1867.1 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
447 
Fear Culture ou the Connecticut Coast. 
A correspondent from near Stonington, Conn., 
sends us the following notes uiwn pears: 
“Stonington, Mystic, and other places near 
L. I. Sound, have felt very strongly the recent 
impulse given to fruit-growing, and during the 
last ten years much progress has been made, 
especially in the cultivation of the pear. It is 
rare to find out of the vicinity of Boston so 
many private gardens so well stocked with good 
fruit. The pear does even better near the 
shore than the apple. In no one of the last ten 
years has there been a general fiiilure of the 
crop. It has contributed not a little to the 
success of pear culture that the old pastures of 
this early settled town are quite well stocked 
with pear trees. Many seedlings come up in 
by-places, and these, in many insUinces, have 
been transplanted, and make the best of stocks 
for grafting. We have sometimes taken up 
tltcsc seedlings, six or eight inches in diameter, 
by the frozen ball method, and by gradually 
grafting them with desirable fruit have got it 
early and in great abundance. 
“ The Flemish Beauty, for the early part of the 
period mentioned, was a first-rate variety. The 
trees grew with sufficient rapidity, c.ame early 
into bearing, gave a fair russet pear with a red 
cheek, and it was thought to be one of the best 
for this region. But of late years it cracks so 
badly that the fruit men are quite out of patience 
with it and are grafting it with better sorts. 
It will h.avc to be abandoned. The Beurre 
Diel cracks to some extent, and is considered 
doubtful. The Duchesse d’Angouleine does 
well on the lighter soils, but is hardly worth 
cultivating in heavy loams. The Bartlett sus¬ 
tains its well-earned reputation. The Julienne, 
on a dry, warm soil, is a first-rate summer pear, 
bearing regular and abundant crops. The Ty¬ 
son is superb, beautiful in color, and tastes bet¬ 
ter than it looks. The Paradise of Autumn Is 
of the most exquisite flavor, bears abundantly 
every year, and has this remarkable quality that 
the imperfect specimens are nearly deficient in 
flavor. It is worthy of much more general 
cultivation. The St. Ghlslain is also about as 
good as it can be, and bears regular and abund¬ 
ant crops. It has a very sprightly, vinous, fla¬ 
vor, that leaves nothing to be desiretl. The 
Belle Lucrative is an early and abundant bearer 
upon the quince, and good enough for those 
who like a rich, saccharine fruit The Musk¬ 
ingum is perhaps the most popular pear of this 
region. It comes in about a week or ten days 
earlier than the Bartlett, is nearly as large, is a 
much better fruit, and Inars uniformly good 
crops every year. The Vicar of Winkfield, al¬ 
ways a good baking pear, is here, when well 
grow’n, good enough for any man’s table. We 
have eaten it in January when it was quite 
equal to the Wiiite Doyenne. The Blood- 
good is very poor, or we have been exceedingly 
unfortunate in the specimens produced. The 
Dearborn’s Seedling improves as the trees get 
ago, but at its best estate is hardly up to its rei>- 
ulaiion. The Glou Morcean very generally 
cracks as badly as the Wiiite Doyenne. But we 
saw a large ba.sket of them at Mystic, this full, 
the product of a single tree, worthy of their high¬ 
est fame. Pear culture has taken deep root 
here, and will be likely to spread into orchard 
culture. The crop is so generally reliable that 
it could not fail to be largely profitable.” 
FnozEN Plants.—W hen plants in pots Ire- 
come frozen, they may often bo saved by Judi¬ 
cious treatment, provided the freezing is not very 
severe. The way to complete the work of the 
fmst is to bring the plant into a warm room, or, 
still worse, to attempt to thaw it with warm wa¬ 
ter. Leave it in a cool place where the thaw¬ 
ing will be very gradual, and where the sun 
will not reach It, Trees frozen in transporta¬ 
tion are to be treated in a similar manner. 
Place the box or parcel in a dark, cool cellar, 
or, if it be not convenient to do that, cover it 
thickly with straw or coarse hay, or bury it in 
the earth—any way to avoid a sudden change. 
The Papaw. 
The Papaw, {A$imina triloba), called also the 
Custard Apple, is widely distributed over the 
Western and Southern States. Its favorite lo¬ 
calities are the bottom lands, though it grows 
readily on higher ground, and lliousjuuls of the 
young seedlings are seen springing up in the 
fresh clearings. The tree grows to the hight of 
thirty feet, and begins to bear fruit quite early, 
when it may be called a shrub. The fruit is 
three or four inches long, .and more resembles 
the fig banana in shape and size than any thing 
we are acquainted with. It is less regular in its 
1 form and more rounded at the ends. It is of a 
greenish-yellow color when ripe, has a thin, 
deliaite skin, and a sweetish pulp, in which 
are imbedded a dozen or more seeds, looking 
like thin, brown beans. The engraving rep¬ 
resents one of the na¬ 
tural size. The leaf, 
flower and fruit are il¬ 
lustrated in Jan., 1864, 
page 20. The fruit is 
PAPAW SEED. highly relished by some 
persons, and we have even heard it eulogized 
os the most delicious of all. But to most tastes 
it is lacking in character. It is even more neu¬ 
tral than fresh rii>e figs, which many consider 
insipid. It is abundantly offered for sale, with 
other fall fruits, in the markets of Louisville, and 
other Western cities. We occasionally noticed 
trees standing in the yards of that city, and near 
the farm-houses in Indiana, but we are not 
aware that any systematic attempts have been 
made for its cultivation, or that any departures 
have taken place from the native type of the 
forests. The original fruit is much more prom¬ 
ising than many of those which have been so 
long cultivated and are now so highly prized. 
If it were taken in hand by the pomologists we 
have no doubt it could be made to break into 
rich and palatable varieties and become as pop¬ 
ular as the banana, which is now quite as com¬ 
mon and cheap in the New York market ns 
the pear. The tree is as ornamental as the 
cherry, which it somewhat resembles in general 
contour. Though a native of regions lying 
south of forty degrees of North latitude, it 
would probably bear removal and Irecome accli¬ 
mated several degrees further north, and keep 
company with the peach and the cherry. Could 
the Horticultural Societies of the Western 
States do better than to offer a handsome pre¬ 
mium for the first new variety of the Papaw ? 
Constitution of a Horticultural Society. 
Numerous requests have been made for a 
form of constitution fora Horticultural Society. 
The best we have seen is that of the Warsaw, 
Ill., Ilort. Society, because it is the briefest. 
We are indebted to Mr. F. Starr for a copy of 
this constitution, to which we have made some 
slight amendments. When a Iwdy of live hor¬ 
ticulturists meet for the promotion of the cause, 
they will, if animated by the right spirit, 
prefer to be troubled with as little constitution 
as possible. There are in every community 
certain individuals who like to belong to soci¬ 
eties for the opportunity it gives them to show 
their powers in expounding the constitution. 
We have known more than one society broken 
up because it had too strong a constitution. 
Another great trouble in all such societies is 
the everlasting talker, who occupies time, but 
never says anything. The hard work in all 
such a.ssociutions falls upon a few, and it is 
■well to put those in office who have horticul¬ 
ture at heart, and will work for the»1ove of it. 
CoNsnTVTiON. — Sec. 1. This Association 
shall be known as “-Horticultural Society.” 
Sec. 2. Its object shall be the advancement of 
the science of Pomology, and of the art of Hor¬ 
ticulture, and the collection and preservation of 
statistics of fruit culture in-County. 
Sec. 3. Its members shall consist of annual 
members, paying an annual fee of one dollar, 
and of honorary members, who shall consist 
only of persons of distinguished merit in horti¬ 
culture or kindre I sciences, who may, by vote, 
be invited to participate in the privileges of the 
Society. The wives of members shall be mem¬ 
bers without fee. Meml)er8hip shall cease with 
the expiration of I he year for which the fee is paid. 
Sec. 4 Its officers shall consist of a Presi¬ 
dent, Vice-President, and Secretary, who shall 
also act ns Trca.surcr; all of whom shall be 
elected at the December meeting in each year, 
and serve until their successors are electeiL 
These shall constitute the Executive Committee. 
Sect. 5. The Executive Committee shall have 
charge of the proi>erly of the Society, have 
power to call special meetings, and attend to any 
executive business not otherwise provided for in 
the By-Laws or by especial vote of the Society. 
Sec. 0. Tiiis Society shall hold monthly 
or other meetings as may be determined by By- 
Laws or resolution. 
Sec. 7. This Constitution may l)e amended at 
any regular meeting by two-thinls vote of the 
meml)crs present, notice having been given at 
the preceding regular meeting. 
Foueign Items. —We glean the following 
notes from our recent French Journals: 
Thornless Gooseberry. — The Billiard Goose¬ 
berry, the fruit of good quality, the bush 
rather a slow grower, but without thorns. 
Japanese Maples, with much divided and 
colored leaves, are figured in rival journals, 
which disagree about names. We have known 
the same things for several years in the collec¬ 
tion of Mr. James Hogg, of this city, who al¬ 
ways has some rare Japanese or other plants. 
Camellia-floieered Double PeaeK —This very 
ornamental peach, which avc figured two years 
or more ago, fruits quite freely in France, and is 
said to bear a cling-stone peacli of good quality. 
Foreing Lilacs.—Yot the Paris market alone 
Lilacs are forced to bloom in winter by the hun¬ 
dred thousand. With the necessarj' lieat and 
not much light, the common lilac blooms white. 
Unseasonable Flowering.— Lyons, and 
in other parts of France, the unusually '.try sea¬ 
son followed by rains, reused the app\;, pear, 
and plum trees to flower in great numlKirs. 
The Sweet Potato as a Window Plant. —This 
is recommended as a plant for the dwelling, on 
account of the fine green of its leaves. W e have 
seen it now and then in use in this country. 
