24r 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[January, 
ket; season, October and November. This apple is 
highly approved by the pomologists who have seen 
and tested it. It is not in the hands of any nursery¬ 
man, and has never been sent out.—[Our associate 
sent us some specimens of the Mystic Apple 
at the time he sent his article, and while we had 
every confidence in 
his accuracy in such 
matters, we felt re¬ 
luctant to add to the 
already too extend¬ 
ed catalogue of ap¬ 
ples, if there was the 
least chance of this 
being already known 
to pomologists, 
and suggested that 
this be sent to Mr. 
Downing. Although 
the fruit was past its 
best condition, spe¬ 
cimens were sent to 
Mr. D., with the sug¬ 
gestion that it might 
be one of the apples 
called Fall Pearmain. 
Mr. D. writes: “It 
is no Fall Pearmain 
that I am acquaint¬ 
ed with, neither 
do I recognize it as 
any apple that I have 
ever before seen.” 
—This, with the 
very direct history 
of the tree given 
above, would seem 
to be conclusive 
evidence that the 
Mystic may claim to be regarded as a new, and 
we may add, an excellent variety.—E d.] 
The Kum-Quat. 
The recent fruiting of the Kum-Quat in England 
has awakened a new interest in the fruit, and it is 
figured in the Gardener’s Chronicle, and the Florist 
and Pomologist. The Kum-Quat is a small species 
of orange, Citrus Japonica, which is found in both 
Japan and China; it was figured and described in 
the last century by Thunberg, but it was not known 
in cultivation until 1843, when Mr. Fortune intro¬ 
duced it into England, and it was cultivated at 
Chiswick. Later it has been successfully fruited, 
and is likely to become a popular plant. In China 
the Kum-Quat is grown as a shrub about 6 feet 
high, but trained to the back wall of a greenhouse, 
it has in England reached the hight of 15 feet. The 
plant resembles a dwarf orange tree, but with small¬ 
er and thinner leaves; it flowers very freely, and is 
very attractive in bloom ; the fruit, which is about 
the size of a gooseberry, is like an orange in minia¬ 
ture, having a bright orange rind, which, when 
scraped, gives off a highly agreeable perfume. 
Within there are five cells, filled with an exceed¬ 
ingly acid pulp. The fruit, picked with its leaves 
attached, makes a beautiful ornament for the des¬ 
sert, and when preserved with sugar, forms a sweet¬ 
meat which is highly esteemed. According to Mr. 
Fortune the Kum-Quat grows in the greatest per¬ 
fection in a portion of China, so cold that the 
orange will not thrive, and that in the orange-region 
of southern China the Kum-Quat does not succeed. 
The Chinese grow it in pots, but it does better in 
the open ground. The plant requires a warm sum¬ 
mer to ripen its wood, and a dry winter, and it 
would no doubt prove hardy in many localities in 
our Middle States, as in China it endures a cold of 
below 30°. It being an ornamental plant in both 
flower and fruit, and useful as well, it is hoped that 
our nurserymen will introduce it; we think there 
are some plants in private hands, but it is not 
yet in the trade. The Kum-Quat will not graft upon 
the orange ; the proper stock is Citrus trifoliata, a 
small hardy species, which propagates from cuttings. 
- * » i Q — - » 
Ornamental Peach Trees. 
It is not long ago that the double-flowered peach 
was the only ornamental variety offered^by nur¬ 
serymen, but now there are several which are 
worthy of attention. The rapid growth of the 
peach, makes the ornamental kinds valuable for 
new places, where an immediate effect is desired, 
and as they are easily multiplied by budding upon 
common stocks, an old tree can be cut out without 
regret, when it becomes so large as to be in the 
way of more permanent trees. Of the double 
sorts of large growth, there are now several, the 
common, with the ordinary rose-colored flowers, 
the white, like a little camellia, and the crimson. 
Besides these there is the Carnation-flowered, with 
striped petals, and the Various-flowered ( versicola ), 
which has white, red, and variegated blossoms all 
intermingled upon the same tree. The weeping 
peach, which, among other trees, serves to perpetu¬ 
ate the memory of good William Ried, is a striking 
form, with pendulous or “weeping” branches. 
Quite the opposite of this, is the Pyramidal Peach, 
which originated in the nurseries of P. J. Berck- 
mans, Augusta, Ga., who, by the way, has the great¬ 
est variety of ornamental forms of the peach, that 
we have seen anywhere. In this every branch tabes 
an upright direction, and gives the tree much the 
appearance of a Lombardy popiar. Though this 
remarkable form originated in a Southern State, it 
passed the winter upon our place near New York 
City, without losing a bud—a most striking variety. 
The Purple-leaved Peach has been written up and 
down by various writers. For two months or more 
in spring and early summer, its foliage is of a rich 
purple color. As the 
growth is completed, 
and the leaves begin 
to ripen, they then 
turn green. Still 
we regard it as a 
useful variety. Our 
specimen bore quite 
a crop of worthless 
fruit. The dwarf 
varieties, the Italian 
and Van Buren’s, 
have been so much 
advertised, that 
they should be well 
knowu ; it is of little 
use to recommend 
these for fruit. They 
are interesting on 
account of their very 
dwarf habit, but if 
they bear any fruit, 
it is to be regarded 
as more ornamental 
than useful. The 
most remarkable 
dwarf peach trees 
we have ever seen, 
were at Mr. Berck- 
mans’, raised from 
seed from Australia, 
they are so dwarf, 
that the others 
known as dwarfs, are giants beside them; they are 
double flowered, and are said to bear good fruit in 
Australia. A horticultural friend in France, sends 
us some stones of a new variety, now attracting 
much attention there, the Yellow-barked Peach, 
(Pecker a ecorce jaune) which is very ornamental in 
winter, on account of the rich yellow color of its 
bark. It bears a good, late, freestone fruit, and 
reproduces itself true from the seed—a rather 
unusual thing with variegated trees. The Flat 
Peach, the Peen-to of the Chinese, which has its 
fruit so flattened, that it is much broader than long, 
will probably not succeed in the open air in this 
country, as it blooms so early that its flowers are 
injured by frost, even in Georgia. For those who 
grow fruit under glass, this variety is of great in¬ 
terest. The neglect with which fruiting peach 
trees are treated, seems to fall to the lot of the 
ornamental varieties, and we rarely see a double 
flowered tree that has not a sprawling head. If 
they were properly pruned, by shortening in the 
branches by at least a third, their appearance while 
SECTION OF MYSTIC APPLE. 
in flower, and during the long period they are 
out of flower, would be greatly improved. 
the kum-quat. —(Citrus Japonica.) 
