do 
not promise to keep well. 1 have again 
proved to my satisfaction that there need be 
no off year. By thinning out properly 
most apple trees will bear every year, but 
let a tree overbear and there will be a miss 
the year following. More than half the 
failures of orchards in these parts may be 
traced to starvation, a taking off of crops 
and putting nothing back. For some years 
I have had my orchard in clover, cut and 
left to rot upon the ground so far as the 
roots of the trees extend. Peaches have 
been an abundant crop this season and will 
give people encouragement to plant trees 
again. If we can get such a crop once in 
four years even it will pay. When these 
are done our persimmons come in. Six 
choice varieties in bearing and all bore a 
crop. The Early Golden is nearly gone. 
The Kansas, the best tall variety, has been 
gone for some weeks; it ripens long before 
frost. Quite recently some one sent me 
some persimmons that were of fair size, 
/ excellent quality and without a seed in 
them. What we want is a variety as large 
and as good as the Kansas and free from 
seeds, then we will be nearly as well fixed 
in this line as growers in the South where 
they erow the Japanese sorts. Our best 
natives are better in quality than the for- 
iegn. The one named Kansas was sent to 
me as seedless; only the small specimens 
are so, but the larger ones have only from 
one to three seeds in each one. We have 
grown it five and a half inches in circum- 
ference and almost equal in quality to a 
green gage plum. This statment may 
amuse some people but I claim to have a 
pretty refined taste when it comes to some- 
thing good. Not one man in ten has ever 
tasted a good persimmon and therefore few 
are fit to judge, but take my word for it, 
a properly ripened persimmon is a superior 
fruit. — S. Miller, Montgomery Co., Mo. 
Jucunda Improved Strawberry. 
The originator of the Jucunda Improved 
strawberry writes: “ As early as 1878 I ex- 
perimented raising seedling strawberries, 
for several years without success. The 
Jucunda Improved sprang from seed of the 
Jucunda in 1S82, and the plant was noted 
for its healthy and vigorous growth among 
all thi others. It fruited the following 
season, and in 1885 I sent you some of 
the fruit, and later at your request a dozen 
plants for trial. All you have from time to 
time said in its favor I fully approve; it is 
really a grand variety.” 
Strawberries in North Carolina. 
I have grown here some fifty-eight vari- 
eties of strawberries and have given them, 
I think, a pretty fair test. Among 'hose 
I have discarded are Wilson, Colianziek, 
Crescent. Cumberland. Mammoth, Mon- 
mouth. Lida, Old Ironclad, Great Ontario, 
Parry, Crystal City, etc., etc. The best 
varieties I have found so far are Bubach 
No. 5. Jessie, Sharpless, Hoffman, Gandy 
and Haverland, though these I do not con- 
sider perfect, each one having, more or less, 
some serious fault or drawback as, for in- 
stance, Bubach is not firm enough to ship. 
Jessie is inclined to rust in foliage. Sharp- 
less is too tender and not sufficiently pro- 
ductive. Gandy is all right for lateness in 
ripening but is not productive enough. 
Hoffman I consider the lest early berrv I 
have yet tried. Haverland appears to be 
an acquisition — I will know better next 
season. Bubach No. 5 is the very best ber- 
ry I have, considering everything — vigor, 
clean foliage, large plants, stands hot sun 
well, I erries beautiful in color and large in 
size; they mature from the blossoms the 
quickest of any variety I know of, which is 
quite a consideration during late frosts. 
The bright green calyx of the Gandy en- 
hances the appearance of that noble berry 
as it lies in the box. Brother originators 
of new strawberries, bring out this point 
in your new seedlings — it adds wonderfully 
to the freshness of appearance, and the 
larger the calyx the better is the appear- 
ance. I have some customers who will 
take only the Sharpless, otherwise I would 
not grow that variety. If the Jessie did 
not rust or scald I would prefer it to Sharp- 
less for market purposes. But to my indi- 
vidual taste there are no berries I have yet 
grown that come up in flavor to Gandy or 
Sharpless. — G. E. Morton, Polk Co.. N. C. 

The Palmer Raspberry. 
If I said, in ‘•peaking of Palmer Raspberry 
in November number, that it w as quite late, 
I said what I did not intend to and what 
was not correct. We fruited it side by side 
with Pioneer or Progress and we only had 
one picking from Pioneer in advance of Pal- 
mer. It was larger, held its size and stood 
wet weather much better. — Ezra Stokes. 
I do not agree with you as to December 
being the best time to cover strawberries, 
for I find, in this section of country, the 
plants often heave out in November from 
the effects of freezing and thawing. It is 
far better to cover early in November for 
locations as far north as this.— B. W. Oli- 
ver, Middlesex Co., Mass. 
A Few Grape Notes. 
HE SUPERIOR size of 
clusters and more 
thorough r peness of 
some varieties of grapes 
this season over their 
general attainment, 
could hardly escape the 
notice of any careful ob- 
server who scanned the fall ‘xhibi’s at our 
state and county fairs. Varieties that are 
so late in maturing as to be regarded as un- 
certain have surprised the growers. The 
intensely hot weather of September was 
doubtless an important factor contributing 
to this result so that it will hardly be safe to 
count on them to reach a similar degree of 
perfection every season. If our seasons 
were duplicates of each other we might cal- 
culate with some degree of certainty, cas- 
ualties excepted, that the results one season 
would be an index for another, but certain 
peculiarities of season do not affect all vari- 
eties alike. It was a full knowledge of this 
fact that made our revered Do » ning so 
cautious in expressing his opinions respect- 
ing a new fruit on a first acquaintance. He 
claimed that a five year probationary trial 
was necessary to correctly judge a new 
grape, and those of us who have had much 
experience in this line will fully agree with 
him. 1 1 does n ot f o I lo w th a t the Con cordis 
the best grape we have merely because it is 
popular and more generally planted than 
any other neither is its popularity entirely 
due to its own intrinsic merits, because 
manv other and better grapes are sold es 
Concords to the entire satisfaction of the 
purchaser. This can hardly be said of the 
grower, for superior merit ought to be 
recognized. 
Among the older varieties of grapes that 
have proved better than usual this season I 
name the following; Isabella, the best for 
the past ten years, reminding us of its old 
tmie excellence. Catawba, ripened finely, 
an unusual occurrence. Croton and Duchess 
were also fine; the former is tender and un- 
certain, while the latter is very liable to rot 
