858 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER 
NOV. 43 
^boricultural. 
CARYOPHYLLU3 AEOMATICUS-CLOVE 
TREE. 
Th/s plant is a native of the Moluccas, 
where it grows to a bight of forty feet—of a 
pyramidal form and ornamental appearance, 
blooming throughout the entire year. Long 
ago it was confined to the Moluccas, but it 
is now cultivated in other localities of simi¬ 
lar climate, though it is less productive and 
shorter-lived than in its native soil. 
The little round drop fixed between the 
fourpronga—the sepal* of the calyx—-is wliat 
would have formed the flower had it not 
been plucked prematurely. As the buds 
mature they lose their aroma and the fully- 
expanded /lower is nearly destitute cf it. 
Cloves are valuable as they are heavy, un- 
shriveled and dark-colored ; when, under 
the pressure of the finger-nail, they exude a 
sensible quautity of oil. Shriveled, light- 
colored Cloves will not do this and are ol in¬ 
ferior quality. 
The tree blooms not until it is six or seven 
years old, when the buds are picked by 
hand and dried as quickly as possible, ihe 
flower-stalk is likewise collected and dried, 
though far less pungent than the buds, in 
France the stalk is called graffe de girofle 
(claw of clove) from which, as well as from 
the buds, is obtained the essential oil used, 
as is well known, In the manufacture of 
colognes and extracts, and, to a limited ex¬ 
tent, in medicine as a stimulant and to aid 
digestion. 
The Clove tree lives to the age of between 
one and two hundred years. The trunk is 
clean bud straight—its branches spreading 
out furthest beneath and tapering to a point. 
According to the Journal of Horticulture— 
from which wo copy the accompanying en¬ 
graving, “ It is only cultivated in choice and 
botanical collections of plants, where it 
flourishes in a soil composed of loam and 
peat, and must have a high, steady temper¬ 
ature.” _ _ _ 
PEAR BLIGHT. 
C II I) , Warsaw, N. Y., writes on this 
subject to the N. Y. Tribune in this wise :- 
My friend and neighbor, Frank Mdler, u 
shoe-blacking fame, had two fine pear trees, 
and a few days ago one of them was attack¬ 
ed by what he supposed to be the‘blight. 
He kept cutting off the twigs and limbs until 
the body turned black. Ho then nudertoo 
to pull it up, but in the attempt the tree was 
broken off just below the surface, exposing 
a grub in the root. Soon after he discovered 
a few black leaves on the other tree. Day 
by day they multiplied. When the ends of 
three branches were affected ho called my 
attention to It. 1 cut off these limbs. A few 
days later I examined the tree again, and 
found the whole tree affected. One-third of 
the leaves had turned black, the bark had 
shrivelled and the wood had become black. 
All hope of recovery having gone, 1 pulled 
up the tree. Externally the root appeared 
all right, but on cutting through the bark 
and a thin shell of wood four grubs were 
found which had gnawed passages entirely 
around the root in the saw-wood just below 
the surface or the ground, and chambers one 
or two inches in diameter were filled with 
their gnawings. The largest grub was one 
inch long and one-fourth of an inch in diame¬ 
ter. its body consisted of ten rings, each 
ring having a two-lobed elevation on the top 
and a gmu.ll brown spot on either side. The 
head was in two part*, the hinder part being 
a shell like ring, into which the. mouth part 
could bo drawn back after t he manner of a 
turtle. The mouth was in six divisions, the 
two at the sides, black and horny, shut to¬ 
gether like nippers; the remainder, one 
above and three below, were fitted for draw¬ 
ing in the food. The body was thinly cov¬ 
ered with short, brown hairs. Now, I would 
be glad to have some one who knows all 
about the matter inform me what this grub 
is. Whether this is a case of pear-blight, or, 
if not, how it differs iu appearance of leaves 
and wood from the blight. Are not many 
cases, supposed to be blight, caused like this 
one by grubs ? I cannot think that all cases 
of blight have, the same cause as this one, 
else the cause would have been found out 
long since. 
---- 
SPARE THE FORESTS. 
Tun improvidence of cutting down the 
forests of this country, exposing the lands to 
drying winds and lessening the quantity of 
rain-fall—injudicious as it is supposed to be— 
is possibly the least important view of the 
case. 
The carbonic acid which these forests de¬ 
compose, appropriating the carbon aud re¬ 
leasing the oxj-gen, is the chief, if not the 
only, method which nature has provided for 
purifying the atmosphere ; and some idea of 
the influence of vegetation in this vital pro¬ 
cess may be gained by Dr. G BAY’S statement 
that “ every six pounds of carbon in existing 
plants have withdrawn twenty-two pounds 
tensively planted for market growing, as it 
is a better pear to sell in most markets, but 
it is doubtful if it could get so many suf¬ 
frages among the farmers of the whole 
country as its ruddy-cheeked neighbor, Both 
of these are noble fruits and popular, with 
all of their faults, and from their union has 
sprung a very handsome and promising 
fruit, the Clapp’s Favorite. It is a royal¬ 
looking pear, and no fruit has in our recent 
exhibition?, attracted so much attention. A 
THE CLOVE TItTC TC. 
of carbonic acid gas from the atmosphere, 
and replaced it with sixteen pounds of oxy¬ 
gen gas, occupying the same bulk.” Spare 
the forests. e, s. C. 
mfllagiott. 
A CHAPTER ON PEARS. 
We find in the Prairie Farmer the follow¬ 
ing article relative to pears at the late Pomo- 
logical Society’s Exhibition at Chicago, and 
pears in general: 
"Of the 1,800 plates of pears at the late 
exhibition of the American Pomologieal 
Society in Chicago, Massachusetts contrib¬ 
uted more than a third, C20 dishes, and 
Western New York 402, while the seotion 
next most largely represented is the neigh¬ 
borhood of Washington and Baltimore, these 
three limited districts furnishing nearly 
three-fourths of the quantity of pears in the 
exhibition and fully nine-tenths of the beauty 
and excellence of it. It is a little hard for a 
Western pear-grower to write those state¬ 
ments, but they are facts which we are com¬ 
pelled to respect. 
It is true that our pear crop iu the West 
was a failure this year, and we did not do as 
well as we could in most years, either in the 
amount of the exhibition or in the appear¬ 
ance of it; but the careful observer of all 
these late exhibitions will not fail to remem¬ 
ber that there hai always been some good 
and plausible reason why the Western States 
have not cut much of a figure in our great 
shows. On all of these occasions the glory 
of the Western apple culture has been fairly 
balanced by the meagemess of our display 
of pears. The West has shown nearly all the 
fine apples, while two or three small Eastern 
neighborhoods, the vicinity of Boston, the 
region around Rochester, and a few orchards 
near Washington, have contributed a large 
majority of the choice pears. 
The pear that was found in the largest 
number of collections, according to our rec¬ 
ollection, aud that was marked for special 
praise by the committee the most frequently, 
was the Flemish Beauty, it was in all the 
Eastern collections, and in the most of the 
Western one.?, except from localities where 
its season was past. This indicates a very 
wide area for the cultivation of that favorite 
kind. While it has serious faults in many 
sections,yet its hardiness as a tree is so great, 
and its prolific and early bearing is so accept¬ 
able, that it finds great favor in all the new¬ 
er States, and at the same time it appears to 
hold its ground well in the old States. The 
Bartlett is, without doubt, much more ex¬ 
Massachusetts seedling, it'seems more suc¬ 
cessful there than in other States, though we 
hear of its doing very well in many sections. 
Indeed, we have seen it from a number of 
States, but nowhere showing such supreme 
beauty of color as it gathers from the lean 
soils aud bracing climate of Boston. The 
basket of them exhibited by the Mc»r*. 
Clapp, its originators, was, like a similar dis¬ 
play iu Boston two years ago, simply superb 
beyond rivalry. If such pears as these were 
could be grown in quantity, and generally, 
buyers would want no other. But we sus¬ 
tain that this beauty is linked with u great 
deal of frailty, and it will be well to plant 
with caution. 
Among the new pears, there is none more 
imposing in appearance, after the Favorite, 
than the Souvenir du Vongres. This is a 
very large pear, having some resemblance 
to the Bartlett, but much larger, and less 
regular in form, of about the same color, 
with a kindred flavor, and ripening at About 
the same season. It is likely to be a good 
deal p'anted by amateurs at the East, and 
may finu its way into the market orchard. 
I do not know of its having been fruited in 
the West, aud there may not be much hope 
of its success here, but ite noble appearance 
is very temptiug, and it will do for all Of us 
to try a tree or two of it. The best specimens 
were shown by Ellwanger & Barry. 
Speaking of new pears, we have plenty of 
of them for abundant experiment—there 
having been no less than 115 new American 
seedlings on exhibition—fifty from the 
Messrs. Clapp of Massachusetts, and sixty- 
five from B. S. Fox of San Jose/California. 
The Massachusetts collection embraced the 
largest number of very handsome varieties, 
although there wvfcre some that were very 
noteworthy from the latter State. These 
• young Californians are all said to be seedlings 
from the Belle Lucrative, though this is 
somewhat difficult of belief, as they show 
great diversity of form and color, and iu all 
respects suggest a wide range of parentage. 
It is to be hoped that there are some among 
them possessing a flavor to justify their good 
appearance, which will be a novelty among 
California pears. Where is the man in 
Illinois, or any other Western State, who 
wifi bless a great community and honor his 
own name by growing some good seedliug 
pears adapted to our own tryiug climate ( 
A perfect pear in tree and fruit is yet to be 
found by Western planters. Many of the 
best pears we have are native Americans, 
but none of them were born in the West. 
When we have a long list of choice Western 
seedlings to choose from, this noble fruit 
may seem as natural to our climate as it does 
I to the shores of either ocean. 
Z One of the most pleasing features of the 
exhibition was four varieties, collected by 
Robert Manning, Esq., of Salem, Mass., 
which were happily designated “ Centennial 
Pears.” These all grew upon trees more 
than two centuries old. The oldest was the 
Eudicott pear, from a tree planted in 1630. 
The orange pear was from a tree ten years 
younger, both of them still bearing their 
annual burden of fruit, which they have 
been doing throughout the whole period of 
American history. Surely the men who 
planted these ancient trees planted pears for 
their heirs in the fullest sense of the word, 
for a dozen generations of rosy-cheeked boys 
and girls have joyously eaten the fruit from 
them. Another of these pears was borne 
upon a graft set in a then old tree on the day 
of the battle of Lexington. We reckon these 
tree* were none of them dwarfs. One of 
’ those trees is said to be failing in robustness. 
It is a pity. Probably it has not been very 
scientifically managed. If it had been 
brought tip under proper horticultural disci¬ 
pline, if it had been regularly pruned, and 
root-pruned, and pinched, and manured, and 
cultivated, it might have lived until a good 
old age 1 
---- 
CURIOUS APPLES. 
Doubts are entertained by some pomolo- 
gists as regards the truth of the statement 
made that apples have grown in which two 
or more varieties were blended into one, 
that is, apples huving one section sweet and 
t.fte other sour. We have seen such fruit 
and therefore know that it has been pro¬ 
duced. A tree bearing apples of this nature 
formerly stood in a gentleman’s garden in 
Georgetown, Mars. It was of large size, and 
in some year? produced several bushels of 
fruit. The owner sold t he apples as curiosi¬ 
ties, and frequently individual specimens 
brought large prices. It was exceedingly 
interesting to examine the crop, as one apple 
differed widely from another, and there was 
difficulty in finding two precisely alike. A 
few were found in w hich almost exactly one- 
hall’ was sweet and the opposite sour, but a 
majority were made up differently. Sec¬ 
tions, oiiivqiirrter or one sixteenth, more or 
less, would be sweet or sour, and the remain¬ 
der would be of the opposite kind. The line 
of demarcation on the skin was distinctly 
defined, the sour portion having a reddish 
color, while the sweet was of pale green. 
There was no mistaking the flavor; the 
sour portion was very sour, and the sweet 
very sweet. On the some tree, apples grew 
which were uniform in kind, some being 
ent irely sweet and some entirely sour. 
This pomologieal freak was brought about 
by n careful process of budding, two buds of 
different varieties being <11 Tided, and one- 
half of each joined together, so as to adhere 
and grow in that condition. As none of this 
fruit has been seen of late years, we conclude 
that the tree baa perished.—Boston Journal 
of Chemistry. 
We can corroborate the foregoing, having 
ourselves seen them growing, and tasted 
apples that were sweet 6n one-half and sour 
on the other. This was several years ago. 
The tree which produced this curious fruit 
was upon the premises of the Rev. Dr. Ely 
of Munson, Hampden Co., Mass —Scientific 
A meHcan. 
Why will journals of the standing of those 
named in the above, not only publish but 
endorse such ridiculous stuff. The existence 
of the variety of apples named, we do not 
deny, for it is one. of the oldest sorts in culti¬ 
vation and a few years since, was common 
in the orchards of the New England States 
and Central New York, and wc presume 
elsewhere. It is described in nearly all of 
our pomologieal works under the name of 
" Sweet and Sour ” apple. 
J. J. Thomas, in his American Fruit 
Culturist, says of its origin "The wildly 
absurd story of raising this fruit by placing 
two halves of dissimilar buds together is 
wholly fabulous.” Dr. Warden, in Ameri¬ 
can Pomology, on the same point says : 
“ No educated nurseryman will now believe 
the old story of i’.s having been produced by 
combination of the buds of two varieties, a 
sweet and soar.” 
Should we tell our Chemical or Scientific 
contemporaries that wc had divide 1 two 
calves, uti Alderney and ShorLHoru. length¬ 
ways and transposed them, uniting one-half 
of the first to the latter, and vice verm, and 
the calves continued to live and prosper, 
each beiug half and half of* the two breeds, 
they would certainly denounce the state¬ 
ment as a ridiculous absurdity, still it would 
be no more of an impossibility than the 
uniting or two halves of different buds; 
thereby producing a mixed fruit of the kind 
named, it is very likely that our learned 
contemporaries, and many other persons not 
familiar with the structure aud principles of 
growth in ligneous plants, may be unable to 
see why the apple in question could not have 
been produced in the manner claimed, but 
we can assure them that to a vegetable 
physiologist it is an absurdity too preposter¬ 
ous for even a moment’s thought. 
The circulation of such erroneous state¬ 
ment. as tola one in regard to the origin of 
the Sweet and Sour apple, is not very 
creditable to us as a nation of fruit growers. 
