1861.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
10 
Burly Strawberry, Early Joe, William’s Favor¬ 
ite, American Summer Pearmain, Boliaunau, 
Golden Sweeting, Sops ol‘Wine. 
T'ALIi AUIVLES. 
Autumn Strawberry, Fall Pippin, Graven- 
stein, Porter, Smoke House, Jersey Sweeting, 
President, Hawley, Lowell, Rambb. 
WINTER APrLES. 
Baldwin, Hubbardston Nonsuch, Northern 
Spy, Newtown Pippin, Peck’s Pleasant, Rhode 
Island Greening, Esopus Spitzenbcrg, Dominie, 
King, Norton’s Melon, Danver’s Winter Sweet, 
Red Canada, Roxbury Russet, Swaar, Wagener. 
_.--s.——•-»-- 
How to Judge of Fruits. 
It is quite amusmg to observe the different es¬ 
timates formed of newly introduced varieties of 
fruit. A man raises a seedling pear, which, in 
his own partial judgment, seems very good. He 
shows it confidentially to a friend or two, who, in 
the kindness of their hearts, pronounce it first 
rate, delicious! The man’s eyes open wide; he 
imagines he has produced a new Seckel or Vir- 
galieu; a fortune may be made out of its sale; 
he names it “Excelsior,” “Young America,” or 
something else more sounding and taking. Then 
he propagates it largely and introduces it to the 
market. What is his surprise to find that his 
bantling produces no great sensation; the public 
call it second-rate, inferior to many others now- 
in cultivation, and not worthy of general notice. 
The man feels hurt—hurt in his feelings and in 
'•that tenderer place, the pocket. He insists upon 
it that the fruit committees are prejudiced, are 
hostile, and determined to ruin him. It takes a 
long time for him to find out that he has been 
deluded by his own feelings and self-interest. 
Such cases are quite common. 
Mistakes arise also from the time and circum¬ 
stances in which an opinion is formed. A per¬ 
son may be called upon to test the quality of a 
new fruit, when his appetite has just been sated 
and cloyed by eating many other fine sorts; of 
course, he would not be likely to form a very 
favorable estimate, nor one to be relied on. 
Or the trial may be made when he is exceed¬ 
ing fruit hungry: he has been traveling all day, 
has had little to eat or drink, and is fever- 
ishjvitli heat and ravenous for food. Now bring 
on your new candidate for pomological honors— 
be it apple, pear, grape, or anything in the fruit 
line—and forthwith, it is pronounced “ fine,” 
“ super-excellent,” “ food fit for the gods!” 
What do you think of that judgment? Not 
much we hope. 
We have heard of a wild grape being found 
many years ago, by a party of explorers in the 
Rocky Mountains, which they esteemed so won- 
drous good—better than the Hamburgs or Mus¬ 
cadines—that they afterward procured a root, 
carried it many weary miles by hand, and 
brought it to an eastern city for cultivation. 
Gh, how disappointed were they to find on its 
coming into bearing again, that it was no better 
than the commonest wild grapes of New-Eng- 
land woods! Ah, if they had brought home 
also their sharp appetites from the Rocky Moun¬ 
tains, the grape would also have maintained its 
original excellence. 
We need not enumerate other circumstances 
that come in to mar one’s j udgment of new fruits. 
It is plain, however, that the owner of a seedling 
is apt to be a poor judge of it, and that time and 
circumstances must also be taken into the ac¬ 
count. One trial is not enough, nor is one year’s 
trial. Some standard fruit should ahvays be at 
hand with which to compare the new-comer. 
And with the best of pains, it will take time and 
necessitate some blunders, perhaps, before the 
new fruit has its true and final place assigned it. 
The Hewer Grapes. 
Our friends, the hew natives, could hardly 
have received a stronger impulse than they got 
from the early frosts of last Autumn. The 
early ripening Delaware, Concord, Hartford 
Prolific, and Logan, had ripened off their crops 
finely by the first week in October. But the lag¬ 
gard Isabellas and Catawbas colored very slow¬ 
ly, and, north of Newburg at least, were only 
half ripe when the heavy frosts of mid-October 
came, and froze them for two successive nights 
as hard as bullets. Alas! of what use were they 
then! They were so sour and bitter as to be un¬ 
fit for eating: and were consequently unsuitable 
for wine making, or for jellies, or sauce. Some 
persons tried them for pies, but they were eaten 
only from a sense of duty, nobody at the table 
asking for a second piece! 
We happen to know several persons who 
have vowed destruction on their late ripening 
grapes, and have determined to fill their places 
with the earlier sorts. Not wisely so, we think; 
for, with proper choice of aspect and soil, and 
with suitable pruning, the Isabella, at least, can 
be ripened, three years out of four, as far north 
as Albany; and when it does mature, a noble 
grape it is. A daily paper before us mentions 
that even the Concord was caught ungathered, 
last Fall, in the vineyard of Mr. Bull, its origi¬ 
nator, and some forty or fifty bushels frozen 
and spoiled. Shall we therefore throw away 
our Concords? Prove all things, and hold fast 
to that which is good. 
Frozen Plants. 
If this Winter is like all that have preceded it 
in our day, many plants and vegetables will be 
frozen. Some still, clear night, Jack Frost will 
steal into the cellar, and turn the apples and 
potatoes into so many stones. He will also find 
his way into the lady’s parlor or chamber, 
where she keeps her house-plants, and, ah me! 
next morning, her sweet pets will be as rigid as 
the artificial flowers on her bonnet. The bun¬ 
dle of trees which I ordered so late, from- 
& Co.’s, nursery, will be detained on the way, 
and I shall receive them all frozen together, as 
hard as logs. 
Now,. what shall be done in these several 
cases ? Shall the potatoes and apples be drench¬ 
ed with warm water to take out the frost ? No: 
cover them with old mats or carpets, and let 
them thaw out as gradually as possible. And 
the dear flowers? Don’t hurry them into a 
warm room to thaw them by the side of a stove, 
as you would a frost-bitten chicken. Let them 
remain where they were frozen; close the win¬ 
dow shutters or drop the curtains, so as to make 
the room quite dark, then sprinkle the plants 
with cold water direct from the cistern, and 
wait for the result. Do not allow the room to 
become warmer than 85° for twenty four hours. 
If a few drops of spirits of camphor are thrown 
into the dish of water before sprinkling, it will 
lie all the better. Wc treated a dozen plants in 
this way last Wi liter, and the frost was so se¬ 
vere that the water froze in drops on the leaves 
as we sprinkled them; but by keeping the room 
dark and cool an entire day, nearly every plant 
came out unharmed. We remember, in partic¬ 
ular, a fuchsia which was in full flower at the 
time of the freezing; a week after it was still 
covered with blooms. A neighboring gardener 
had the misfortune, also, to have a large lot of 
geraniums frozen. In his anxiety, he hurried a 
part into a warm green-house, and a part into a 
cellar. The first were nearly all ruined, the lat¬ 
ter were all saved. 
The package of frozen trees must be taken to 
the garden, a trench dug large and deep enough 
to receive them root and branch, and then they 
should be covered with soil. The gradual 
thawing in the dark will undoubtedly save them. 
Look to Your Dahlias, ete. 
Some persons pack away their dahlias in the 
Fall, in sand or dry earth. With such treat¬ 
ment, they generally go through the Winter 
very well. Others put them away on shelves in 
their cellars, or pack them among their potatoes. 
Managed in this latter way, they sometimes 
keep well; but they are exposed to injury from 
mold, if the cellar be damp, and to shriveling if 
it be very dry, and this is often the case where 
the house is warmed by a furnace. We have 
often found that by being packed among other 
vegetables, they remain just moist enough and 
just dry enough. 
However they may be stored, it is well to ex¬ 
amine the tubers occasionally, to see how they 
arc get ting on. If they are suffering from either 
cause named above, let them be shifted into diff¬ 
erent quarters before they are spoiled. They 
are worth this little trouble. 
And we will just add that Mexican Lilies, 
and gladioli should have corresponding treat¬ 
ment. Some persons take up their Japan Lilies, 
and pot them for the Winter. With suitable 
protection out of doors, tiiis is unnecessary; but 
where'it is done, they should have a little water 
occasionally, between this time and April. 
Give them just enough to keep them from dry¬ 
ing up in their pots, and yet not enough to ex¬ 
cite them into premature growth. 
--- 
Chinese Chrysanthemums, 
It is not our purpose now, to speak of the 
mode of cultivating this plant—our past read¬ 
ers, at least, need no instruction on the subject— 
but we wish to give a list of the best softs in our 
own collection, and which we can, from .expe¬ 
rience, recommend to our friends. Our plants 
have been in full bloom at a chamber window, 
from November 1st up to Christmas, and now 
have gone into their Winter quarters in the cel¬ 
lar. There they will hibernate, with no fur¬ 
ther care from us until next May, when new 
plants will be propagated from slips. 
The longer we have grown this plant, the 
more do wc like it: it is so accommodating, so 
easily managed, and gives such a wealth of 
flowers for so little pains. Every body ought to 
have a window full of chrysanthemums. Here 
are some of our favorites: Hendersonii, fine 
yellow, and quite early; Sacramento, orange 
yellow, with a red center, (distinct from Hen¬ 
dersonii); La France, white; La Gitana, blush 
pink, exceedingly beautiful; Lartay, lilac; Pi- 
quillo, crimson purple, dark; Louise Meiller, 
creamy white, fine; Brunette, red; Mignonette, 
rose colored; Nelly, blush white; Henrietfe 
Lebois, rosy purple; Sathaniel, rose colored; 
Nonsuch, very dark yellow; Autumna, bronze, 
peculiar; Grand Sultan, carmine maroon; Min¬ 
imum omnium, pink, very small. 
