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A NEW FLOWERING CURRANT 
THE SHEPPARD PEAR. 
About twelve years since, Professor J. S. 
Newberry, wliile upon an exploring expe¬ 
dition on the Cascade Mountains, gathered 
seeds of currants and sent them to Professor 
J. P. Kirtland. From them Prof. Kirt- 
land lias grown one plaut. now about four 
feet high and bushy proportionately. It lias 
had no protection from winter or summer, 
and so far appears perfectly hardy. 
Tuts is an American variety, originated 
with James Sheppard of Dorchester, Mass. 
The tree is a vigorous grower, productive, 
and the fruit, although not of the highest 
quality, is yet, sufficiently good to be quite 
popular where known, and valued as a 
profitable sort for the orchard. 
Fruit medium size, roundish ovate; sur¬ 
face slightly rough, light, pale yellow ground, 
with patches and tracings of a dull, rough 
russet; faint blush carmine; red check in 
the sun; many small dots. Stem short, 
Blender curved; cavity narrow, broad, ab¬ 
rupt; slight tip or ridge at base of stem; 
calyx medium size, irregular, with separated, 
erect ends, recurved segments; basin open, 
medium depth; flesh yellowish, a little 
gritty; very juicy and melting, a little harsh 
and slight astringeney; very pleasant, but 
not sugary rich. Core largo, with a coarse, 
irrittv. Granular surrounding; seeds dark 
KIRTLAND’S KLOWERINO CURRANT. 
The leaves are cordate, lobed, and roundly 
serrated, glabrous above, tomenfosc and 
veiny beneath ; 1 ranches smooth ; racemes 
about two Inches in length, borne nearly 
erect rather than drooping as in the scarlet 
flowering currant; flowers of a bright, dear 
lively pink, abundant. The variety is distinct 
from any that I know, and is certainly a 
most valuable one to add to our collection of 
ornamental flowering shrubs. 
rioratc, and will be subject to but little mil¬ 
dew’ or insect attacks. 
Early Richmond Cherry on Maszard Stock. 
— A correspondent of the Horticulturist 
says Rev. J. V. Hopper of Bunker Hill, Ill., 
claims that the Early Richmond, ns well as 
the May Duke, Belle Magnifique and other 
cherries, do well on the Mnzzard stock, if 
properly worked. These he grafts just at 
the collar, as in apple grafting, and plants 
with the stock just below the surface of the 
ground. This mode, he contends, renders 
the tree hardy. 
der, pleasant but not rich or high flavored, 
and with a little of the native Mazzard bit¬ 
ter. The leaves are large, broad, ovate, 
pointed, and sharply, yet coarsely, serrated ; 
glands globose; petioles reddish in sun; pro¬ 
ductive, bearing in doublets and triplets, and 
ripening early in .Tune, at Cliillicothe, O. 
Judication of llardy Varieties of Fruits. 
I have often thought, when going through 
the markets of different large cities, and 
noting the varieties of fruits on sale in their 
season, that it is perhaps the best guide as to 
the hardihood and profitable productiveness 
of sorts that we have; for if there is an 
abundance of any one variety it will always 
find its way to market. 
There are, and have been for years, thous¬ 
ands and thousands of the best varieties of 
fruits planted, but yet we find only a few 
sorts that ever appear in market. Here in 
Cincinnati the berry market was almost ex¬ 
clusively Wilsou — a few drawers of Rus¬ 
sell ; now and then one of Longworlh s 
Prolific and out. Of cherries the Flemish 
CINCINNATI FRUIT SHOW 
In nml Around G'lnclnnnti — Tlie Great 
Strawberry Sliow—The May Cheery, <fcc. 
Tiie advertised premium list of the Cin¬ 
cinnati Horticultural Society, wherein fifty 
dollars was to he given for thu best seed¬ 
ling straw berry, titty dollars for the best 
display, Ac., i he whole of the offers for straw¬ 
berries amounting to three hundred and sev¬ 
enty-five dollars, induced an Idea that the ex¬ 
hibition would probably be worth seeing 
and possibly some new variety be brought 
out; and, being ever alive to the advent of a 
new fruit, 1 accordingly visited Cincinnati 
and attended their exhibition of the lath of 
June, and here is my record: 
The tables were well filled, but by only a 
few exhibitors. The berries were large and 
line, not extra large, in fact not as large of 
their kinds as 1 have seen at the Rochester 
exhibitions, or at Mr. Knox’s; but they were 
good, and the varieties, although not numer¬ 
ous, (fifty-five or fifty-six sorts being all I 
could count in the room,) were mostly such 
as are now popular and generally known. I 
could but contrast and question the advance 
of strawberry culture when comparing this 
exhibit with that of the same Society at its 
award of the premium of one hundred dol¬ 
lars to the McAvoy’s Superior. Of the kinds 
then shown few were now present; and 
while the foreigner had assumed nearly all 
the room devoted to culture by amateurs, 
few or none of them, at this day, equal in all 
respects the Hovey. Formerly the old Hud¬ 
son was the popular market berry; now its 
place is all unknown,and Wilson stands pre¬ 
eminent, soon, however,1 think, to give place 
to Nieanor, which, although new, luu a root 
and habit that enables it to stand rough or 
no culture equally as well or better than the 
Wflson, while its berry is a better color and 
of superior quality. 
The display of Col. W. P. Anderson was 
an exhibit of a uniform system of high cul¬ 
ture, with mu Idling, and the berries were 
smooth and less marked by the prominence 
of the seeds, showing the nature of stimulus 
in the production of watery matter to the 
exclusion of that forming the germ of seed; 
and I should doubt whether one in a hun¬ 
dred of seeds or berries so grown would 
vegetate. 
The display of Lours Ritz, forty-four 
varieties, bore evidence of good ordinary 
culture by which the whole character of the 
berry was brought out, its distinctive seed 
markings shown, and its true flavor devel¬ 
oped. 
I am no advocate for extra high culture, 
especially when it results in a loss of charac¬ 
ter. There is a grand medium in fruits as in 
everything else. There is a certain size in 
the strawberry and in the pear, the apple, 
etc., which, when you have passed, nine 
times out of ten, is at loss of character or 
quality. I advocate clean, good, healthy 
culture, keeping up a healthy growing con¬ 
dition of the plaut; but every over stimu¬ 
lus, every exhibit of extraordinary produc¬ 
tion by means of extraordinary and fulsome 
culture 1 look upon as worthy only the at¬ 
tention of some Baunum seeker after mon¬ 
strosities. 
Beedlinffg. 
Of the seedlings shown none exhibited 
any particular advance over sorts already 
known. They were good, and twenty-five 
years ago would have commanded special 
attention for productiveness, hut the advent 
of such varieties as Wilson, Green, Prolific, 
Ida, Nieanor, etc., renders it requisite that 
the plant shall have some superiority in its 
berry, as well as in the productiveness and 
hardihood of plant, to place it in the front 
rank. 
The Boudinot strawberry, so much noised 
about the past year, originating at Granville, 
Licking Co., O., was here shown; and while 
it is a good strawberry, no man would be 
willing to destroy a bed of Wilsou, Nieanor, 
number of seedlings. Tbe Romoyn is one of 
these seedlings. He does not claim that It hu<l 
three parents; but that one of these plants is its 
parent . He does not deny that it is similar to 
the Trlomphe: but claims that it is no discredit 
to it t hat, it is, and that it is of better flavor, and 
the plant will thrive and produce fruit where 
the Trlomphe will not— on sandy softs. Those 
who cannot grow the Triomphe profitably can 
grow the Romcyn with profit. And ho gave 
names of men who regard it deduct, from the 
Triomphe—men who have failed with the latter 
variety. 
Mr. Folder said tt was no personal fight he 
was making concerning this fruit. When first 
Introduced, he lmd asked somebody to sliow him 
the difference between the Itorne.vu and theTri- 
omphe. Nobody had shown the difference. He 
and other strawberry cultivators bad grown it, 
and failed to discover any difference. He did 
not doubt it was a seedling, SI rawberries often 
re-produee themselves from bock.1; but has it got 
distinct characteristics that wilt entitle it to a 
disti net name and repu tation ? That is the ques¬ 
tion. Ho hud failed to discover any such, nor 
had they been shown to him. 
Westchester IIIncli-Fup Raspberry. — In an¬ 
other place we give something said of this rasp¬ 
berry at the Farmers' Club. Thursday succeed¬ 
ing it was presented at the Fruit Growers’Club 
and the fruit compared with the Davis Thorn¬ 
less and the DoolilUo. There is little difference 
In flavor or size between it and the Doolittle. 
The seeds seem some smaller. It is claimed to 
be more productive, earlier and sweeter. Mr. 
Fuller thought it a distinct variety, but said 
the question to be decided is whether it has dis¬ 
tinct characteristics ami advantages over other 
varieties to warrant adding it to our already too 
large list of raspberries. 1 f It. develops such 
characteristics, it must be regarded an acquisi¬ 
tion; otherwise not. A committee was appoint¬ 
ed to visit the introducer’s grounds, and report. 
THE WOODSIDE RASPBERRY. 
I notice in a lxtc number of tlie Rural 
tbe following; 
The Woodside Raspberry, so beautifully 
figured, mid commended as very promising by 
Mr. Fuller in his Small Fruit CilUurist, we 
learn does not sustain its promise, and the 
original ilosoriber has withdrawn his endorse¬ 
ment. Ought lint Mr. Fuller to have put 
that in bis article On Horticultural Humbugs? 
Tu this I beg leave to add a postscript: 
I. The Woodside does sustain its promise. 
II. I have never indorsed it, consequently 
have nothing to withdraw. At the time I 
wrote the Small Fruit Culturist, very little 
was known of this variety, and I gave that 
little for what it was worth, but it is so far 
from being a humbug that. T will give the 
writer of the above paragraph, or anyone 
else, one hundred dollars for a plant of 
Monthly Black-Cap Raspberry that is in 
any respect superior to the Woodside; and 
further, he, she or they may have five years 
from this date in which to produce the same, 
and the privilege of selecting their own 
committee of pomologists to decide this 
matter. I have said the differences between 
K JUTLAND'S CURRANT —LEAF AND FLOWER. 
The engraving of the shrub herewith 
given is drawn on a scale of one-fourtli inch 
to one foot. The leaf and flower arc shown 
full size. F. R. e. 
PLANT DISTRIBUTION, 
[“ Over thirty thousand plants have been sent 
from the Agricultural Department gardens at 
Washington over the whole United States.”] 
This above is a statement going the rounds 
of the papers, and I suppose copied from the 
Commissioner’s Report. Such being the re¬ 
ceived fact, I ask, wherefore*? Hus the De¬ 
partment distributed, free, any new variety, 
and placed the same in the hands of compe¬ 
tent men in various sections of the States for 
trial and report, as an item toward calculat¬ 
ing its value ? Is the Department a whole¬ 
sale nursery, growing old sorts and distribut¬ 
ing them l» 3 r means of Members of Congress, 
to politicians, or men who otherwise would 
buy and therefore assist the natural course of 
trade and encourage labor ? Who of tbe re¬ 
cipients of all this thirty thousand plants, 
has ever reported, pro or con, to the Depart¬ 
ment, of their correctness to name or real 
value ? 
It may be requisite for the Department to 
supply plants to Members of Congress and 
their supporters, politically, but is it not de¬ 
rogatory ? Does it not sink the Department 
to the condition of a t rade institution, instead 
of raising it to one looking to advancement 
of knowledge and the application thereof to 
the sections of our country? I hope sonic 
advocate of this thirty thousand distribution 
of plants will enlighten me as to the policy 
thereof. Meantime, I refrain from remarks 
that are in my mind; and decidedly as much 
adverse to the Department becoming a great 
nursery of trees and plants as they are to¬ 
ward the old seed shop which has been par¬ 
tially broken up for the time. Audi. 
-- 
Yucca Filumcntosa.—A spike of this beauti¬ 
ful plant was shown at tbe Fruit Growers’ Club- 
rooms tbe other flay, Mr. Fuller saying of i 
that it is a hardy handsome plant, retaining i s 
foliage nearly nil winter. It I s as easily S' 1 ' 0 " 1 ’ 
from seed as flax. It is an old plant, but \tn> 
Strawberries Shipped from Fmilralia, III., in 
Two Days. —The Centralia Sentinel of June 17th 
gays“ We have taken the trouble to get the 
exact mimberof pounds of strawberries shipped 
from Centralia to all poiuts, on Monday, June 
7th, and Thursday, June JOtli, which we judged 
from the activity about the depot to be the two 
busiest days we have had ; and find that there 
was shipped on the 7th inst, stxtlhone thousand 
pounds, or thirty and one-half tons, or twelve 
hundred bushels. And on the 10th inst., the 
shipments were a little over fiftp-fire thousand 
pounds, or twenty-seven and one-half tons, or 
one thousand bushels. The shipments must 
have averaged for a week during the most active 
time, one thousand bushels a day.” 
POMOLOGICAL GLEANINGS 
Penn, touched with a drop of sweet oil, 
at the calyx, will increase in size rapidly. 
The Morcllo Cherry .—A writer in the Hor¬ 
ticulturist says the Morello suckers badly. 
Is it not barely possible that the said writer 
has had experience only with trees grown 
from suckers, inasmuch as seedling Morcllo 
stocks have been rarely grown, and the prin¬ 
cipal orchards of Morello trees in the West 
have been planted with sucker trees ? Have 
true seedling Morellos, cultivated without 
breaking the roots, ever been known to 
sucker ? 
The Concord Grape. — The owner of a 
Concord grape vine tells the editor of the 
Germantown Telegraph that neither the 
bunches nor the berries are as large as for¬ 
merly, and asks tbe reason. The reply is, 
that as a general thing the Concord is not 
pruned as closely as it ought to be. It should 
be cut down nearly as much as the Black 
Hamburg. A Concord should not be fruited 
more than four seasons, as it requires fre¬ 
quent renewal of wood, which is most read¬ 
ily effected by layering. If thus managed, 
the Telegraph thinks, the fruit will not dete- 
A Pomologlenl Hint.—Why is it that tbe word 
“ seedling” is so often attached to the names of 
new frail ? Do we not sufficiently understand 
that new fruit must, of necessity', have originat¬ 
ed from the seed? If Mr. Moohf. or Mr. Rand 
originates a new sort, have we not thought 
enough in our brains to associate the fruit as 
their production by the application of their 
name alone to it. If it can be supposed that we 
have, then writers describing new fruits should 
no longer attach the word “seedling;” and 
wherever or whenever it is found, let the cor¬ 
rection at once be made.— a. t. 
Charles Downing Strawberry.—At the Fruit 
Growers' Club, July C, Mr. Doty reported that 
he had a bed of this variety thirty feet square, 
from which I to commenced picking June 10th, 
and ended Jnne30th. gathering two hundred and 
eighty-two pints, or one hundred and forty-one 
quarts. This fruit had been sold at twenty and 
twenty-five cents per quart, and an acre at the 
same rate would have brought bim $1,600.10 
worth of fruit; and with thu plants sold, over 
$1,900 per acre would have been realized, had the 
whole acre yielded, as did thu fraction of an aero 
cultivated. 
We Hope Every Lady Reader of ihe RURAL 
is making notes of flowers, new and old, which 
appear in her garden this season; and t ui 
Rural readers may profit thereby. 
Send us Notes on new and old fruits. 
