4 
V 
flows into Lake Winnepeg and thence into 
Hudson’s Bay. 
After passing Red River and the Cheyenne, 
one of its principal branches, the road runs 
through the rolling predries of Eastern Da- 
kotah to the Missouri River—to my eye a 
most dreary, desolate and uninviting region. 
Dry, arid hills, with a scanty vegetation, 
parched and brown, salt and alkaline lakes 
and ponds, many of these even dried out 
into a crystaline mud, destitute, for the most 
part, of animal life, and not a tree or even a 
bush the size of a man’s hat for the distance 
of a hundred miles, it is sufficient to say of 
thm, to me, most unattractive region, if the 
fection. Fruit large and of the prevailing 
shape of the annexed wood-cut, but, fre¬ 
quently conical, and then it has a glossy neck 
and reflected calyx ; color scarlet, becoming 
a rich crimson when fully ripe ; seeds small 
and prominent, bright yellow, and very 
thickly disseminated ; flesh reddish, solid and 
very juicy, with an exquisite pine flavor. A 
first-rate cropper, bearing Its fruit, in clusters 
on shortish footstalks, so that its blossoms 
and fruit are considerably hidden under and 
among its handsome slightly wrinkled, bright 
green foliage. 
Gypsy Queen .—This I may introduce one 
of these days on account of its beautiful dark 
color, thus forming an excellent contrast in 
the dessert. The fruit is chiefly globular, or 
nearly so, but sometimes a blunt cone-shape, 
almost black when quite ripe, extremely 
juicy, rich and vinous, flesh dark red 
throughout ; ends depressed, plant of low 
growth and compact, healthy and a great 
bearer. Season, main crop, late. 
NEW .ENGLISH STRAWBERRIES, 
LETTERS FROM THE NORTHWEST.-II 
There has been great stagnation among 
propagators of new fruits in America. There 
lias not been the usual number of seedlings 
to make note of. But as journalists, we are 
boundto keep our readers posted as to what 
occurs new in the Pomological world. Hence 
we give the accompanying illustrations of 
new English Strawberries, which were origi¬ 
nated by W. Roden, M. D., Kidderminster, 
England, and figured and described in Cot¬ 
tage Gardener. He says “ the following will 
not disappoint the most fastidious either in 
growth, bearing or quality 
Early Crimson Five .—This is a fine, large, 
handsome fruit, coming in with or closely 
succeeding Early Prolific. The prevailing 
shape of the fruit is indicated by the accom¬ 
panying wood cut. Color bright crimson ; 
calyx generally reflected ; seedB rather prom¬ 
inent ; flesh dullish white and sometimes 
pink, juicy, with a rich, piquant pine flavor. 
The plant is of stout, upright growth, and 
crops heavily. 
The Countess eomes next. This kind will 
prove the best packer and carrier ever raised. 
The fruit is extremely fine in color, being of 
a beautiful glossy crimson, and heeoming 
darker when very ripe. It Is not quite so 
regular In shape a« the other varieties under 
consideration ; but the fruit is so good, 
its color so handsome, and, above all, its 
carrying property so remarkable, that its 
occasional irregularity in shape is quite con¬ 
doned. Calyx partially reflected 5 seeds 
thickly disseminated und decidedly promi¬ 
nent ; plant healthy and a good grower; 
fo'iage bright, glossy green, erect and com¬ 
pact. 
Sir John Fat staff is next in order. This is 
a. mid-season and main-crop variety. The 
predominant characteristics of this, a differ¬ 
ent strain altogether from the foregoing, are 
its hardihood and enormous cropping quali¬ 
ties. It has never disappointed me in a 
heavy crop from the first seedlingplant, which 
struck me with astonishment. The fruit is 
mostly very large and handsome, frequently 
conical, and whan very large, slightly flat¬ 
tened in shape, as in the woodcut, but never 
cock-scombed. Color bright red, with a tinge 
of vermillion ; seeds thickly dispersed and 
slightly depressed : flesh white, solid, and 
juicy, with a fine vinous flavor: calyx small 
for so large a fruit and seldom reflected. On 
account of its beauty and immense cropping 
qualities this will be a splendid sort for exhi¬ 
bition and market purposes, but it would not 
carry a great distance so well as the Early 
Crimson Pine, or Countess more especially, 
nor, indeed, would any other known sort. 
Encka&trcss comes next. It is a late vari¬ 
ety, coming in with and lasting out British 
Queen, but higher-flavored and a better 
cropper than that esteemed good old kind. 
This is the variety I originally named Lord 
Scenery and Raruls OH V>c .VbrtJuMro Pacljlc Ra/iWnad 
Soil*, Climate, 4c. The Red River Valley-Da*tern 
Dahotah—A Secure Investment.. 
Eds. Rural New-Yorker :—Since writing 
my last communication, dated from Duluth, 
Minn., I have passed over the Northern Pa¬ 
cific Railroad so far as the line is in running 
order, viz., to the Missouri River, four hun¬ 
dred and fifty miles west if Lake Superior. 
For the first twenty-three miles the line of 
tut; road follow? the north bank of the St. 
Louis River, the last seven of which is 
through the grandest scenery anywhere to 
be met with on this line west of Niagara. 
Toe rock is metaraorphic slate, with the strata 
tilted at an angle of sixty degrees to the 
horizon, and the water tumbles and loams 
over their upturned edges, whirling into 
eddies, and turning sharp angles in the wild¬ 
est confusion. There is nowhere a perpen¬ 
dicular descent of any magnitude, but the 
rapid is tremendous. Lateral gorges come 
into the main chasm, over which the road 
passes on a succession of high bridges ; and 
the passenger, as he gazes from the car win¬ 
dow down a sheer descent of a hundred feet, 
without intervening balustrade or coping, 
feels anything but comfortable. Your cor¬ 
respondent rode up the gorge upon an en¬ 
gine, and, barring a little tremor of the 
nerves, and a little unnecessary tightening of 
the grip in peeping over bridges, enjoyed the 
passage greatly. 
Alter crossing the St. Louis twenty-three 
miles wost of Duluth, where the river makes 
a right-angle coming from the North, the 
road runs through a flat and uninteresting 
country for over fifty miles, consisting of al¬ 
ternate ntarsh and forest of white birch, 
tamarack and their congeners. The land is 
wet and cold, and, for the most part, worth¬ 
less, except for its wood and timber. I ven¬ 
ture to say that millions of acres of other 
Western lands will be settled and cultivated 
before these lands will be even thought of 
for rural homes ; but as we go westward 
after leaving this section the lands improve 
rapidly. A rolling upland country succeeds 
the previous marshes, wPa belts and clumps 
of oak and other valuable timber, while a 
rich, dry, loamy soil, indicates productive¬ 
ness for grass and grain. Numerous small 
lakes and ponds of crystal water lie embos¬ 
omed in the forests, and the buildings of the 
pre-emptionists and other settlers make a 
good show for crops. Every kind of cereal 
(except corn), pottaoes, peas and garden 
vegetables, have evidently found a congenial 
home in this new region, and numerous 
small villages, located along the line of the 
road, show thrift and enterprise as charac¬ 
teristic of the settlers. 
Brainerd, located on the east bank of the 
Mississippi, one hundred and fifteen miles 
west of Duluth, is the Railroad Company’s 
headquarters. It contains their engine- 
houses, machine-shops, offices, a fine hotel, 
and an emigrant, house, all costly and well 
constructed edifices, such as a gigantic cor¬ 
poration might, be expected to build for per¬ 
manent occupation. The river is spanned 
by a bridge of sufficient elevation to pass 
steamers without a draw, and thence the 
road passes for one hundred and thirty-five 
miles westward to the Red River of the 
West, mostly through as charming a country 
as overlay smiling under a summer sky. Rich 
and productive beyond all question as to 
soil, healthful and invigorating as to climato, 
picturesque and fascinating as to scenery, 
embracing park and meadow, lake and for¬ 
est, Providence has kindly spread it out in 
quiet and attractive beauty for the abode of 
future millions of free and enlightened hu¬ 
manity. 
The R.ed River Valley, of itself sixty miles 
wide by three hundred miles long, of unex¬ 
ampled depth and fertility of soil, will alone 
sustain an empire, and it is stated (but I have 
not seen i t personally) that a large portion of 
the British Province of Manitoba, ^further 
north, and whose natural commercial outlet 
is over the Northern Pacific l oad, is equally 
productive. 
For fifteen miles east of Red River the 
road is on a tangent, touching a slight curve 
as it crosses, and then it stretches westward 
across the valley, not deviating a hair’s 
breadth from a straight line for fij'ty-ihree 
miles ! In a day’s ride, we cross waters run¬ 
ning into Hudson’s Bay, the Gulf of St Law- 
re ce and the Gulf of Mexico, viz., the St. 
Louis River, emptying into Lake Superior, 
the Mississippi and its principal branch, the 
Crow Wing, the Otter Tail-a branch of the 
Red River—and the Red River itself, which 
ME ACHE M SWEET APPLE 
C. R. Crosby, Hastings, Mich,, calls atten¬ 
tion to an apple with this name, sometimes 
locally called “Rag Apple” which he thus 
describes in the Michigan Farmer : 
The tree is a stron, gvfgorous grower, form¬ 
ing a handsome, conical-shape top; is in fact 
among the prettiest in this respect. The 
limbs are nearly twice the size of any other 
variety of a single season growth. The bark 
is smooth as if polished. T e fruit, as the 
name Indicates is sweet, medium size, and 
when ripe of a light yellow, very smooth. 
It ripens the last of September or first of 
October, and is mellow enough for dessert at 
that time, and yet will keep until the next 
spring. For culinary purposes it will cook as 
readily as any of the sour varieties, and when 
mixed with sour makes the richest sauce 
without sugar. For cattle it is the best I 
know of. Being mellow when it falls, hogs 
and cattle will fatten on them as readily as 
on corn. I have been thus explicit in de¬ 
scription that if there is a variety like it it 
can be discovered, as I think they have no 
equal In the orchard. 
Early Crimson Pine. 
railroad would give me their alternate sec¬ 
tion for the forty miles wide, which the 
Government gives to them, I should hesitate 
to accept, the gift. I do not know how the 
Northern Pacific people will regard this 
judgment on their Eastern Dakot&h lands, 
but. I enter up the “judgment without costs,” 
and enter it up, moreover, as my judgment., 
not theirs. These lands may be utilized at 
some time and for some purpose ; but at 
what time, and for what purpose, I do not 
pretend to aay. The road, however, has a 
grant,, setting all the worthless lands aside, 
the like of which is unprecedented in the 
history of the world ; and whether or not 
dividends will ever be paid on stock, the 
mortgage bonds issued by the Company to 
build the road, are, in my opinion, an invest¬ 
ment absolutely secure. e. w. 
August, 1878. 
Remarks. —Our correspondent is evidently 
lair and honest in his opinions, but he over¬ 
looks, or fails to mention, the obvious fact 
that the timber of the uninviting fifty miles 
specified, is more valuable to the Company, 
and to the prairie region stretching hundreds 
of miles westward, than would have been 
an equal extent of good prairie farming lands. 
A friend who is familiar with the regions 
named, says E. W.’g estimate of the country 
beyond the timber, and embracing the Red 
River Valley, is right, it being a natural park 
and garden combined—but tliinks bis judg¬ 
ment of the Dakota lands west of the said 
valley and east of Bismarck on the Missouri, 
is wide of the mark. “ True, ” says our 
TRICKS OF FRUIT DEALERS, 
The Pall Mall Gazette states that a curious 
practice has of late been adopted by fruiter¬ 
ers which cannot be called adulteration, but 
which is very near akin to it. Persons on 
buying West, Indian Pine Apples at fruiter- 
el's’ shops are asked whether they wish to 
purchase “heads” to the fruit. In other 
words, West Indian Pine Apples are dressed 
for dessert at a small cost as British hot¬ 
house Pine.3 by the ingenious plan of insert¬ 
ing in the summit of tho fruit a crown of 
leaves belonging to the latter, a.id thus guests 
are deceived into the notion that the Pine 
Apple which graces the table was grown in 
the hot-house of their host, who probably 
never had a hot-house, and knows nothing 
about the cultivation of Pines. A West 
Indian Pine Apple has no more right to wear 
a Br.tish crown than an Apple or a Peach 
has to employ rouge for the purpose of con¬ 
cealing its pallor or hightening its bloom. 
Although we never saw this toileting of fruit, 
yet we have seen the blue-oag employed to 
restore the bloom to Black Hamburgh Grapes. 
POMOLOGICAL GOSSIP, 
The Koolstoh Pear .—This is a small pear 
which is grown in large quantities in some 
parts of Belgium, and is the source of a con¬ 
siderable revenue to the small landholders 
there. Although net of first-class quality, 
large cargoes of it are annually shipped to 
England, and it is so much sought alter by 
the dealers that they usually purchase the 
crop as it stands in May, generally paying at 
the rate of about 12s. per cwt. for the fruit, 
depositing half the 1 uoney at that time, and 
paying the remainder ".'hen the crop is gath¬ 
ered. It ripens in the end of July. This pear 
is well figured in the June number of the 
Bulletin d'Arboriculture. 
American Blackberries. — Of the older 
blackberries, the Kittatinny stands first. It 
ships and sells well, and is quite hardy. The 
New Rochelle is often more or less killed 
back. The Dorchester succeeds well, is good 
in quality, amd is hardy. Of all the newer 
sorts, the Snyder appears to give the highest 
promise. The canes are perfectly hardy, 
growing to the very tips after the coldest 
winters. It prpves to be an enormous bear 
er, the fruits sweet, juicy, rather soft. The 
Western Triumph bears shipping better, but 
is not so large. A valuable quality in both is 
their hardiness.— J. Stcvrkey, in London Gar¬ 
den. 
Sill Uuil-N Falvi'akf. 
Napier, but I was advised by several of my 
horticultural frieuds to substitute another 
name, fearing it might be confounded w th 
Sir Charles Napier; and every year it has so 
won upon my good opinion and that of 
every one who has seen it and tasted its fruit, 
that I have adopted the above name. I chink 
it will be admitted by all who like a highly 
piquant fruit with a rich pine flavor, to be 
the finest flavored strawberry ever raised. I 
have tested this variety in every possible 
way. Though naturally a late sort, under a 
south wall it makes a grand second early, 
while under a north and east wall it comes 
in with Cockscomb and Frogmore Late Pine. 
It requires a little sugar to bring out its fine 
pine and Hautbois flavor, and then it is per¬ 
The Countess. 
friend, “it is mjiinly treeless, (so is Kansas,) 
and the tops of the occasional knobs are scant 
of soil and vegetation,—but the great body 
of the rolling prairie and all of the valleys, 
are as fertile as the prairies of Iowa, which 
they much resemble.” He thinks E. W. has 
evidently n istuken monotony for desolation 
or sterility,—but admits that his letter is on 
the whole excellent for one who has only 
once visited the country described —[Eds. 
Grass for Timber Land.—A correspond¬ 
ent of the Rural New-Yorker, who asks, 
•* What kind of grass seed would you advise 
me to sow in the oak openings of Southern 
Wisconsin, where it is intended lor pasture, 
the trees to remain standing while the under¬ 
brush is thoroughly cleaned out V We reply, 
orchard grass, by all means. 
