MOORE’S RURAL HEW-YORXER. 
Hcmotogintl. 1 
■■ = i 
FRUIT NOMENCLATURE. i 
VfHAT SHAU BE THE HAME BY WHICH WE ORDER . 
O'JR FRUITY 
The London Garden of Nov. 28, 18i4, 
touches a point that the writer has Jong 
been working upon. It is, What is the true 
name of the Pear or other fruit which the 
buyer orders i The writer of the article in 
the L>ndon Garden takes, as we do here to¬ 
day, notice oT the fact that one author clas- 
rifies two or three names as one fruit, while i 
another places t hem as distinct, or classifies 
them with an entirely different fruit. He | 
says as follows, and I quote simply to show 
that errors and complications are its pi ova- 
lent, in England as they are in the United 
States: 
«• Taking M. Jamin’s list of “ Pears worth 
crowing," given in the Garden for Nov. lo, I 
would inquire whether the Pear which he 
has called Soldat Labonreur is not the same 
that is nvuallv sent out under the name of 
Roldat d'E°percn ? From the period lie gives 
of Its ripening, I should think that it mart be 
Soldat Laboureur 1 have always identified 
with Orphollne d’Engbien, and I was «ur- 
ti- iscd to find M. Jamin making Orpholine 
a’Enghien and Beurre d'Aremberg synouy- 
moUAhfving myself always regarded them 
as two distinct Sorts, though greatly resem¬ 
bling each other. Our Soldat d Espcrjil, like 
M Jamin’s Soldat Labourer, ripened here 
three weeks ago, whereas the Orpholine and 
the Arcmbyg nrc still hard, and 4«re seldom 
fit to cat till after Christmas, that there 
are two Pears bearing respectively these 
names. Orphchne d’Enghien and Beurre d - 
Arcraberg, the fruit catalogues of Mr, Rivers 
(no mean authority on Pears) will show." 
I shall not undertake to settle the points of 
difference between the Soldat Labourour 
and the Soldat d’Eiperen, but I present it 
only as an exhibit, of the fact that, to-day, | 
while we have an American Pomoiogical i 
Society who have published what, they term 
the true names of certain varieties <>f fruits, . 
synonyms to these, fruits are given foi the. | 
true names in several catalogues published j 
by leading nurserymen, aud wit hout a refer¬ 
ence to the true name by which it is known. 
The result of it all is that a man buys from 
one dealer and again from another dealer 
the same fruit under two names, because he 
has not studied up the matter and the deal¬ 
ers have no honorable concert in nomencla¬ 
ture. 
Cannot tills bo remedied ? Why not have 
a Convention of Nurserymen and settle and 
agree Upon the name of each fruit as its 
leading name, each and every one pledging 
themselves to so incorporate in their cata¬ 
logues ? T do not expect that every nursery 
man in the United States would hr present 
at tho meeting, but. many would be there, 
and a request made to all to give in vjiting 
their views of tho names that should lead in 
fruits, with a consent that whatever the 
majority of the members of the meeting and 
the writers thereto said was the correct 
name tliev would abide by and hereafter 
give it in their lists of fruit trees and plants 
for sale. 
One more word : i would bind every 
editor to look over the true list of names 
each time that a correspondent wrote, him of 
varieties, and if the corresixmdcnt had not 
given the true name, but only a synonym, 
let the editor so state it. Frank A mon. 
.- -- 
THE DECLINE OF VARIETIES. 
Probably no one phase of fruit culture 
has puzzled pomologists more than the ap¬ 
parent decline or failure of varieties which 
■were once successfully cultivated. Theories 
have been advanced iu great numbers to ex¬ 
plain the “ reason why,” some of them coin¬ 
ing from high authorities like the one offered 
by Thomas Knight sixty or more years 
since, wherein he asserted that varieties 
natura’iy die out. at the death of the original 
tree of the same; but the utter fallacy of 
this one, like scores of others, has been so 
fully proven that it is entirely unnecessary 
to name them, as they’ arc familiar to all 
students of pomoiogical history. The old 
Golden Pippin apple, upon which he built 
his theory, is still a standard sort, in the very 
localities where he claimed that it had rim 
out at the time named above. 
The same late has befallen nearly every 
other theory advanced upon the same sub¬ 
ject, and we are no better off to-day for 
facts to prove that there is any inherent 
natural cause i'or the deeliue of any particu¬ 
lar variety of fruit or -plant, than we are for 
showing that they should naturally advance 
or improve under cultivation. We believe 
the weight of evidence is on the other side, 
showing that it is far moie natural to pro¬ 
gress than recede, and that decline is but 
the result of neglect. We have yet to find 
the fruit which has ever succeeded in our 
grounds that could not be made to do so 
again. It may cost a little more care and 
labor to bring success a second or t hird time 
than it does the first, and this only shows 
that the conditions have become unfavorable 
and not that the variety has changed. 
Whenever we have a little extra excitement 
in regard to the cultivation of uny particular 
kind of fruit, wonderful successes are sure 
to bo reported, even with many of the old 
run-out and long-discarded sorts,—all of 
which only leads us to believe that a little 
more manure, pruning and cultivation has a 
wonderful effect in restoring vigor and pro- 
j ductivenos*. Of course we would not over¬ 
look the generally-admitted effect of climate 
and soil on varieties, still it. is but reasonable 
to conclude that the causes of failures fol¬ 
lowing close upon successes have an ex¬ 
tremely local origin, and could generally be 
found if sought for at the root of the plant. 
The price of fruit in market hus much to 
do with its success. The decline nr “ run¬ 
ning out” of a variety is seldom heard of 
until t here is a decline in the market through 
overproduction or the appearance of a much- 
lauded rival Wo have known many failures 
caused by the “petoriug-out ” of the pro¬ 
prietor.-’ enthusiasm, probably for good .and 
sufficient, reasons, but it is not f3,ir or just to 
lay the blame on nature. 
Tf we desire to see the old sorts come 
back to their original “ high estate," we 
must commence at the root of the matter 
once more, either giving them new, fresh 
soil, or put on and dig in the fertilizers in 
abundance. The.old apple or pear tree that 
has borne fruit for half a century may re¬ 
quire a, wagon-load of manure instead of a 
few forkful?, and the main question to be 
determined by the owner is whether it is 
worth the cost of such an application or not. 
I Manure and proper pinning are wonderful ' 
renovators of declining or run-out varieties 
anywhere anti everywhere. Tf any of our 
j readers doubt the soundness of this theory, 
I they can readily test it. 
_«-«.+-- 
A CALIFORNIA ORCHARD OF 160 TREES. 
The editor of the California Agriculturist 
savs for an orchard of 1C>0 trees he would 
choose the following : 
A pptra.—Early—f! Red Astrachan, 2 White 
do . 2 Red June, 2 Golden Pippin. 3 Skin¬ 
ner’s Seedling, or Maidens’ Blush. 2 Graven- 
stein. Earlv Winter—0 Yellow Bellflower, 
2 Jonathan. ’ Late-keeping—10 Yellow New¬ 
ton Pippin. 2 White Winter Pearmain. 1 
i Niekerjaek, 1 Early Sweet Rough, 1 Late 
Talmau’s Sweet. 
Pear #—Earlv and Late, as they come in 
succession.—Two Dearborn’s Seedling, 
Madaline. 2 Ruerre Gifford, 5 Bartlett, 1 
Flemish Reality, 3 Beurre Hardy, 2 White 
Doyenne. 2 Glout Morceau, 3 Winter Nelis, 
- 2 Easter Butrre. 
! Gumcr*.—Orange variety. 
Plums —OnoCUerrv Plum. 2 Earlv Golden 
Drop, 2 Royal Hativc. 2 Jefferson, 3 Colum- 
I bin. 4 Grech Gage. *» Tckworth’s Imperatrice. 
- Prunes, —Two Crosse Prune de Ageo, 3 
- Petti Prune de Agcn. 2 German. 
A pricote -—'Three Moorepark varieties. 
5 Cherries. —Two each of Governor Wood, 
Black Eagle. Clack Tartarean, Black Arabi- 
t an Coe’s Tmuspaivnts, Kentish or Pie, 
3 Cleveland Bigareui. Napoleon Bigarreau. 
Mulberries .—Black and Downing’s ever¬ 
bearing. 
t Fill*- — Black Brunswick and White Smvr- 
, na. There are several <t her good varieties. 
Oranfjex and Lcmans .—Three of no eh. 
(Grafted trees come im o hearing much the 
soonest.) One or two Citrons also. 
R r « j tuff Half a dozen each of English, 
Amencati Black and Pecan. 
e ChcstiMs .—Half » dozen trees, including 
American. Italian and Spanish. 
Almond. s\—Bix Languedoc,3 King’s Paper 
II Shell. 
s Mnnpular .—Twq trees. 
Olive .—Two trees. 
Parties wishing large orchards for market 
,* purposes should choose only a few best ya- 
I rieties, such as come in season. For a fatuity 
s orchard the varieties we have mentioned are 
s verv choice and succeed each other admir- 
d I ably. ___ 
,f VARIETIES OF APPLES. 
° -- 
. v Looking over the Western Farmer, I find 
II one E. G. M.. writing from Randall, W's., 
.i. _i_z> nr2 vi,__ 
^i|boricuUttral. 
TREE PLANTING IN THE EAST. f 
- . I fi 
I noticed the article in a Rural New- j 
Yorker of December last from your New , 
Hampshire correspondent on Forest and t 
other trees. I too have been experiment ing , 
with forest trees for the last twenty years * 
and in that time have platted out one hundred f 
acres of land in village lots and I have made f 
it a rule to plant out t rees along the roads t 
and avenues at my own expense aud find it a l 
paying investment in tho way of an increased f 
value on said village lots. I have had ( 
planted over two thousand forest trees with- , 
iu that time of different kinds ; sugar or 
hard maple, chn basswood, horse chestnut I 
aud soft maple ; and on reading your corres¬ 
pondent’s article I was lead to measure a j 
few trees which had been planted in my 
lawn in front of my dwelling house in 1858, 
suy 1(1 years ago. The four trees planted at 
that time were soft maple and taken from 
the forest, being only of medium size for 
t ransplanting. The measurements were made 1 
twelve inches from the ground and are as 
follows i—30, 37, 38 and 3H inches in circum¬ 
ference and the stems of the trees are nearly 
as large 12 or 15 feet above the ground. 
They are nearly fifty feet high, with large, 
spreading branches, and would make nearly 
or quite half a cord of wood each. 
Why would not the Western Prairies, 
where lands arc cheap, pay to raise forest 
trees as an investment t I think it would 
even pay in tills part of New York State 
where lauds are worth over $100 per acre, 
For some years past. it. lias been customary 
with some of our go-ahead citizens to offer 
and pay a reward to those who would plant 
out the largest number of shade or forest 
trees in one season along the roads or high¬ 
ways in our town. The money usually is 
offered in two or throe prizes ; the party | 
offering the prizes names one or two men to 
examine and report on the number of trees 
| planted ; in this way nearly all the roads for 
miles leading from our village are lined with 
' shade trees. 1 find tho soft maple the 
thriftiest growers of any forest trees 1 have 
planted. John A. Rumsey. 
Seneca Falls, N. A’., Jan. 1875. 
tv answer to our correspondent’s question 
relative to Western tree planting, at the 
beginning of his last paragraph, wo say it 
does pay on the prairies and has paid (he 
past 25 year*, during which time thousands 
and thousands of acres have been planted. 
The prairie farmers know more about tree 
planting and do more of it in one year than 
, New York farmers do in ten years. 
' *** | 
WHEN TO PRUNE RASPBERRIES AGAIN. 
— 
HOW SOME MEH READ AHO MIS-QU0TE AUTHORS. 
It is but reasonable to suppose that, men 
who have spent, a lifetime III study and ex¬ 
perimenting in any particular branch of 
science, should know a little more about it, 
than the mere novice in the same field. Tt is 
for this reason that we have come to look 
upon the writings of our well-known scien¬ 
tific and practical horticulturist* as some¬ 
what authoritative. Of course it cannot he 
expected that their teachings will in every 
instance be of tho "infallible” kind ; still, 
j upon the whole, (hey are not so likely to 
mislead as one who has no know ledge of the 
subject treated. But there are some men 
j who, if they fail to comprehend an author’s 
words or meaning, and thereby commit, an 
error, lay tjia blame at, somebody else’sdoor, 
instead of where it. rightfully belongs, namely 
at their own, Tf an author's language is 
anbignous or in any manner obscure, then a 
student, may be excused for not following 
directions, or misapplying the knowledge 
intended to be conveyed. 
Instances, however, are not wanting of 
persons who read from a page what is not 
there, and actually accuse an author of 
writing that which he lias carefully avoided 
Ollti XJ. IJ. ♦CL.« VTUUUI^ J l v Ll ■ XV l l» I LABI, M uum »• Ml'-** --- U 
notes the valuable ones for Michigan as fol- « a yi U g AVe are reminded of this loose man- 
lows The Duchess in best; Red Astrachan - reading by an editorial in a late num- 
don t bear much: the Harvest, Sweet Bough ‘ , 3 ..... r i. ( . vy-w 
and Jersey Sweet I wouid not cultivate for her of our valued con .* mporai - > _ “ 
profit." Thinks the Porter, Fall Orange and England Farmer on the much - discussed 
Fameuse should have a place on every farm, question of pruning raspberries. In the 
but only in small numbers. He goes in strong 1{r . le re f e rred to. our contemporary “ goes " 
for Northern Spvand savs * they arc never . . . ... - , , ,. r ,v„i...oi, 
injured by the borer, and one tree 12 yearn the authorities in horticulture u ith a 
olil has borne 8ft bushels in one year." He strong hand ami says:— As mi as oui 
says he grows the Wagner top-grafted and observation extends, all the books and nearly 
the Jonathan root-grafted. He discards the newspaper writers advise trimming out 
Taiwan aud Bellflower, but grows the Bald- , , , , . C n 
win top-grafted. The Willow Twig is one of rhe old wood M soon as it is done bearing, so 
his favorites ; all "the Russet tribe he woull that the vitality of the plants may be ex¬ 
sweep away.” Leaving apples, the writer pended on the new growth." 
whom we are reading and quoting say* hi-* v ery true, and we fail to see wherein our 
ftlSlg foiilemporaiy orattyb'-xly *. - <M«» 
saying “Cureulio don’t touch it” is a swin- objection either in theory or practice to tn 
die. f. r. e. above. But he proceeds to quote from Cole s 
JAN. 30 
American Fruit Book, which was written a 
quarter of a century ago, and before much 
attention had been paid to small fruit culture 
in this country ; still the author’s directions 
for both cult ure and pruning of the raspberry 
are in accord with the authorities of the 
present day. ‘* Now (says our contemporary) 
we thought this good advice, besides what 
everybody said must be true and then he 
went to work and this is the way he did it I 
"The old canes were very large and were 
covered with dense foliage, which had 
shaded the stems of the new canes, so that 
these were pale and quite tender at the base, 
although they looked Bplendldly and were 
growing very vigorously. The tieia ranot 
tee re a battened to three or four feet, etc., el c.” 
Shades of horticidtural science ! Who could 
have believed that even an editor would have 
perpetrated such a blunder as to cut down 
young, thrifty black cap raspberry canes 
during t-heir season of most rapid growth. 
No such recommendation can be found In Mr. 
Cole’s Book or any other which has come 
under our observation. It is certainly no 
wonder that the plants wilted aud looked as 
| though they “ had been through the war.” 
, But soys our New England friend:—"We 
shall not try it again if we con And anything 
elf*e to do.” Of course our odvice on the 
subject has not been asked, but we will 
suggest a little more care in reading v hat 
the authorities and everybody eke soys 
about pruning raspberries before heading 
back canes in summer which are desired for 
next year's fruiting. 
This summer pruning of the raspberry 
reminds ns of a late lecture given by one of 
the Professors in a Western Agricultural 
College, wherein he denounced denuding 
grape vine* of their leaves in summer, so 
generally practiced by gardeners and vine- 
yardists. But we will venture to say that 
the. said professor would have to look a long 
, time to find any good gardener or vineyard- 
ists either recommending or practicing such 
i a disastrous system of pruning. Probably 
he had read something about summer pinch¬ 
ing, of the young shoots, and thought it 
meant much more. 
We might name scores of instances where 
authors have been mls-quoted and the error 
passed current for generations and without 
once being coni radlcted. But our American 
Authors do not recommend heading back 
raspboirv, < mes In mid-summer even if there 
j are parti' s who practiced it to their loss. 
“IT MoVeS!” 
Ro insisted the old astronomer in his mar¬ 
tyrdom for asserting the earth’s revolution. 
The theoretical fact that upsetting a mill¬ 
pond would spill out the water, didn’t con¬ 
vince him that the eart h stands still, so long 
as personal examination of tho changing 
relations of the planets and the sun asserted 
1 motion and revolution. The theory was 
f Vise, aud facts deduced from that theory 
fell with tl>e theory. 
Theory may deny the possibility of uniting 
the half of one apple bud with the half of 
another apple bud, in grafting, so that the 
two halves shall join in one sprout or limb, 
or tree. But. "so much the worse for the 
J theory." 
1 have tried it, and succeeded, and I know ; 
others have tried it, and succeeded, and I 
every day see their success, and eat the 
fruit of it under my own appde tree, and at 
niv fire«ide. ten months in the year, if I wish. 
Mr. Brutsk’k theory, true or false. Gee 
1 Rural, jnn. 16.1875, p. 1.) has no bearing on 
j the question of the "origin of 6weet and 
. sour apples,” 
1 Mv careful experiments show three sucs- 
• ecssful compound grafts that have fruited. 
r Two show sour and sweet in the rameapple, 
s and one (where two acid varieties were 
used), shows unmistakable difference in flavor 
in different narta of the c ame apple. 
> As to '‘the. sweet and sour apple,” there 
s are in this vicinity a dozen such, vnrving 
from the most undesirable muitw and ill- 
. flavored apple you mirrht look for iu the 
1 i region of Sodom. a delieiYus fruit that is 
t in eating from October to July ; varying iu 
f earliness : varying in many characteristics 
1 that distinguish varieties, and yet giving 
distinct portions of sweet and distinct por¬ 
tions of sour in the same m pie. They are 
• all the result of grafting. The eeedHnq tree 
e that produced any one cf them has not been 
i found and can not be found, here or else- 
where. 
These facts were presented to the Albany 
Country Gentleman a year or two ago. and 
ft the editor met them by the assertion. “Mr. 
r Folsom is mistaken." Tliev wpre then re- 
.. affirmed by the affidavit of Mr. E. T. Chaffe 
an unimpeachable resident and fruit grower 
r of Attica for more than forty years, and this 
o affidavit the Gentleman misrepresented and 
refused to publish. It was returned to me. 
aud published in the New York Weekly 
World— date I do not remember—but if you 
wish to insert it. I will forward you the slip 
Y containing it which T cut from the World, 
e Yours for truth, S. Folsom. 
s Attica, N. Y., Jan., 1875. 
