/pULTUR?'!lE 
EXCELSIOR 
(Entered according to Act of Congress, in tnc year 1870, by D. D. T.-MoonE, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.) 
CD 
Bonralogmil. 
FRUITS RECEIVED. 
BY F. K. ELLIOTT. 
Fox (.rape. 
Henry T. Harris, Stanford, Lincoln Co., 
Ky., sends me berries of the Northern Fox 
Grape, (Rifts labrusca,) which he says he 
“found growing wild in the hills of Lincoln 
county, but in a swampy location,”—just the 
position in which it is to be found all through 
the Northern States. 
A New Crnb Appto—Itlacklc’e Ilcnnty. 
Matthew Mack if., Clyde, Wayne Co.,N. 
Y., sends mo a seedling from the small Sibe¬ 
rian crab, which 1 have never seen equalled 
in size and beauty, except by the Astrakhan 
crab—a variety I had and fruited years since, 
but of late fail to find in any catalogue. This 
crab of Mr. Maciue’s is truly beautiful. It 
is roundish oblong, oblate in form. Speci¬ 
mens grown in the sun are of a deep, rich 
red, with a blue bloom, and scattering light, 
dots and marbled lines. In the shade, the 
color is of a pinkish red, with a gray bloom. 
The stem is long, moderately slender, set in 
a broad, deep, open cavity. The calyx is 
closed, with long or half-long segments clasp¬ 
ed, as it were, by the lower ribs or furrows 
of the basin, which is broad and moderately 
deep. The flesh is white, tinged in its lines 
with faint yellow ; is crisp, only moderately 
juicy, and a pleasant, mild aubacid—better 
than many a well recognized apple. The 
core is medium, or small, with flattened, ob¬ 
tuse, pyramidal seeds. 
Beurre do UriguiiiM Pear. 
From Mr. Berber, liockport, O., I have 
a pear, the name unknown to him, but 
which he states is one of the healthiest and 
most productive of varieties which he grows. 
Ii was disk United years ago as Des Nonnes, 
ami is a tree in my grounds of early-bearing 
habit and productive; is one of the linest- 
flavored varieties grown. As an amateur’s 
sort it is invaluable, but for market is not 
sufficiently showy to meet public demand. 
-•»■»■» — 
THE PRIZE GRAPE OF 1870. 
The sharp competition for prizes mani¬ 
fested this season among the growers of new 
seedling grapes, is certainly a favorable sign 
of progress. Ten years ago, when the late 
grape mania w r as raging, purchasers of vines 
accepted almost everything offered, paying 
whatever price was asked without question¬ 
ing the seller in regard to the quality of the 
fruit or the adaptability of the vine to soil 
or climate. But those good times for grape 
vine propagators are past, and the most use¬ 
ful relic remaining is a wide-spread and 
more general conception of what constitutes 
a good variety. The old, rank-flavored 
sorts, like the Charter Oak and Northern 
Muscadine, stand no chance of being ad¬ 
mitted into good society at the present time, 
and a grape to attract much attention must 
necessarily possess considerable merit. 
The valuable qualities found in our native 
sorts are equal to those of any other coun¬ 
try; hut they have beeu too widely distrib¬ 
uted—one variety possessing the size, an¬ 
other hardiness and productiveness of vine, 
while perhaps a third may have neither, but 
in quality of fruit be unsurpassed. The 
only thing required of our grape growers is 
to combine all the good qualities, or give us 
as many as possible in one variety. This is 
certainly the tendency, as manifested in all 
the recent efforts of our best propagators, 
hut we must caution them against the far 
too-prevajent error of sending out a great 
number of sorts, as it is far better to make 
haste slowly than to experience many disap¬ 
pointments. 
It is also gratifying to notice that the 
growers of new sorts are not iu such haste j 
MACKIES BEAUTY. 
to sell vines as formerly, preferring to have 
them fully tested before dissemination. This 
cautiousness of growers has been quite ap¬ 
parent the present season i.u the exhibition 
of new sorts, some having been awarded a 
prize before receiving a name. At the late 
grape show held at the Rooms of B. K. 
Bliss & Son, New York city, Mr. .Tames H. 
Ricketts was awarded the first premium 
for the best seedling never before exhibited. 
There were many competing varieties, and 
it must have required a very close, discrim¬ 
inating test to have decided which one was 
entitled to be placed first on the list. The 
accompanying illustration was made from 
one of the bunches on exhibition, and may 
be considered a fair representation of the 
same. The bunches are large, occasionally 
shouldered; berries large, slightly oval; 
nearly black, with slight bloom; flesh ten¬ 
der, breaking somewhat like the foreign 
sorts, although there is a perceptible tough¬ 
ness near the center, which shown that there 
is native blood in the variety. In flavor it 
is first rate, being sweet, with just sufficient 
sprightlincss to prevent cloying the palate. 
The vine, of course, was not exhibited, 
but we saw it a few weeks since, and it ap¬ 
peared to be a healthy- and vigorous grower. 
T'iie leaves were very large, of good sub¬ 
stance, and also healthy. It. was raised from 
the Concord, fertilized by BU. k Hamburg, 
and it shows the good qualities of both 
parents. 
MACKIE’s BEAUTY — OUTLINE. 
-- 
POMOLOGICAL GOSSIP. 
The Tribune on Grapes. 
In the New York Daily Tribune of Sept. 
30th, appeared a short report of the recent 
Grape Exhibition in N. Y. city. We do not 
THE PRIZE GRAPE OF 1870. 
pretend to know who wrote said report, but 
presume it was not Mr. P. T. Quinn, the 
Horticultural Editor, because lie would have 
known better than to pen the following sen¬ 
tence : 
“ Fifteen years ago there were only two va¬ 
rieties known iu this country—the Catawba and 
Isabella." 
For the purpose of showing how some 
reporters of horticultural fairs and meetings 
will make blunders and mislead their readers 
we will test the correctness of the above 
paragraph from the Tribune. Wc have, it 
is true, made some progress in grape culture 
during the past fifteen years, but not 
quite so much as our Tribune reporter would 
lmve people believe; for there were quite a 
number of varieties shown at the ex¬ 
hibition referred to above that were well 
known mum than twice fifteen years ago. 
We have before us a catalogue of grapes, 
published in 1830, from which wc learn that 
the following native sorts were known at 
that time, and they ave still in cultivation, 
and quite popular in many localities. Alex¬ 
ander, Catawba, Elsingburgh, Blanco, Mis¬ 
souri, Long, Norton’s Virginia, York Ma¬ 
deira, Claret, Herbemont, Cunningham, 
Swarlara, Hyde's Eliza, Garber’s Albino, 
Iiouey, Isabella, Pond’s Seedling, and about 
twenty inferior varieties that have been al¬ 
most universally discarded. 
Eleven of the above seventeen sorts were 
shown at the exhibition referred to on the 
80th ult., although they have been in culti¬ 
vation over forty years. The To Kalon and 
Clinton appeared only one year later than 
the above, and might, with propriety, come 
into the same list. Grape growers of the 
present generation are doing well, but it is 
not best lor them to claim too much credit. 
Evcrbcnrlud KnnpberrleH. 
I would like your opinion as to the best 
Everbearing Raspberry. I am engaged iu 
small fruit raising at tliis place for the Mem¬ 
phis market, ami think that fall bearing 
raspberries would pay well here for that 
market. Do they bear as well as Doolittle, 
and other summer varieties ? I thought of 
setting the Ohio Everbearing, Linus’, and 
Catawissa; would you advise me to set all 
these varieties, or which, in your opinion, is 
the best? I moved from Rochester, N. Y., 
live years ago, for the purpose of fruit-rais¬ 
ing here,and am well pleased with the coun¬ 
try and climate.—L. VV. Hamilton, Shelby 
Co., Tam. 
To this Mr. Elltott replies:—We have 
no faith in any everbearing or autumn bear¬ 
ing raspberry for profitable culture. But if 
a man is disposed to go in, wo think Cata- 
wissa is ahead of all, and especially for tiio 
Southern sections. No autumn-bearing va¬ 
riety is yet known that will produce over 
one-eighth as much as the summer fruiting 
sorts. If you plant out, we shall be glad to 
get account of results. 
Pcachee an*l CkerrieN for Western Penn¬ 
sylvania. 
Will you please inform me what are the 
best kinds of peach and cherry trees to set 
out for family use; what time of the year is 
best to plant, and also where I can send and 
get them. Location, Western Pennsylvania. 
—A Subscriber, Crawford Co., Pa. 
The American Pomological Society, at 
its last meeting, held iu Philadelphia, named 
the following varieties of peaches as best for 
Western Pennsylvania-Crawford’s Early, 
Crawford’s Late, Druid Hill, Large Early 
York, Late Red Rare Ripe, Lemon Cling, 
Old Mixon Free, Red Cheek Melocaton, 
Ward’s Late Free, and a few other sorts. 
We presume the trees can be purchased of 
any leading Pennsylvania nurseryman. 
To the foregoing we may add that the 
editor of the Germantown (Pa.) Telegraph 
recommends the following cherries:—May 
Duke, Early Richmond, Black Tartarian, 
Black Eagle, Belle Mugnifique, Downton, 
Elton, Kentish or Pie. 
I II Pnrk How, New York 
O** ICES. 1 jj» HulTalo St., Rochester. 
183.00 PER YEAH. 
TERMS, j- gj„j,i e (Vo., Eight Oe 
Cents. 
NEW YORK CITY AND ROCHESTER, N. Y. 
yol.xxii. No.ie. 
FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, DGT. 15,1870. 
WHOLE NO. 1082. 
