and covered with a few inches of earth. It has, 
with him, uniformly turned up in the spring, 
green to the very tips, and always producing ex¬ 
cellent crops. 
Jlomologind 
The Rebecca, Diana and Creveltng Grapes, — 
John Lowe, Onondaga Co., N. Y., writes:—"Will 
not some of your correspondents, who have had 
experience with the Rebecca, compare notes 
with mine, wljieh are as follows: On dry gravel 
it makes but little growth, and bears but little 
fruit, and that is worthless; the berries ar-e small 
and universally have a green, transparent ap¬ 
pearance and are hard and sour; t he bunches 
are also small, while on a damp, yellow sand, not 
more than forty feet distant, they are entirely 
satisfactory. The vines make a very vigorous 
growth, are quite productive, bunch and berry 
above medium, ripen early and are in quality, 
best. I have noticed my neighbors’ vines that 
arc planted on gravelly and dry, sandy loam do 
not give satisfaction. Tito Diana, with me, when 
planted on the damp sand where the Rebecca 
succeeds well, fails entirely; it bears but few 
bunches, and they do not ripen, and are quite 
inclined to rot; while on the dry gravel, where 
the Bobocca fails entirely, the Diana succeeds 
admirably; the vine® do not make too much 
wood, the fruit ripens early, and has a very su¬ 
gary, nice flavor that I have never tasted in fruit, 
grown on better soil. The Crevet i ng grows very 
compact on the thin, dry gravel, while on the 
damp, rich sand it is very loose and straggling." 
FRUIT GROWING IN MICHIGAN 
BY GEORGE W. BUNGAY, 
Berrien county is the fruit grower's para¬ 
dise, and the belt of light 6andy soil from 
four to six miles broad and about fourteen 
miles in length, running through St. Joseph 
and Benton to Bainbridgc, is the fruit gar¬ 
den of the county. Orchards of peaches, 
pears, quinces, apples—vineyards of grapes 
of the most delicious varieties—gardens of 
blackberries, strawberries and raspberries, 
fringe t he lake shore for leagues and leagues, 
so that the land hereabouts lias the appear¬ 
ance of an immense nursery with trees and 
plants and bushes of every degree of growth, 
from the slender sapling trembling in the 
wind under the weight of a budding respon¬ 
sibility, to the mature tree, whoso graceful 
boughs have filled many a basket with fruit. 
Here are orchards of peaches where the 
trees, standing twenty feet apart, look clown 
upon rows of dwarf pears, that thrive in the 
shadow of their taller brethren. There the 
apple trees are mixed with peaches, their 
branches touching lovingly at the top and 
their roots clasping like bunds under the 
ground, reminding one of men of different 
nationalities standing up bravely and affec¬ 
tionately together to support a common 
cause. In some orchards the Lawton black¬ 
berry runs between the regiments of peach 
trees like a honeysuckle through a hedge,” 
In some the quince bush (shall 1 call it a 
tree?) is cultivated with the peach. Plums 
and cherries grow well here, but the cur* 
culio attacks the former, and the robins, with 
no respect for the owners, devour the latter. 
The fruit growers of this region are philoso¬ 
phers; they read the Rural and other hor¬ 
ticultural publications, and they know how 
to plant their t rees and bushes and vines, so 
that in the season of blossoms their dust 
and their fragrance will not he "lost upon 
the desert air.” The lake winds blowing 
over them when the shore seems a sea of 
blossoms, afford them an opportunity to ex- 
exchange compliments, if frees could, like 
Tennyson's oak, only talk; as it is, we will 
call their odor the expression of their love. 
Here and there may he seen an old tree, call¬ 
ing to mind the words of the poet: 
"I, rooted here among the groves, 
But languidly adjust 
My vapid vegetable loves, 
With authors and with dust.” 
Until within a few years — say ten or a 
dozen—the land hern was considered of little 
value, anti those who held it were glad to 
sell it for from eight to fifteen dollars per 
acre. Few if any persons had made the dis¬ 
covery thal nature designed this locality for 
fruit. Lake Michigan hold the warmth ot 
the summer sun, until late in the fall, keep¬ 
ing the frost from this side of its borders, and 
revealing her secret in late and early blos¬ 
soms of flowers, but the hint was not under¬ 
stood, and the land was left a drug in the 
market. After a while some of the residents 
tried an experiment of raising fruit, and the 
experiment was in every sense a success; but 
the trees were uncared for, and many of them 
became the prey of the borer and the cur- 
culio. St. Joseph being a capital port of 
entry, having one of the very best and safest 
harbors on the lake, a village was built there, 
owned and occupied principally by lake cap¬ 
tains. Others settled there, and among them 
were men having a taste for horticulture, 
and they found out the mystery, that the 
soil and climate and location were the best 
on the continent for the cultivation of fruit. 
A few short years—say seven or eight—have 
seen the forest cut down and made to blos¬ 
som like the rose, so that a vast orchard and 
garden, or, perhaps I should sfty, a continua¬ 
tion of orchards and gardens form what is 
known as the “ Peach Belt.” 
The land which has been planted is now 
worth from two hundred to one thousand 
dollars per acre—land wiLhout buildings will 
fetch that price; wild land, within the fruit 
bearing region, is worth from fifty to one 
hundred dollars per acre. Au acre of land 
usually holds from one hundred to one 
hundred and sixty trees, with small fruits 
between the rows, when the trees are young, 
These peach trees will yield three hundred 
and sixty baskets of fruit to the acre, each 
basket containing one-third of a bushel, or 
a trifle over. Each basket last year was 
worth about one dollar per basket. There 
are about four hundred persons engaged in 
the fruit business in the town of Benton, 
and they employ not less than three t housand 
persons during the fruit harvest, embracing 
men, women and children. These hands 
are generally paid by the job, and they earn 
from one dollar to two dollars and a half 
per day. The peaches raised here cover all 
the varieties, the. early and late Crawford 
and the old Mixon (free) taking the lead. 
The peaches are gathered during the day and 
shipped to Chicago at night, reaching,that 
city early the following morning. During a 
part of the harvest from five to seven steam¬ 
boats a day are running regularly to the 
have heretofore been designated, and a com¬ 
mittee was appointed to correspond with 
Mr. R. on the subject. In compliance with 
the. request of the Association, Mr. Rogers 
lias proposed the following names for the 
leading varieties, with the intimation that 
others may be named hereafter, if, on further 
trial in different sections of the country they 
should seem worthy of extended cultivation : 
No. 1, Goethe; 3, Massasoit; 4, Wilder; 9, 
Lindley; 14, Gaertner; 10 Agawam; 19, 
Merrimack; 28, Rcqua; 41, Essex; 43, Barry; 
44, Herbert. 
These with Salem (22) make a full dozen 
of these remarkable seedling grapes, and at 
least half a dozen more soem equally deserv¬ 
ing of names, but are as yet not. very gener¬ 
ally known. It should be remarked, too, 
that several of the numbers are so nearly 
alike as to hardly merit distinct appellations. 
Thus, No. 28 and Salem, sis grown by Mr. 
Knox the past year, seemed almost identical, 
(both very good,) and Nos. 33, 30, 43 and 44 
are much alike, resembling 4 and 19,— all 
large and showy black grapes. The display 
of these at the N. Y. State Fair, by Ell- 
wanger & Barry, last fall, will be remem¬ 
bered by all beholders. M. B. Bate ham. 
BENTLEY SWEET. 
The real origin of this valuable winter 
sweet apple is strictly unknown. It was 
first brought to the notice of fruit growers 
in 1848 at the meeting of the Ohio Pomolog¬ 
ies] Society, where its Ann character and 
goo:l quality produced on every observer a 
favorable impression of its value. Since that 
time it has been more or less grown in the 
south and central parts of Ohio, and is inva¬ 
riably esteemed. 
The tree is a thrifty but moderate grower, 
with firm, hard wood, and is a regular and 
productive bearer of very even, regular fruit. 
Fruit medium size, roundish, oblong, flat¬ 
tened at end; color pale yellow ground, 
shaded, marbled and streaked, with dark, 
clear, rich red, in which appear large, light, 
rassetty dots or specks; occasionally there 
is also a rough russet patch. Stem short, 
slender; cavity open, regular, deep; calyx 
nearly or quite closed; basin deep, round, 
regular, and yet slightly irregular and fur¬ 
rowed at the base; flesh yellowish white, 
very crisp, fine grained, juicy, mild, sweet; 
core small; seeds blackish, very broad, flat¬ 
tened, oval; season December to March. 
The quality of this fruit is of the best for 
eating and cooking—mild, firm, juicy, mod¬ 
erately and pleasantly sweet; suitable for 
the table or kitchen at any time from early 
in December to March. 
Currant Borer*.—As yon rpaper is devoted en¬ 
tirely to the good of the public, I send you this. 
I noticed a great mans - currant bushes died last 
year and the .rear before; and I find the young 
shoots, this season, are going. By cutting down 
I find a while worm entered at the ton of the 
young shoot, and eating down the pith of the 
wood. I tlunk. by caretut watching and cutting 
them out, n deal of trouble may be prevented, 
and >v«- may have healthy bushes besides. Others 
may have noticed the same.—S. II., Milford ,, Del. 
Tin;' worm is the larva of an insect of which the 
accompanying figure is a portrait. This is a bee¬ 
tle of a black color, edged —v __ 
with chestnut brown; its AN. S' 
wing covers each are with \ \ S'/ 
two small grey spots for l J 
ward of their middle, and a 
white, crescent-shaped one z&ffi 
toward i he tips. We know HM'V 
of no remedy for the de- \ 1 
predations of tills borer- j/pri\v 
except to cut open the ■r f BH 
stalks where they arc at \ ^ J 
work, and destroy the j f 
larvae. Fitch says these * V 
stalks may be readily distinguished from the 
live ones by being dotted over with a pretty 
little fungus the size of a pin bead, and of a pale 
bright red color, and a corky texture. The larva 
is a white worm, wholly destitute of feet, with 
a small chestnut brown head and black jaws. It 
passes its pupa state in the currant stalks, 
changing into the beetle above descibed the lat¬ 
ter part of May. 
Cherry *' 6,ICO 100 ** “ “ USX “ 
Apple " 4.V«8 SO “ “ “ 0121* " 
Quince “ 2,080 220 “ “ " 13 
Grapes vines 44,4ft! 800 “ . “ “ 74 “ 
Strawberry" 103 Y acres: 
Bl’kBerry " 2livacres; 
Raspberry " 97£ acres. 
Benton Harbor is an outgrowth of the 
immense fruit trade of the town of Benton. 
It is situated upon the plain east of the St. 
Joseph River and south of the Pare Pass. 
The harbor is linked to the lake and river 
by a ship canal nearly one mile in length, 
and of sufficient depth to float large steam¬ 
ers. It. has dockage and warehouses suffi¬ 
cient for its large and growing business. 
Two steamers leave the docks here daily for 
Chicago. During the season of navigation 
and during the fruit season from five to seven 
steamers are loaded daily with fruit, besides 
a great number of sailing vessels. The pro¬ 
duce of Si, Joseph and of Benton are re¬ 
ported together at the St. Joseph Custom 
House ; hence the difficulty of disentangling 
the statistics so as to do exact justice to each 
town. The following figures give a pretty 
correct statement of some of the fruit statis¬ 
tics of Benton: 
No. acres in fruit. 8,000 
“ peach trees .335,000 
" baskets peaches.435,000 
u pear trees.. 35,000 
" baskets pears.... 2,000 
" plum trees. 3,500 
" cherry trees. .. 11,000 
“ quince trees. 2,000 
“ baskets quinces.-. 000 
“ grape vines . 45,000 
“ Bis. grapes. 35,000 
“ acres strawberries. 350 
“ bushels “ 12,000 
“ acres blackberries. 600 
“ bushels ** 8,000 
“ acres raspberries. 600 
“ bushels " 5,000 
44 apple trees. 150,000 
44 bushels apples. 9,500 
Accompanied by a number of the princi¬ 
pal fruit growers of the Peach 
Belt, I visit a number of or¬ 
chards and, although the > 
present, is the most unfavor- X 
able season of the year, it is / 
not difficult even now to / 
discover the excellent man- / 
agement of the fruit growers / 
id this vicinity. They have / 
cleared the forest and made / 
the most unpromising soil / 
the paradise of peach grow- I 
ers. They have covered 5 
their fruit farms with every \ 
variety of fruit kn >wn to \ 
our northern latitudes. They \ 
have improved the varieties \ 
of peaches, pears, quinces, X. 
apples and berries which N. 
they cultivate. They have 
created a market for their 
produce, so,that six hundred 
thousand baskets of fruit duchesse de Bordeaux pear — outline. 
did not glut the market 
of Chicago, as sixty thousand baskets of 
fruit did ten or a dozen years ago. They 
have systematized then- business of fruit 
growing po that they sillier little loss from 
the rapid ripening of t he fruit, which follows 
quickly on the heels of Southern Illinois and 
continues from about the first of August to 
the last of October. 
Although at the present writing the ground 
is covered with snow, the thrifty trees are 
beautiful, standing erect in long symmetrical 
rows, burdened with buds and waiting for 
the earliest hint from the sun to expand 
into leaves and blossoms. 
POMOLOGICAL REPORT 
At the recent meeting of the Fruit Com¬ 
mittee of the American Pomological Socie¬ 
ty, specimens of fruits from different parts 
of the country were received. The commit¬ 
tee selected to examine the same made the 
following report: 
Apples. 
From Chas. B. Pratt, Pulaski, N. Y., a reed- 
ling. Fruit large, roundish, slightly conical, red 
on yellow, flesh half tender, moderately Juicy, 
mild sweet; much resembles Phillips’ Sweet. 
From J. Knox, Pittsburgh, Pa., Knox’s Rus¬ 
set. Fruit smalt, roundish conical, dull red on 
yellow, with traces of russet, flesh moderately 
6weet; “good." 
From Geo. W. Campbell, Ohio, a new seedling, 
called the Campbell Apple. Fruit medium, or 
below, roundish oblate, greenish yellow, flesh 
mild, moderately Juicy; “good.” 
From A. H. Gaston, samples under name of 
Stark Apple, which, with one member only ob¬ 
jecting, were declared to be Pennock. 
From Chas. Downing, an npple under name 
of Maxey Red, from Kentucky; It much re¬ 
sembles Rawles' Janet. Beauty of the West, 
fruit large, handsome; "good." Ben Davis, 
large,showy; good. Chattahooehie, a Southern 
apple, flesh firm, crisp; very good. Lemon, fruit 
medium size, oblong oval form; over ripe. 
From Geo. S. Park, the Lawyer Apple. Fruit 
large, roundish oblate, red, handsome, good. 
Cannon Pear main, fruit of medium size, conical, 
handsome, very good. Parke's Keeper, fruit 
large, roundish, red, striped on yellow, flesh ten¬ 
der, good. „ 
Pears. 
From C. L. J anney, an old variety, the Oak- 
leaf. Not valuable. 
From Isaac Bdchanan, a new pear, unnamed. 
Fruit medium, acute pyriform, dull yellow, with 
considerable russet, flesh melting. Juicy, moder¬ 
ately sweet and good flavor; gritty around the 
core, which is rather large. 
PnrriiAJiing Apple Tree*.—I want to set three 
or four hundred apple trees this spring. I can 
get the nursery slock, four years old. from 
grafts, for $25 per hundred ; and 1 can get fine 
looking tree- that are older and larger icommon 
fruit) for $8 per hundred, and can graft them 
myself. Will the grafted trees have as good tope, 
■ ai lier? V 
advise mo to buy, and of what varieties for mar¬ 
ket, all winter fruit ?— L. A. S., Castile, .V. T. 
lr you can get four-year-old trees of the va¬ 
rieties you desire, of good habit and healthy, we 
should prefer them at $35 per hundred to the 
others named ai $S. You will have to consult 
the proceedings of the Western New York Fruit 
Growers' Society for information concerning 
varieties. 
DUCHESSE DE BORDEAUX PEAR 
Miehignn Apples.—A Galesburg, Mich, corre¬ 
spondent of the Western Farmer gives notes on 
certain varieties of apples grown in that locali¬ 
ty, which we oondense as follows: —Esopus 
Spitzenberg, not: a good bearer, aud tree not 
thrifty; Belmont, first rate, and regular bearer; 
Northern Spy,good bearer,"tree healthy; Wag¬ 
ner, good, unusually like*!, tree thrifty, and has 
been in bearing there over twenty years; Swaar, 
best, but tree not healthy; fair bearer; Golden 
Russet does well; Tallman Sweet, hardy and 
good steady bearer. 
The Evcr-Henrlng Mexican Strawberry is the 
name of a new to-bo-pushod-i»to-fuvor variety. 
It is said to have produced irults of high flavor 
and good size during the months of Juno, July, 
August, September aud October the past season. 
But, suppose it did? Wo have oaten fruit from 
some of tho Alpine family in each of the months 
named. Don’t be duped, readers. If it is a good 
thing we wish for it a wide distribution; but if 
it is a catch-penny affair, we hope it may sink 
quickly— into oblivion. 
Curcullo in Apple*.—A good old friend of 
ours, named Williams, with a glory of white 
hair on his head, and ebooks as fresh aud bright 
as a rose, writes us that the Curcullo may be 
kept from apples or any fruit, lie believes, by 
whitcvmhino the bodies of tho trees when in 
full bloom -not earlier. To which wo reply that 
we don’t believe it will prove a remedy; and if 
it should, we should hesitate to decide which 
would do the most damage, the cureulios or the 
whitewash. 
Question* About Crab Apples. — “ Would the 
Transcendant crab lie valuable to plant hero for 
cider ? Does it not ripen too early ? Would you 
recommend Hewcs'crab for a cider orchard?— 
J. W. S., Franklin , If. H. 
The Truuscendant will make good cider, but it 
is not the most valuable of its class for that pur¬ 
pose. It matures early—say middle of Septem¬ 
ber—while the weather is yet warm, and all 
kno>v that the cooler the weather the better the 
eider. Of the old varieties Hewes' crab is un¬ 
questionably the best and moat profitable for 
cider purposes. It Is a profuse bearer, makes 
only a small, compact, round headed tree, aud 
may be plauted safely at distances of twenty 
feet apart in the orchard. For richness and 
flavor no well known variety of apple makes 
a cider equal to It, 
information Desired from Southern Pomolo- 
gists.—The Fruit Committee of the American 
Pomological Society at its recent session in this 
dry adopted the following resolution: 
Resolved, That the Secretary (F. R. Elliott, 
Cleveland, O.d be requested to solicit from 
Southern Pcmiologists such information as will 
enable the Society to prepare the Southern sec¬ 
tion or di v ision of the Society's Catalogue, and 
that such information be transmitted to him be¬ 
fore the next meeting at Philadelphia. 
Hornet Raspberry.—The editor of the Ger¬ 
mantown Telegraph is willing to risk his pomo¬ 
logical reputation In pronouncing in favor of 
this variety of the raspberry, and recommends 
it for general cultivation. He says it is the 
largestand most beautiful of all the family, and 
comes next, or side by side, with the Hudson 
River Antwerp, aud Briuckle's Ora age in point of 
flavor, appears to be a robust grower, is a most 
abundant bearer, and continues io bear for near¬ 
ly t wice the length of time of others. It throws 
up shoots or new canes sufficiently numerous to 
supply an extended bod in two years. It is not 
quite hardy, requiring to be laid down on the ap¬ 
proach of cold weather. But this scarcely 
amounts to an objection, inasmuch as it is the 
true policy in the cultivation of all raspberries 
that they should be pruned in November, just as 
they are desired to be in the spring, laid down 
.Cyruhiaaa Grape. — Samuel Miller, Bluff- 
ton,'M o.. writes the Germantown Telegraph that 
this grape has proven to bo a wine grape of un¬ 
surpassed excellence, and cautions the public 
against getting spurious vines, siuco it resem¬ 
bles the Norton’s Virginia so closely as to give 
unscrupulous dealers an easy task to deceive. 
Ho doubts if it will thrive very well north of 
forty and a half degrees except in long seasons. 
At the exhibition of the Lake Shore 
Grape Growers’ Association, the past fall, 
there was quite a line display of the Rogers 
Hybrid grapes, and several persons who hacl 
grown them expressed confidence that sev¬ 
eral of Mr. Rogers’ numbers were destined 
to become quite popular, especially as mar¬ 
ket varieties. This led to discussion on their 
character and merits, and the expression of 
a desire that Mr. Rogers would give dis¬ 
tinctive names to the best of his hybrids, in 
the place of the numerals by which they 
gable Queen Blackberry.— The Gardener's 
Monthly says 44 this variety is said to have been 
found twenty years ago in an old pasture in Es¬ 
sex county, Mass. From all we learn we believe 
it to be a very promising kind.” 
