310 
NOTES ON HORTICULTURE. 
somewhere other than in South Carolina, previous to 
1800 ; and whether it be hybrid, or not, it was culti¬ 
vated elsewhere than in that State. Perhaps some 
octogenarian of Dorchester, South Carolina, or Nor¬ 
wich, Connecticut, may give you further information 
of its origin. The real history of such a valuable 
grape, of American origin, should be preserved. 
Black Rock , July , 1845. L. F. A. 
NOTES ON HORTICULTURE. 
Suckers of Fruit Trees. —The nurserymen of this 
country have for many years been in the practice of 
inoculating the pear upon suckers. This has arisen 
in a great measure from the great difficulty expe¬ 
rienced in our hot climate of obtaining good pear stocks 
from seed. For apples, cherries, plums, and peaches, 
seedlings only have been used, not only for their su¬ 
perior thriftiness, but from the greater difficulty in ob¬ 
taining suckers of these fruits. The very great loss 
incurred by nurserymen in transplanting pear suckers 
for stocks, has induced them to renounce them entire¬ 
ly, and most of the sea-board nurseries, with our own 
establishment, have entirely discontinued the use of 
suckers, and now inoculate upon seedlings only. We 
cannot however agree entirely with many writers who 
assert that only unhealthy trees can be produced from 
suckers. Where no care is taken in selection, and 
buds are placed upon knotty, stunted, and unthrifty 
suckers, nothing can be expected but stunted and un¬ 
healthy trees; but our own experience is convincing 
that if young and thrifty suckers are selected, perfect¬ 
ly healthy trees can be produced. We can point to 
numerous rows in our grounds, of pears budded on 
suckers, during the first years of our establishment, 
which have grown most luxuriantly, show no en¬ 
largement at the point of inoculation, and have borne, 
for their size, an abundance of delicious fruit. We 
have also in our grounds pear-trees nearly half a cen¬ 
tury old, which were inoculated, to all appearance, 
upon suckers, and which grow luxuriantly, and bear 
abundantly. The unthrifty nature of many pears on 
suckers is not, we think, owing to the presence of any 
disease in the stock, but to the attacks of insects, 
which it is well known will infest a tree in much 
greater numbers when it is stunted or does not grow 
rapidly. 
Although causes mentioned above have induced us 
to abandon suckers for stocks, we do not think them 
deserving of indiscriminate censure, but are well satis¬ 
fied to use them for our own orchards, if we can se¬ 
lect sound, healthy, and thrifty growing trees. 
White Doyenne Pear. —This fruit as we learn from 
the various periodicals, and from our own correspond¬ 
ents, has been infected with disease, not only in the 
Eastern States and on the seaboard, but throughout 
the country, in the interior of Pennsylvania, near Cin¬ 
cinnati, and through Ohio, and in the state of New 
York. A short time since we wrote to various cor¬ 
respondents for information on this point, and have 
received numerous answers to the above effect. We 
learned that the fruit of this variety was infected also 
about Albany, and in some localities on the Hudson 
river. We speak of the fruit being infected, for the 
tree is evidently untouched, and grows with as much 
luxuriance as any other variety. It is now generally 
acknowledged that this deterioration in the quality of 
fruit is owing not to any actual disease existing in the 
tree, b at to the depredations of insects, which it is 
well known will often prey upon some particular va¬ 
rieties of trees or fruit for successive years. It is, I 
believe, a fact, that young trees of this variety pro¬ 
duce healthy fruit. This is doubtless owing to their 
greater thriftiness, and to the cultivated condition o 
the soil. Our own experience would seem to strength 
en this opinion, that disease may in a great measurt 
be eradicated by care and high cultivation. Our ok 
Doyenne trees, some forty or fifty years old, had foi 
many years suffered from the common blight. Foj 
the last two years the orchard has been highly ma¬ 
nured and cultivated, and this year much of the fruit 
produced is perfectly sound, and with its ancient deli¬ 
cious flavor. The same treatment produced the same 
result in the Newtown pippin, which had shown 
some symptoms of the same blight. We have every 
reason therefore to think that the white Doyenne has 
not “ run outthat it is gradually improving, and 
that by care and cultivation it may be restored to its 
pristine vigor and perfection. 
High Prices of Plants and Fruit in England. —It 
is astonishing what prices will be paid for compara¬ 
tively insignificant things by those who have more 
money than they need. While I was in England, a 
nurseryman at Tottenham, I was informed, sold one 
plant of a new variety of pansey or heart’s ease for 
five hundred guineas (2500 dollars). In Covent Gar¬ 
den Market, London, strawberries were selling at 
Is. 6d. (37'| cts.) per ounce, peaches two guineas per 
dozen (80 cents each), grapes one to two guineas per 
pound, and pine apples one to two guineas each, of 
immense size and beautiful appearance. It is no un¬ 
usual thing for a lady to have on her table at a party, 
fruit costing from £400 to £500; and one nobleman, 
some years since, gave a dinner for which the fruit 
alone cost £6000 pounds sterling (about $30,000). 
With such encouragement, it is not surprising that 
the forcing of fruit is carried to a greater perfection in 
England than elsewhere. 
Brussels Sprouts. —I do not recollect ever to have 
tasted this delicious variety of the cabbage in this 
country. During my recent visit to Brussels it was 
in perfection, and possessed a flavor very similar to 
that of stewed oysters. It is in form a miniature cab¬ 
bage, head about the size of a dime, and is brought on 
the table cooked in the same manner as asparagus. It 
is in season nearly two weeks before asparagus, and 
is truly a delicious vegetable. It can doubtless be cul¬ 
tivated here successfully, and may have been, although 
I am not aware of it. 
Sap Generates Buds. —“ On the banks of the river 
Derwent stood a large hawthorn hedge, which being 
undermined by the water, fell in and left the greater 
part of the roots in the bank, about 1 or 2 feet below 
the surface ; the bank still wearing away has exposed 
them to the air for the length of 3 feet or more, and 
they are now in every respect similar to branches, de¬ 
veloping buds, and consequently all the appendages 
of the axis; they appear anatomically the same as 
branches, excepting the pith, of which they are desti¬ 
tute. Now, it appears that roots when so circum¬ 
stanced perform all the functions of the stem, con¬ 
firming Knight’s theory, that sap can at any time ge¬ 
nerate buds, without any previously-formed rudiment, 
when circumstances are favorable to their produc¬ 
tion.” 
The above extract T have copied from the London 
Gardener’s Chronicle, and in connection with it I re- 
