seems much nearer realization than was then 
supposed. So far as we are aware, this is 
the only sweet crab in the country. 
Is it a crab V Following his professional 
instinct as the entomologist does who tears 
the bark from dead trees the day long for a 
bug, Mr. Fuller posted off at once to see 
the tree and answer this question. lie re¬ 
ported, “ No mistake about it.” lie sent 
specimens of it to Charles Downing, who 
also visited the tree the next day, and asserts 
there is no question about it. From Mr. 
Down ivo we have the following note and 
description of the fruit, which, with the illus¬ 
tration herewith presented, formally intro¬ 
duces this fruit to the pomological world: 
Ens. Ritual. New-Yorker:—I send you, as 
requested, a description of Van Wyck’s Sweet 
Siberian Grab. Very truly, 
On as. Downing. 
Description.— Fruit large, for a Siberian, or 
about an inch and a half in diumotor, roundish, 
slightly conic, regular; skin whitish, shaded and 
mottled with light, red; slalk an inch long, slen¬ 
der, inserted in a narrow, smooth cavity; calyx 
small, closed: segments short, dosed; basin 
round, open, very slightly corrugated; flesh 
whitish, fine, rather firm, moderately juicy, with 
a houoyed sweet flavor, quite rich; core small 
and close. 
j.lomolagtcal 
THE RASPBERRY QUESTION. 
The VI a in motli Cl Muter nod Fra neon in A gain. 
Reply to Purdy A Johnston. 
In discussing a subject that interests the 
people us well as professional horticulturists, 
it will not be necessary to take into con¬ 
sideration the personal motives or interests 
of any party who may he propagating litis 
variety of raspberry. I will, therefore, take 
it for granted that Purdy & Johnston are 
seeking for the truth the same as myself 
and that they do not wish to injure the repu¬ 
tation of any horticulturist or cast a slur 
upon the profession. Believing that it is 
upon this plane we must meet, if the ques¬ 
tion is ever settled, 1 do not hesitate to ac¬ 
knowledge that there is no person or party 
so capable, of settling it, or so likely to 
possess all the facts in relation to the history 
of this raspberry, as Messrs. Purdy & 
Johnston. 
Will they do, what they have never yet 
done, tell us from whom they received their 
first or original plants V We want the name 
of the man or woman ; also the name of the 
town, county, and State where lie or she 
lived. Purdy & Johnston 1 believe do 
not claim the Mammoth Cluster as a seed¬ 
ling of their own, or that they found it grow¬ 
ing wild. 
I shall not attempt to follow the gentle¬ 
men through their entire article in the Ru¬ 
ral, because very little of it has any bearing 
upon the question under discussion, but is 
simply ati attempt to impeach my veracity 
and knowledge as a horticulturist, 
1. They say that “ no such firm ns Purdy 
& Johnston ever existed at. South Bend, 
Iud.” If so, let this mistake of mine offset 
that of Mr. A. M. Purdy in sending me that 
Mammoth Cluster from the above named 
place, instead of the Miami as ordered. 
2. Purdy & Johnston think that I can¬ 
not know anything about the McCormick or 
Mammoth Cluster of the West, because the 
plants received by me could not have borne 
fruit this season. Did iL over occur to our 
friends in Palmyra that there are men who 
can distinguish plants by their leaves and 
stems, as well as their fruit? and is it an im- 
from Ohio to 
THE PATER NOSTER PEAR, 
The Pater Noster was catalogued by Van 
Moks in 1823, and is therefore comparatively 
an old pear. Tt is sometimes sent out under 
name of Paul Shielens, to which it is su¬ 
perior in quality, although somewhat re¬ 
sembling it in appearance. The description 
of the fruit is as follows:—Size large; form 
variable, from obovate obtuse pyriform to 
irregular obovate acute pyriform; skin green¬ 
ish yellow, mottled and shaded in the sun 
with red, netted, patched and dotted with 
russet brown; stalk stout, usually planted 
withalip; basin shallow; flesh white, juicy, 
melting, slightly vinous. Good to very 
good. October to November. 
“ Mexican Everbewing Strawberry." — D. W. 
Kauffman, Horticultural Editor of the Iowa 
Homestead, talking of tills fruit, says: — ” Hold¬ 
ers of large stocks are exerting themselves for 
another Idg sale, but we would venture a word 
of caul ion to the readers of the Homestead to 
wait and let those who already have thorn give 
them another trial. Wo are not a little sur¬ 
prised that some of the leading horticulturists 
of the country should make such haste to give 
this new claimant for popularitysuoh high enco¬ 
miums ami recommendations to popular favor. 
They scorn to have departed, In this instance, 
from their usual caution in waiting to prove a 
uew tiling thoroughly before giving it their 
sanction or recommendation to public favor. 
We hope It will be all that is claimed for it, nud 
more, but we do claim that tt is too soon to give 
it a big, early push, by such great authorities." 
possibility to send raspberries 
New York, and have them arrive In good 
condition for identification? Mr. Downing 
and myself breakfasted upon genuine Mc¬ 
Cormick or Mammoth Clusters received from 
Ohio the very morning we started on our late 
visit to Palmyra. 
3.1 cannot accept the challenge of Purdy 
Johnston, In regard to the one hundred dol¬ 
lars, a forfeit to he paid into the treasury of 
the Western New York Horticultural So¬ 
ciety, because 1 know nothing ft the party 
mentioned as having the genuine McCor¬ 
mick. But it' the gentlemen will change 
their offer, so that the decision shall be left 
to the horticulturists of the whole country, I 
will accept the challenge. 
4. Purdy & Johnston acknowledge they 
sold Mammoth (’luster to two or three parties 
by mistake, in the fall of 1837, and spring ol 
1868; and Mr. C. L. Van Dusen of Mace- 
don, N. Y., was one of them. Before me is 
a circular issued by Purdy & Johnston, at 
Palmyra, N. Y., dated Jan¬ 
uary 15th, 1869, in which we 
read: — ”Certain parties in 
an adjoining town, (Mace- 
don,) who purchased of A. 
M. Purdy last spring, some 
8,000 Miauiia, have been in¬ 
creasing them largely, and 
are now selling them for 
Mammoth Cluster.” 
It now appears, from P. & 
J.’s own statement, that Air. 
Van Dr sen's plants were 
genuine Mammoth Clusters, 
the caution of the party who A 
sold him the plants as Mi- /Sm 
amis to the contrary ! I saw jMi j 
the plants in Air. Van Du- Ifl m. 
sen’s garden; also another * 
plantation in the grounds of 
a Mr. Wii.son in the same 
town. Tilts habit of Air. iBjIj 
Purdy, of sending out Mam- 
But it is unnecessary to trace this matter 
any further at present. I have only to refer 
Messrs Pilrdy <fc Johnston to an article in 
No. 38 of Heart h and Home, written by Mr. 
Chas. Downing, in which he positively 
asserts that the Alammoth Cluster and Mc¬ 
Cormick arc one and the. same variety. 
As to the genuineness of the Franconia 
grown by P. «fe J., I leave the matter entirely 
with themselves and their customers, be¬ 
cause they assert that I do not know the 
genuine sort. I will, however, refer the gen¬ 
tlemen to any standard work on pomology 
to prove that the one cultivated by them is 
not the genuine. A. S. Fuller. 
P. S.—I do not believe that the nursery- 
men of Central New York send out to their 
raspberry, and express their “ belief” that it 
is nothing more than the old Fastolf. We 
are only sorry they did not attempt to give 
some reason for their alleged belief. As they 
did not, you will allow us a word on that 
point. 
Four or five years ago we obtained a stock 
of Franconia, (and have? not forgotten the 
source,) which proved to he mixed with 
another variety. Trying again, we took 
measures to make our selection a sure thing, 
and succeeded. We have compared it with 
a large plantation near Lockport, with others 
at and near Rochester, (one an old one of 
some six acres.) and find in them all a close 
similarity. But they are quite unlike the 
Red Queen, lately figured in the Rural by 
Air. Fuller, and which, both he and Mr. 
Downing promptly recognized at my place 
as being the variety which Messrs. Purdy 
& Johnston are growing as the Franconia. 
Whether it he Messrs. Downing and Fi l¬ 
ler or PuRDy & Johnston, who have “ got 
a little mixed, and don't know the true 
Franconia when they see it,” I will leave to 
your readers to decide—merely remarking 
that those gentlemen saw my plantation in 
fruit,, while Purdy & Johnston never saw it 
at all, C. L. Van Dusen. 
Macedon, N. Y., 8ept. Ii, 1861 ). 
In Purdy & Johnston’s article of Sep¬ 
tember 4th, they allude to our stock of the 
Mammoth Cluster raspberry, and say that 
A. M. Purdy sent it to us by mistake. In 
this statement they are in manifest error, 
unless Mr. Purdy intended to send us the 
common variety of Miami, as they claimed 
up to the last packing season he had done; 
but if he intended to send us that “ Superior 
Miami,” which he sold to us face to face on 
his own premises, after showing us the 
plantation where they grew, then there was 
no mistake whatever, for he sent us that 
“ Superior Aliami,” the name of which was 
changed some three months thereafter to 
Alammoth Cluster. 
There is undoubtedly a strong desire on 
the part of the horticultural public to learn 
something definite in regard to the origin 
and history of this fruit, and if they have 
purchased 80,000 of the plants they have a 
right to demand of Purdy A Johnston what 
they know' concerning it. When, where, of 
whom, did they get it? 
These questions were answered in what 
seemed to be a semi-official manner, a lew 
weeks since in the Country Gentleman, by 
saying that Messrs. Purdy & Johnston, by 
the fame of their ” immense establishment,” 
had attracted a multitude of new fruits from 
all parts of the country, sent them to be 
tested; and that in this great confusion of 
numbers the records of this Alammoth Clus¬ 
ter had been probably lost. 
Well! after this announcement we may 
suppose there will be a slight falling oft' in 
the sending of new fruits to that establish¬ 
ment to be tested; and may hope its pro¬ 
prietors will have more leisure to look after 
and secure purity in their old aud well 
known varieties. 
But then, with this explanation, comes up 
the query: Would an intelligent horticul¬ 
turist of “ twenty years experience ” propa¬ 
gate an unknown raspberry by the acre 
without knowing “ the true character of its 
fruit ? ” In such a case they must have 
started with a large stock; for one-year-old 
bushes yield very large crops of fruit, such 
as distinguish it from all other black-caps. 
But enough. We trust they will yet be able 
to give its history, and, to aid them, we 
make the following offer:—If they will furn¬ 
ish a history of their “ Superior Aliami ” 
down to August 1st, 1808, we will agree to 
furnish a history of the Alammoth Cluster to 
the present time. 
Franconia Ruupberry. 
In the same communication Purdy & 
Johnston speak of our stock of Franconia 
Whortleberries—liilLi-niutioii Wanted.- I have 
saved seed from some very large berries. Now 
will it pay to raise them for futility use? I have 
been told that they will not grow outside of the 
huckleberry pasture, hut. I don’t believe it. 
Which shall 1 do—plant seed, or transplant 
hushes? It' 1 plant seed, when shall 1 do it —in 
the fall or spring ? Is moist or dry, rich or poor, 
ground best for them when cultivated? Will 
they do best in the shade, or where the sun will 
shine lull upon them? Which is the best for 
cultivation—the large blue or the black V I have 
never raised them, or beard of any one who does. 
Will someone who has hud experience with them 
answer these questions In the Rural? —J. Q. 
Grape Queries. - A LonuoXVille, Quebec, cor¬ 
respondent asks ** What sort of grupes would 
flourish host in this latitude (4.V at',) in the open 
air,” and It the better kinds could be grafted 
on a wild grape which grows along the rivets 
there? tt is claimed that the Adirondack will 
grow and ripen in high latitudes. We do not 
know what is host to attempt to cultivate there, 
hut if we wore going to plant we should try the 
earliest varieties we could hoar of, and never 
allow them to overbear. Perhaps some of our 
Canada correspondents have had experience 
which will profit this Inquirer. 
A NEW SWEET CRAB APPLE, 
At a recent meeting of the New York 
Fruit Growers’ Club, a Atiss Van AVyck 
from near Fishkill, N. Y., exhibited five 
varieties of seedling crab apples. These 
seedlings had been reared in this wise:—The 
old crab trees upon the old Van AVyck 
domain had dropped their fruit, the seed of 
which had germinated, and the young trees 
resulting had been carefully transplanted 
and cultivated. The fruit exhibited was 
from these seedliugs. Among them was one 
notable for its beauty, size and sweetness. It 
was as handsome as a finely colored pear, 
with a delicate bloom upon it like a plum. 
It had the appearance of a crab and yet it 
was as sweet as honey. The question re¬ 
curred to every one who saw and tasted it, 
“ Is it a crab? ” If it is, it must be of great 
value, not so much to the East, perhaps, but 
to the extreme Northwest, where this class 
of apples alone, with one or two exceptions, 
succeeds. The hope expressed in these 
columns by Mr. Elliott, early in the present 
year, that time aud experiment might, “ in a 
few years, produce for us varieties of ibis 
crab class which shall equal if not surpass 
the best varieties of the apple now known,” 
moth Cluster by mistake, u I ffiflff/// 
must be of long standing, | If If If 
because Air. E. J. Potteii ' ffl [I | 
of Knowlesville, N. A"., in- II || 
formed me that he bought I || 
his plants of A. AI. Purdy \'l || | J | 
in 1865, although P. & J. vw | 
warn the public, in the cir- n MB 
cular before referred to, “ not 
to purchase of any party 
who claims to have plants 
of their own raising, or that 
were got from us before last 
fall, (1868,) unless they have a certificate from 
us of their genuineness.” Air. John Crane 
of Union, N. J., has a plantation of Mam¬ 
moth Cluster; but lie received the plants 
from a Air. AVu.i.f.ts in Michigan, some 
years ago, under the name of Aliami. 
A New See J ling Pear or some promise iias been 
originated by A. McIntosh, Esq., of Cleveland, 
Ohio. It has fruited this year for the first time, 
and from its early period of ripening may prove 
desirable to Introduce. Tbe fruit is medium, or 
below, ovate, obovate pyriform, light, clear yel¬ 
low, with a warm, red eheelc in tbe sun; very 
handsome: many small dots; stalk slender, set 
obliquely, or with a lip; calyx imperfect, half 
closed; basin shallow, slightly furrowed; flesh 
white, breaking, half juicy, sweet, pleasant- 
THE PATER NOSTER PEAR. 
customers as Franconia the raspberry grown 
by Purdy & Johnston under that name. I 
have been acquainted with the nurserymen 
of that section of the country too long, and 
purchased too many raspberry plants of 
them, to believe that they would make such 
a blunder. a. s. f. 
