POMOLOGICAL GOSSIP 
soil and climate 'fall planting is best; also, 
which to leave for spring. 
A FREAK AMONG THE PEARS. 
I inclose some pear leaves taken from 
seed!mg stocks of the Flemish Beauty of 
two summers’ growth. The two tied to¬ 
gether are from a stock, nearly all the lead- 
mg leaves of which are deep und doubly cut 
ike the samples : while the third, or single 
leal is a fair sample of many on several other 
stocks of the same age. 1 have about one 
hundred seedlings which 1 wish to test the 
fruit, of. What is the quickest and best way 
to do so ' The Flemish Beauty is very hardy 
in this section, and productive. I picked this 
year from two small, standard trees, five 
pecks each.— Curtis A, Wood, Dublin, k. II. 
We do not remember having ever before 
seen just such a freak among pear seedlings, 
and we should feel inclined to try and per- 
PEARS IN NEW ENGLAND 
Hon. Marshall P. Wilder is quoted as 
authority for the statement “ That there has 
never been such a crop of pea rs, and of such 
excellent quality, in New England as the 
present crop, which rivals in excellence and 
abundance the boasted crop of California.”— 
Rural New- Yorker, 
The Hon. gentleman is certainly wrong 
regarding quality. This is a mistake. There 
is no comparison between the pears raised 
here and those grown in California. The 
California pears are sweet, juicy and fine in 
flavor, while those grown here arc coarse, 
insipid, pungent, and totally devoid of fine 
flavor. Try them and judge for yourself. 
Buy a half-dozen of the best grown here, and 
put one California pear among them, and 
you can select the latter with your eyes 
closed by tasting them one after Hie other. 
This is true. Try it | 
The same is true with California flour. 
You may set a half-dozen pans of flour in a 
room, and let one of them be California flour, 
and a baker will pick the California flour 
out with his eyes blind-folded, it is much 
drier and lighter to the touch, while the flour 
from the wheat here is heavy and clammy. 
H. Tents, « Californian. 
mi. uavenport (Iowa) Gazette states that 
S. F. Parker of that city, has introduced an 
improved grain binder attached to the side 
of a reaper, the bed of which is traversed by 
a rake on an endless belt that carries the 
groin from before the sickle, when cut, and 
lays it over on the binder. Tliis is a concave 
of sheet iron in which the grain lies until 
bound. From a spool the twine unwinds 
through the tying apparatus, is caught by a 
nipper, carried around aud wrapped tight 
iork, l Oldmixon Free, 4 Stump the World, 
4 Ward’s Late Free, 4 Heath Cling. For 10 
cherry trees, lie takes 10 Early Richmond; 
for 100 blackberries, 100 Kilt, a tinny; and for 
1,100 strawberry plants, 1,000 Wilson and 100 
Green Proli fie. For an A ppl(. On hard, Early 
Harvest, Carolina Red June, Primate, Kirk- 
bridge White, Benoni, Porter, Rambo, Jona¬ 
than, Pryor’s Red, Winesap, Smith’s Cider, 
Ben Davis, Newtown Pippin, Rawles’ Janet— 
the winter sorts many times more numerous 
than the others, especially Winesap and 
Rawles’ Janet. 
Keeping Apples in Sawdust. —E, R., Put¬ 
nam Co., N. Y., writes the Country Gentle¬ 
man :—“ I made an experiment last winter 
and spring of keeping apples in dry sawdust, 
with good results. 1 packed several barrels, 
putting in a few at a time, and then filling 
with dust by shaking down. These kept 
fresher and bet t er than the others. I kept 
Vicar pears by this moans until late iu the 
spring. In March or April 1 put some choice 
R<ix bury Russets into a barrel with sawdust, 
and having more than we wished to use, 
some were left in the bottom. On the 4tli 
of October I emptied the contents and found 
one apple almost sound—the rest in perfect 
form, though decayed. Later, about the 15th, 
1 emptied a box of English Btreaks left in 
the. same 
APPLES ROTTING 
WINDMILL POWER. 
In answer to Cjias. B. Van Sltke in Ru¬ 
ral New-Yorker, Oct. 25tli, allow me to 
say that I was lately in Germany and in the 
localities I visited, windmills were the only 
power used in grinding grain. T frequently 
saw' them at work once in every two or three 
miles of distance. The Challenge Windmill 
Company of Batavia, Illinois, advertise a 
double 12-foot windmill for #300.. I do not 
know wliut power this is equivalent to ; but 
it is adapted for a small grist and feed mill. 
Steaming food for cattle pays well, it is gen 
erally considered, in fattening hogs, in oth¬ 
er animals, especially if they are w eakly, all 
that, lias been found necessary is to wet the 
chaff, &c., or hi some cases to scald it and 
feed cold. Wind broken horses rAmiifo ici 
way, and found one entirely sound. 
Willow Turly Apple in Illinois .— Samuel 
Edwards, writes the Country Gentleman : 
“In this region the Willow Twig heads the 
list for profit , and has been sold at Chicago 
in June for #12 per barrel. This year, when 
few vanities are bearing well, they are our 
main dependence. A friend, who set 110 
trees of it iu an orchard thirty-live years 
since, recently told me if he hud confined his 
planting to that, variety it would already 
have made his profits #25,000 in excess of 
what they have been.” 
Picquel Peach .—Say to S. P. S. he can 
procure the Picquet peaches of P. J. Bkrck- 
mans, Augusta, Ga. It was first introduced 
by him.—D. B. M., BridgeviUe, Del 
petuate it if possible. A tri-lobed pear leaf, 
such as you send us, and is shown iu the ac¬ 
companying illustration, is quite a novelty in 
its way, and whereon some Darwinian may 
hinge a pretty theory about a departure 
from normal types. 
The quickest way of testing your seedlings 
would lie to take a cion or two from each 
and insert them into some large bearing tree, 
putting a eonsiderble number on each will do 
for the purpose of testing. 
BUDDING APPLE TREES. 
In budding apple trees I bud them clear 
down to the roots, and find it a good plan to 
mound them for a week or two to keep them 
damp until they grow in. 1 also find it ne¬ 
cessary to bind them very tight, I use bass¬ 
wood bark lor bands, and unbind them iu 
about, two weeks after budding, at the same 
time rebudding all that failed the first, time 
and so oil I believe they would winter much 
safer if they wer.- mounded in the fail. What 
i is your opinion ? Should the stock be cut 
down to the bud, or a few inches above in 
the spring #-«. K. M„ Palo, Mich. 
If the young trees are plowed up too late 
in the fall, it would, no doubt, protect the 
buds ; but, the earth should be removed be¬ 
fore warm weather in spring. The stem of 
young budded stocks should bo cut off two 
or three inches above the bud in spring. In 
summer or tali this stub can be cut away, 
removing it close to the bud. 
FALL v«. SPRING PRUNING, 
THE HOG FOR WESTERN FARMERS. 
Vice-President Curtis of the New York 
State Agricultural Society, in opening a dis¬ 
cussion on pigs is reported to the Country 
Gentleman as saying: 
The wants of the Western farmer are quite 
different from ours (in New York). He wants 
as large a hog as possible, without reference 
to the quantity of food consumed, it being 
cheaper to ship pork than corn. A breed has 
been established to meet their requirements 
oumk lecommend (all and some spring 
pinning. I should think spring would be 
the best, for the reason the wound is exposed 
a shorter time before it commences to heal. 
What is your opinion ? The same will hold 
good in fall and spring setting of trees. By 
taking them up and setting them out in the 
spring, t he roots are loosened from the ground 
a shorter time before growth commences, 
and are not exposed to danger as long as fall 
planting. If there is any good theory for 
fall planting or priming, what is it? —A 
INJURED APPLE TREES, 
The past severe winter has damaged apple 
trees m tins .State to the amount of millions 
of doilai's. A great many trees are alreadv 
dead, and many are lingering that will prob¬ 
ably not be entirely dead for a year or two 
I have been annoyed this year with green 
hee on the leaves und young cions of voune 
apple t rees. What is the best way to get rid 
any hog “ without reference to the quantity 
of food consumed,” and that the claim mode 
for the Poland-Chiua is not that he is the 
largest possible hog, without reference to the 
quantity of food consumed. Undoubtedly 
the lower price for corn does make many 
Western farmers less particular as to quan¬ 
tify of food than are their more Eastern 
neighbors, but good farmers in the West do 
consider the question of returns for the food 
fed swine. We have seen Poland-Chinas 
that would weigh 1,000 pounds or more, but 
such are not the most popular. Jf Col. Cur¬ 
tis will visit Western Fairs or Western swine 
breeders lie will find that here as well as “ in 
the East we want something quite different 
—a hog that produces not so much masses of 
pork, as fine heavy hams, shoulders, and 
fat.” In the following definition of the kind 
of hog wanted in the East, he gives a very 
good definition of the kind most desirable 
for the West :—“A breed which will fatten 
readily and early, make a large quantity of 
flesh in proportion to the food eonsumerJand 
grow to a reasonable, though not enormous, 
size.”— Western Farmer. 
100 APPLE TREES FOR WISCONSIN 
M., in Western Farmer, says ;—In view of 
last winter's experience and recent testimony 
I submit the following list of varieties for 
10(1 apple trees, having family supply as first 
consideration. The list is selected with refer 
cnee to adaptation to Wisconsin generally. 
The criticisms and suggestionsof fruit, grow¬ 
ers and nurserymen are requested. 
Crabs.—'Transcendant 2, Hyslop 2.—4. 
Summer and Early Fall— Tetofski4, Early 
Joe 3, Red Astrakhan 3, Duchess of Olden¬ 
burg 3, Bt. Lawrence 3.—1(3. 
Fall and 1 Viriler. —PIumb’s Cider 5. Tal- 
oi me wouucis win ue uriea and the pores 
I entirely closed against any amount of sap 
long before spring. The healing-over pro¬ 
cess can neither be injured nor retarded by 
this early pru ning. 
Your theory of spring planting would an¬ 
swer very well if it were possible to remove 
trees ol any considerable size without cutting 
or breaking off a portion of the roots. It re¬ 
quires a certain length of time for every 
severed root to heal and produce new fibers, 
and it is reasonable to suppose that this pro- 
Pios in Trouble.— i have a Jitter of pigs 
nearly a week old, and very smart, with one 
exception—that is, when they attempt to 
stand they commence shaking so that their 
hind feet are often thrown out from under 
them and they are obliged to sit or lie down. 
Can you or any of your readers tell me the 
cause? The sow has been in the pasture all 
summer, and only taken up two or three 
weeks ago.— Subscriber, Lancaster, N. II. 
