Horticultural  Gossip. 
At  the  recent  fair  of  the  Orange  County  Agricultural 
Society,  I  saw  and  tasted  the  Eaton  grape,  and  com¬ 
pared  it  with  another,  which  was  shown  as  the  Union 
Village — the  exhibitor  of  which  was  not  positive  if  it 
was  correctly  named.  The  vine  came  to  him  11  years 
ago  in  a  lot  of  Concords,  and  is  either  Union  Village 
or  a  Concord  sport.  In  the  matter  of  quality,  it  has 
hut  little  to  commend  it,  and  no  one  could  tell  by 
tasting  which  was  the  Eaton  and  which  the  other.  I 
see  no  reason  to  change  my  previously  expressed 
opinion  that  the  Eaton  has  but  little  to  recommend  it, 
save  its  size. 
One  meets  with  lots  of  knotty  problems  in  judging 
fruit  at  fairs,  and  lucky  the  man  who  can  avoid  any 
Long,  Editor  of  American  Gardening,  is  of  the  same 
opinion.  They  are  to  be  congratulated  if  they  have 
found  a  place  where  the  El  Dorado  can  be  successfully 
grown,  for  to  my  taste  it  is  one  of  the  finest  grapes 
on  the  list.  In  the  Hudson  River  region  where  it 
originated  (it  is  one  of  Mr.  Ricketts’s  grapes)  its  cul¬ 
tivation  is  practically  abandoned.  A  few  vineyardists 
keep  a  vine  or  two  to  make  out  a  collection,  but  it  is 
almost  worthless  as  a  producer.  With  the  best  train¬ 
ing  and  care,  they  often  fail  to  get  a  single  decent 
bunch  and  sometimes  a  pound  or  two  of  grapes  would 
constitute  the  crop.  All  these  things  show  the  neces¬ 
sity  of  the  most  careful  and  painstaking  tests  in 
various  sections,  before  one  entirely  condemns  or  ap¬ 
proves  any  particular  variety  of  fruit. 
large  and  finely  ripened  gooseberries.  I  am  fond  of 
them  in  their  fresh  state  as  simple  ripe  fruit,  but  made 
into  jam,  they  tickle  my  palate  as  does  no  other  jam 
known  to  the  housewife’s  art.  For  many  years  I  have 
at  intervals  bought,  as  I  could  afford,  jars  of  this  de¬ 
lectable  jam,  imported  from  England.  But  it  is  too 
expensive  and  there  is  no  good  reason  why  we  should 
not  grow  our  own  gooseberries  and  make  our  own  jam. 
Judge  Samuel  Miller  agrees  with  the  Gossipper 
that  a  new  raspberry  is  one  of  the  most  notable  wants 
in  the  horticultural  world.  It  must  be  light  red,  large, 
thrifty,  hardy,  productive,  of  fairly  good  quality  and 
adapted  to  all  parts  of  the  country.  The  grower  who 
can  give  us  such  a  berry,  and  we  believe  it  can  be  done, 
may  be  assured  of  a  comfortable  remuneration. 
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•  •• 
HORTICULTURAL  BUILDING  AT  THE  WORLD’S  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION.  Fig.  258. 
serious  mistakes.  At  a  recent  fair  where  I  officiated 
as  judge,  I  ruled  out  a  plate  of  pears  which  were 
entered  as  Duchesse  d’Angouleme,  as  not  being  true 
to  name.  The  owner  said  he  was  sure  they  were 
Duchesse.  I  was  not  sure  of  anything,  but  I  could 
not  agree  with  him.  The  older  I  get,  the  easier  I  find 
it  to  say,  “  I  don’t  know.”  The  pears  I  brought  away 
with  me,  and  I  submitted  them  to  Ellwanger  &  Barry, 
the  noted  Rochester  nurserymen,  who  pronounced 
them  Boussock.  I  do  not  question  their  judgment, 
but  I  never  thought  of  their  being  Boussock,  though 
perfectly  familiar  with  that  pear.  Soils  and  environ¬ 
ment  modify  varieties  so  greatly  that  extreme  caution 
in  settling  questions  of  varieties  is  necessary. 
I  notice  in  last  week’s  Rural  that  Mr.  John  T, 
Roberts  speaks  highly  of  the  El  Dorado  grape,  and  Mr. 
By  the  way,  does  Mr.  Roberts  really  mean  that  the 
Jessica  is  four  weeks  earlier  than  the  Delaware,  as 
stated  in  his  article  ?  The  Delaware  is  an  early  grape 
and  the  four  weeks  earlier  would  make  the  Jessica 
the  earliest  of  all,  by  a  considerable  majority. 
The  old  and  reliable  Fall  Pippin  has  fallen  upon 
evil  days.  The  demand  for  red  cheeked  apples  has 
grown  so  greatly  that  this  old  favorite,  not  having  a 
very  red  cheek  and  often  having  no  red  at  all,  is  crowded 
out  of  the  market  by  its  more  gaudy  competitors. 
And  yet,  for  an  all-round  fall  apple,  what  is  so  really 
valuable  as  the  Fall  Pippin  ?  It  is,  when  well  ripened, 
an  excellent  apple  for  eating  out  of  hand,  and  for  all 
the  culinary  uses  to  which  apples  are  put  it  has  no 
superior  and  few,  if  any,  peers. 
I  sHAbb  he  glad  when  one  can  go  to  market  and  buy 
“Have  you  any  Agawam,  Lindley  or  Wilder  grapes 
on  hand  ?  ”  I  said  to  a  New  York  commission  man  a 
few  days  ago.  “None  to-day,”  said  he,  “and  I  am 
heartily  glad  of  it.  The  general  grape-buying  public 
and  especially  the  dealers  who  buy  of  us,  don’t  know 
anything  about  these  fine  grapes  and  it  is  very  hard 
work  to  sell  them.  They  look  them  over,  shake  their 
heads  and  then  buy  Concords,  because  they  know 
what  they  are.  Once  in  a  while  I  find  a  man  who 
knows  what  these  fine  grapes  are  worth  and  who  has 
a  trade  for  them  and  he  buys  them  readily,  but  as  a 
rule,  they  are  a  drag  on  trade  and  it  is  hard  to  get 
more  for  them  than  for  the  Concords.”  That  is  the 
story  you  will  hear  all  over,  and  it  does  not  reflect 
much  credit  on  the  taste  of  the  American  grape  eater. 
We  shall  learn  better  by  and  by.  f, 
