These will be the fourth generation from the 
primitive sorts. 
I take a great deal of pleasure in these ex¬ 
periments, and find in them a wonderful 
study. 1 even flatter myself that I can tell 
from what particular branch of these various 
families of the strawberry each individual 
plant gets its peculiarities. 
I shall hardly, however, be tempted, in 
any event, into the effort to farther dissemi¬ 
nate new sorts, even should I be so fortunate 
as to believe that I have been instrumental 
in producing them. I should fear the same 
pecuniary results as when I sent out my 
Michigan. The simple announcement of in¬ 
trinsic merit would not be heard for the blare 
of brazen trumpets. B. Hathaway. 
Little Prairie Hondo, Mich. 
The results of Mr. Hathaway’s experi¬ 
ments in growing seedlings are worthy of 
notice by those who are endeavoring to 
produce new varieties. The fact that he has 
never been able to produce improved sorts 
from hermaphrodites should not discourage 
others from continuing their experiments In 
this direction, but we would advise amateurs 
who are endeavoring to produce crosses or 
hybrids, to choose pistillate sorts for the 
maternal parent, because if the plant is prop¬ 
erly protected against the visits of Insects, 
the success of the operation in cross fertiliz¬ 
ing can be positively determined, which is 
not an easy matter when a bi-sexual variety 
is used for this purpose. "We congratulate 
him in having arrived at so natural a 
conclusion, that, neither the profit, or honor 
derived from the production and dissemina¬ 
tion of a new fruit will compensate a man 
for the blatant abuse he is very likely to re¬ 
ceive from those who may not happen to 
appreciate the product of his labor. 
sionally sprinkling, if they should require it, roots; it causes an unhealthy absorption, 
and keeping the temperature of the cellar be- Trees will not do well on such soil, as every 
tween 35’ and 50' Full. If the cellar is too one knows, whether the soil is rich or not. 
warm buds may form too rapidly, and if too It needs drainage; that corrects it. Now, a 
cold, not at all. Any one who has a dry, great proportion of soil is just of this na- 
saudy soil, may bury the boxes of cuttings tine, varying only in degree. What we 
in the open ground, and then cover suffi- think is dry enough land is not always such, 
ciently to protect from frost. We have had Indeed, there is very little land that is not 
excellent success from cuttings preserved in benefited at all by drainage; some not 
this manner; still we think the cellar is enough to pay for the work; but a large 
preferable. proportion of wliat we term our dry land 
How an«i When to Plant. will realize a net benefit by a careful under- 
If the buds are likely to come forward too drainage, 
rapidly in spring, give the cuttings plenty of Why ? 
air on cold nights, because there is nothing Because, as we have said, it gives health 
gained by planting until the earth is sutli- to the tree, to vegetation in general, disposes 
ciently warm to promote growth. Besides to a full, free, vigorous growth. Is this not 
this, the cuttings will receive a severe check I wanted '( We fear the contrary doctrine ad- 
rtarirttlhrrf 
THE MICHIGAN STRAWBERRY, 
CUTTINGS OF ROOTS, 
In Rural New-Yorker of Nov. 5th I 
find a brief item—“ New Varieties of Straw¬ 
berries in Missouri”—copied from the Rural 
World, in which the Michigau strawberry 
is set down as a seedling of the Wilson. 
This is a mistake, as this variety of straw¬ 
berry originated with me, and is attracting 
some notice. A few facts connected with 
its history may not be out of place. 
I have spent nearly twenty years in ex¬ 
perimenting with seedling strawberries—nor 
am I done with them yet—and I am only 
There are many species of plants that 
may be more rapidly propagated from cut¬ 
tings of their roots than from branches. 
Some of our more scientific vegetable physi¬ 
ologists may question the use of the word 
root when applied to what they designate as 
subterranean stems; but for all practical 
purposes that portion of woody plants which 
is hidden in the earth may he called roots, 
and it is with such a meaning we use it 
here. It is well known to every gardener 
that certain kinds of plants are very difficult 
to propagate by cuttings of the mature 
woody branches, but tile smallest piece of 
root will readily produce buds and stems. 
The common Double Flowering Almond 
is a familiar example. There are, it is true, 
other methods of propagating such plants, 
such as budding, grading, and cuttings of 
the young succulent wood ; but these require 
moire skill than root cuttings, and the farmer 
and amateur may riot possess the requisite 
knowledge or means of application ; neither 
would it always he advisable for them to 
study what are sometimes called (erroneously 
however) the secrets of horticulture. But 
it is well for every one to know how the 
most common plants arc propagated. 
Last week we named a few hardy shrubs 
and trees that are readily propagated by 
ripe-wood cuttings, taken off in autumn, and 
we now add to tIto same list a number of 
species that are difficult, to multiply in this 
manner, but may lie rapidly increased by 
Cuttings ot the roots made at the sauieaeason. 
Almonds, dwarf species and varieties; 
Acacias, exotic and native; Calycanthue, 
common, sweet-scented shrub, all the species 
and varieties; Olclhra, of various species; 
Oeonothm , including the common sort, or 
New Jersey Tea, and a number of Cali¬ 
fornia species, known in the latter State as 
cinnamon shrub, &c. ; Verasus, (Primus) 
particularly ihe dwarf species, such as 
0. pumila and 0. Cfumurewasus, Padua , 
prostmta, etc,., etc.; Ttmrirgmca, June berry, 
(Amdanchier Canadensis,) Py-rus Japonica, 
Pavia,, or dwarf horsecliestnut, {JBsculus 
partnflora,) Hypericum, the shrubby species, 
and many oi lier plants belonging to widely 
different families. 
Among small fruits the blackberry and 
raspberry are extensively propagated from 
roots, and better plants are usually produced 
by this method than from natural suckers or 
sprouts. 
When to Make Canines. 
Autumn is the best time to make root cut¬ 
tings, for it requires more or less time for 
buds to form, and from three to six months 
may be given to this process if we begin at 
tills season. 
How to .Hake Cutting*, 
Dig up the plants from which cuttings are 
desired, and select the long, rather coarse 
roots, and then divide them into sections of" 
from one to four inches long, varying ac¬ 
cording to the structure of the different spe¬ 
cies. The almonds, cherries, and eeonothus 
may be cut very short, while the sweet- 
scented shrub and dwarf chestnut should 
be a little longer, as the buds upon their 
roots are seldom produced in very great 
abundance. 
Shears are the most convenient imple¬ 
ments tor making the cuttings, but unless 
the roots are previously washed, they will 
need sharpening quite frequently. 
IIow to Preserve Cuttinsa. 
To place the cuttings in just the right po¬ 
sition during winter, tor promoting the for¬ 
mation of buds and roots, is a task surround¬ 
ed with some difficulties. The most natural 
position would be the earth, but as we have 
begun to deviate from nature by dividing 
roots, we may have to depart still farther to 
accomplish our object. If the cuttings were 
placed in the open ground, and at the same 
depth from which trees were dug, there 
would be but little danger of injury from 
cold; but the development of latent buds 
might lie greatly retarded, if not entirely pre¬ 
vented. With some of the most hardy and 
free-growing species, fall planting may be 
practiced, but as a general rule, it. is the safest 
plan to place the catlings where the heat 
and moisture to which they are subjected 
will'be under control during winter. A cel¬ 
lar is the most convenient place, especially 
if devoted entirely to this purpose. Boxes 
should be provided, and plenty of good, pure 
sand. When the cuttings are made, place a 
thin layer of sand in the bottom of a box. 
Upon this place a layer of the cuttings, then 
another of sand, and so on, alternately, until 
the box is full. If the sand is too dry, apply 
■water sufficient to make it moist. Moss 
gathered from low, wet swamps may be used 
instead of sand, and wo have found it equal¬ 
ly as good, and far more easily managed in 
regard to heat and moisture. 
From the time the cuttings are put away 
in autumn until the next spring, they will 
need but very little attention, except occa- 
FRUITS RECEIVED 
BY F. R. ELLIOTT, 
[The followin'? are notes concerning pears re¬ 
ceived from Messrs. Kia.wanukr & Barky— a 
portion of which Iihvo been hitherto published. 
—Eds. lluit a c New-Yorker.] 
l’ardee’* Seedliacr. 
This is an extremely pretty pear, of me¬ 
dium size, with a blush vcrniillion check, 
and a flesh that, in the specimens before me, 
rank as “ very good.” It is an exceedingly 
juicy pear, and would please most people 
for eating, while it is not large enough to 
meet public demand as one of profit in its 
season. 
Beurre Hrignnis, or Dos Nihiuch, 
I have in former communications spoken 
of this, and now, as I eat It, alter the fore¬ 
going, I must say it is superior. 
Beiirro YVoronzou. 
This, to me, is entirely new, and I have 
no description of it anywhere. Leroy has 
it not. It may be in Mas— whose full num¬ 
bers I have not. It is a fruit of medium 
size, oliovatc pyriform in shape, light, pale 
yellow, with a multitude of minute gray 
dots; stem, one and n-quarter inches wide, 
rather slender, set in a revolute cavity, with 
a nob; calyx open, connected, with half re¬ 
flexed segments ; basin shallow and broad; 
flesh melting, juicy but astringent, only it 
is quite—“good.” 
Pel teen de Lunioy. 
I find no record of a peal* by this name, 
and have looked for it as a synonym; but I 
am at fault. It, however, does not deserve 
a word, as in quality it is not quite good. 
Wilfred. 
The specimen under this name is, 1 think, 
the same as Downing classes as the Anglc- 
Icrre. Bcurre Amiutle is one of its synonyms, 
and it is probably mostly grown under that 
name. It, however, does not merit a place in 
any but an amateur’s or pomological stu¬ 
dent's collection. 
Sbrppard. 
This American variety has been figured in 
the Rural New-Yorker, is pretty well 
known, and needs no remark, except for me 
to say the specimens received were beauti¬ 
ful, and were in form oblong obotate pyri¬ 
form, with stalk an inch long, set in a deep, 
acute cavity. 
St. Francois Sol truer. 
This is entirely new to me, nor can I find 
it in Leroy or Downing. It is medium 
size, roundish oblate, conical, dull yellow, 
with stripes of red in the sun, from the stem 
toward the calyx, and thickly dotted with 
rough dots of medium size. The stem is, 
say one inch long, set in a narrow, acute 
cavity. The calyx is small, but open in a 
very deep, rough russeted basin. The flesh 
is coarse and merely good. 
Brown Benrre, 
This my good friends send me as Bcurre 
de Caen, whereof I am not a little surprised; 
for I know, or believe, they know its identity. 
There is in this old pear a peculiar vinous 
character that is agreeable to many, but it is 
too acidulous to please the multitude, and 
hence, although the tree is one of the health¬ 
iest and hardiest, it has gone out of general 
cultivation. 
SPEOIMENT ’I'RFGJS OF* PICEA PAKSONSIANI. 
[See Rural New-Yorker, November 2G, 1870, Page 348, for History and Description.] 
a warm cellar and placed in vocated by the correspondent will not have more and more convinced that all our valu- 
a good influence. It will discourage under- able improvements in this fruit must come 
round has been prepared for draining, when of all tilings in farming this, out of our native families of strawberries. 
-i, e., plowed and harrowed, we hold, should be most encouraged, needs All my valuable seedlings have shown 
hallow furrows, three to five encouragement, as it is so generally neglect- strongly marked characteristics of the old 
Scarlets, nnd the Michigan, though evidently 
owing its immediate paternal origin to the 
Wilson—itself a hybrid with a native, no 
doubt—was grown from seed of a pistillate 
variety, third remove from a primitive plant. 
That is, the berry from which the seed was 
taken that produced the Michigan was the 
product of a pistillate variety. This pistil¬ 
late soil was its maternal parent. As it. was 
evidently fertilized by the Wilson, this was 
its paternal parent, as will be understood by 
all amateurs. 
I commenced my experiments with three 
quite distinct families of our native straw¬ 
berries—the Early Scarlet, the Late Scarlet, 
or Hudson, and an unknown sort, that I find 
reproduced in the Colfax. From this latter 
1 raised two generations of seedlings and 
then discarded It. 1 could get immense pro¬ 
ductiveness and flavor, but neither size nor 
solidity. 
The Late Scarlet is pistillate, and from the 
Early Scarlet I raised seedlings that were 
pistillate, and I used Burr’s Staminate Pine 
as a fertilizer. It is from this cross that the 
Michigan gets its perceptible pine flavor, 
and it was more noticeable in its maternal 
parent. 
I have never been able to originate any 
improved varieties directly from seed of her¬ 
maphrodite sorts, though I have grown many 
seedlings from the Wilson, and other bi-sex- 
ual kinds. But by choosing the best plants 
that prove pistillate, and fertilizing by some 
strongly marked hermaphrodite, nn improve¬ 
ment is the result. 
1 have several hundred seedlings from my 
best pistillate sorts, fertilized by the Wilson 
and Michigan, that will fruit next year. 
DRAINAGE FOR TREES, 
One of your correspondents, Frank 
Amox, takes ground against underdrainage 
for trees. Wo are somewhat, surprised at 
this. His argument is that there is too much 
growth, producing immature wood,—and lie 
instances the West ns a ease in point. 
It is known that a rich soil produces wood 
rather than fruit, and yet cultivation, ma¬ 
nuring, Ac., are constantly recommended. 
They are not only recommended, but prac¬ 
ticed, and found to do good. It wants, in¬ 
deed, a rich soil where these may he dis¬ 
pensed with, richer than drainage alone 
will mnkc generally. The difficulty is, not 
that our land is loo rich, (generally, even in 
the West,) but too poor, and wants treatment, 
to correct its poverty. Bo in a general 
sense, if drainage adds to fertility it must be 
a benefit. But this is not its greatest benefit. 
The health which it promotes is the chief 
thing to be aimed at. Water sours both the 
soil and the roots; it rots and molds the 
Pomological Information.—We shall be glad to 
receive any pomological information, (or inqui¬ 
ries,) the result of experience the past season. 
Let our readers exchange experiences in tills 
Department. 
