438 
AMERICAN ACRICULTURIST. 
[December, 
grape for -which we have uot now space. It 
has been known for some twenty years as a 
healthy vine, a good grower, and an abundant 
bearer. Bunches somewhat after the style of 
the Isabella, but longer. Fruit very sweet and 
decidedly foxy. An indifferent table grape, but 
one that promises to become of the first import¬ 
ance to the wine groAver. The vine propagates 
easilj',- and the young plants, of which we have 
seen some thousands, show a remarkable vigor. 
Allen's IlyhrM. —The reports of this grape the 
present j'ear are 
generally favor¬ 
able. One culti¬ 
vator tells us that 
his returns receh^- 
cd for those sent 
to market were 
sixty cents per 
lb. at wholesale. 
Seedlings. — We 
hear but little of 
the neAV seedlings 
of the past two 
years. New “ hy¬ 
brids” and other 
seedlings that at¬ 
tracted some at¬ 
tention, do not 
seem to have fruit¬ 
ed this year. Less 
than the usual 
number of “ncAV 
grapes” haAm been 
sent us, and some 
that Ave haAm had, 
have been so poor 
that our advice 
has been, to root 
up the vine at 
once, and put 
something toler¬ 
able in its place. 
We have had to 
pay the express 
charges on sev¬ 
eral parcels of 
grapes that no 
one, with a civil¬ 
ized nose, could 
tolerate in the 
same room Avith 
him. If persons 
Avill send these 
Avild foxy things, 
they should at 
least put them 
here Avithout cost 
to us. Every noAV 
and then a foreign grape turns up, the fruit of 
Avhich, in a favorable spot, will mature. Mr. Geo. 
Van Nest, of Pluckamin, N. J., sent us a cluster 
of a grape of this kind, Avhich Avas -v^ll ripened, 
and so like a Golden Chasselas, as not to be 
readily distinguished from it. Our friend “ Hor- 
ticola,” of Hoboken, N. J., has raised a seedling 
from a Crimean grape, that in his grounds is 
remarkably healthy, and Avhich bears most e.x- 
cellent fruit. We hope that it may do Avell 
elsewhere. It is not impossible that Ave mayj-et 
get a seedling of the European vine that shall 
be perfectly hardy in our climate. The so-called 
Allen’s Hybrid is tolerably hardy—and this is 
by most good judges considered as purely a 
foreigner. We are as yet very skeptical on the 
subject of hybrids; f. c., crosses between the 
European and any of our grapes. We knoAV 
that crosses of varieties h.ave been made, and 
while we do not by any means say that a hy¬ 
brid is impossible, we can say that Ave have yet 
to see a grape that unmistakably gives evidences 
of being a hybrid. 
--' 
The Mountain Ashes. 
Among the ornamental trees useful for the 
brilliancy of their fruits in autumn, the different 
species and varieties of the Mountain Ash hold 
the first rank. Aside from their shoAvy ripe 
fruit, the trees are pleasing in shape, have good 
foliage, and a clean and health}^ look. They 
are not in any AV'ay related to the Ash tree, but 
jArobably obtained their popular name from 
some resemblance in foliage to the Ash. 
They belong to the genus Pyrvs, Avhich includes 
the apple and pear; and though their fruit is 
A^ery small, boriie in clusters, and the leaves are 
cpiite unlike those of the apple and pear, j-et the 
botanical characters of the flowers and fruit 
agree so Avell, that botanists very properly put 
them all in the same genus. 
The American Mountain Ash, (Pyrus Ameri¬ 
cana), is quite common in the mountainous dis¬ 
tricts at the North. It groAvs l.'i or 20 feet high, 
and is much more robust in cultivation than in 
its Avild state. Both this and the European 
Mountain Ash, or RoAA'an-tree, are common in 
cultiAuition, and the Iavo are so much alike that 
some botanists have regarded the American as 
a mere Avariety of the European tree; but the 
best authorities keep them as distinct species. 
The European Mountain Ash, (Pyrus axicupa- 
ria), has larger fruit than ours, and the divisions 
of its leaves are shorter, blunter, and of a paler 
color. We have in the Middle States a Avariety 
of the American tree as distinct from the usual 
form as that is from the European; it is known 
as the Small-fruited Mountain Ash; it forms a 
shrub not over 10 feet high, Avith fruit not larger 
than pepper-corns, and sometimes in cultivation. 
In the city of Rochester Ave have noticed that 
what is known as 
the Oak-leaved 
Mountain Ash, is 
a favorite orna¬ 
mental tree. It 
has a very erect 
habit of growth, 
forms a compact 
head, has a robust 
and dark-green fo¬ 
liage, and pro¬ 
duces an abun¬ 
dance of brilliant 
scarlet berries. 
We give an en¬ 
graving showing 
the shape of the 
leaf, from speci¬ 
mens obtained at 
the nurseries of 
Frost & Co., Ro¬ 
chester. We judge 
that this is what 
has been called 
Pyrus pinnatifida, 
and is considered 
by some as a gar¬ 
den hj^brid. Mr. 
Barry informed us 
that they import¬ 
ed it from Scot¬ 
land, many years 
ago, under the 
name of P. quer- 
cifolia, but that 
now the name 
seems to be drop¬ 
ped from the for¬ 
eign catalogues. 
Whatever may be 
its proper botani¬ 
cal relations. Oak¬ 
leaved Mountain 
Ash is a suflici- 
ently distinctive 
name for one of 
the most beautiful 
of our ornamen¬ 
tal trees, and one that we hope to see more 
widely known and cultivated than it noAV is. 
Mountain Ashes are raised from seed, and 
particular varieties are continued by grafting. 
The seeds remain in the ground over one year 
before they germinate, and it is necessary to keep 
them in a rotting heap for a year. The berries 
are mixed Avith light soil and spread in a layer, 
10 or 12 inches in thickness; this is covered 
Avith some 3 inches of sand, and alloAved to re¬ 
main until the next spring, Avhen ihcy aresoAvn 
in beds. The plants appear the following spring. 
The Greeley Grape Prize. 
In the autumn of 1864, the Hon. Horace 
Greeley offered a prize of $100 for the variety of 
grape best suited to general culture, the aAvard 
to be made by a committee of the American In¬ 
stitute. At the fruit exhibition of the Institute 
OAK-I.RAVEn MOTTNTAIN ASH. 
