NEW YORK, JULY 16, 1881 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1881, by the Rural New-Yorker, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.] 
a “ business ’’? What, too, would become of 
the notably New England idea of mixed farm¬ 
ing, with its “several strings for the bow,’’ 
and its desirable facilities for the production 
of manures and the easier renewal of the fer¬ 
tility of the orchard or garden soils ? I fancy, 
also, that the General will find it a bootless task, 
trying to persuade those of us who can grow 
suggestive a name is pretty sure to attract a - 
tention aside from the quality of the fruit. I 
only hope we may not be disappointed in its 
quality and appearance. 
It is refreshing to see the name of the hon¬ 
ored and aged president of the American Pon - 
ological Society as a contributor to the hort - 
cultural lore of the day. I wish he might yet 
live a hundred years to contribute to the ad¬ 
vancement of the great work In the develop¬ 
ment of which he has long been so important 
a factor. 
Neither the figures of Bldwell nor Shirts 
strawberries compare well with specimens as 
grown here, and as shown at onr Michigan 
exhibitions; and I th' nk I may be warranted in 
stating the same respecting the Marvin alsr. 
I am quite at a loss to understand this, when I 
consider that the Bldwell, especially, is found 
to be so highly successful with Eastern grow¬ 
ers. 
1 was greatly surprised (as I fancy were 
many Rural readers) at the apparent prc- 
duetivene6S of Fay’s Prolific Currant, as illus¬ 
trated in the Ruhal some months since. I 
would have hardly thought It credible but for 
the fact that the editor seemed to make himself 
responsible for its truthfulness. We are assured, 
by the person who controls it that no plants 
have been disseminated, and yet I hear of its 
existence (or at least something under that 
name and claiming identity) in two or more 
distinct localities. It would perhaps be sur¬ 
prising that so pretentious a variety should 
have remained utterly unknown and in the 
hands of a single person for from 15 to SO 
years. 
[As to Fay's Prolific Currant, we make our¬ 
selves responsible only to the extent of pro¬ 
ducing accurately a portrait of one of the 
branches of fruit sent to us by Mr. Josselyn.— 
Eds ] 
ing in offering the product iu the best markets 
and in the best condition, can never with 
either the Wilson or the Crescent yield as 
desirable and profitable results as may, with 
similar treatment, be realized from the use of 
some other varieties 
The introducers of novelties seem too often 
to entertain the notion that it is necessary to 
HYBRID BETWEEN A PEAR AND AN 
APPLE. (?) 
from Mr. Hubbard accompanying a box of 
queer-looking apples, which he explained 
were, as he believed, hybrids between a pear 
and an apple. Mr. Hubbard’s letter lead to a 
further correspondence. With this note of ex¬ 
planation the following reply explains itself: 
Mason Co., Mich. 
“I can do no better in reply to your 
questions, than by stating wbat l know re- 
apectiug the origin of the fruit. My note book 
runs thus, 1 May 120,1804, one 8waar blossomed; 
anthers carefully removed; replaced with in¬ 
digenous crab (Pyrua oaronaria ) [prophetic 
note —sure failure.]. Oct. 17, 1804, picked one 
apple from experimental tree having “ plump 
seeds.” 01 these—all of which were placed in 
the ground—one germinated and survived, from 
which, as soon as was practicable, a bud was 
taken and inserted in the boogh of a bearing 
tree. In the Spring of 1879, a few bunches of 
fruit buds were observed upon this, and on 
their opening, their anthers were soon re¬ 
moved and those of a pear which was labeled 
Dss Nonnes, were substituted. The bough 
thus treated matured several apples having 
nearly the form and the flavor of the Swaar, 
though slightly acid and astringent, and of a 
dull, greenish color. Some of this fruit eon- 
taiued plump seeds, which were planted and 
the resulting seedlings are now in the Hubbard 
orchard, and some of them have borne fruit, 
the little stranger which I now send you being 
from one of them. 
And now friend, Editor, I shall not censure 
your readers for criticising this report, and 
even insinuating that the fruit is the common 
apple grown in ingeniously contrived molds— 
some nutmeg invention designed to deceive. 
I shall not respond cynically if they pronounce 
the whole thing a myth aud deny the exist¬ 
ence of such a cross or form of fruit. Were 
our positions reversed I might do the same 
thing. You will observe in some of these 
apples a rudimentary neck, also a deflection 
in the stem, as if the supporting juices had 
discovered their unnatural mission and sought 
by revulsive energy to change their ultimate 
destiny. Joseph Hubbabd. 
Iu another letter Mr. Hubbard writes us that 
the tree is upright, spreading and a strong 
grower. The leaves are long, narrow, pendu¬ 
lous, finely serrate, of a light green color, with 
long, slender petioles The trait, as will be 
seen, is roundish-ovate, having uelther basin 
nor eavily. The stem is long and rather slen¬ 
der, usually with a projection as if, in pan, two 
stems were joined together, The color la a 
bright straw, splashed or blotched with a 
A flYBBID (?) BETWEEN AN APPLE AND PEAK—FrOlU Life— FlG. 335. 
Concord, Delaware, Salem, Wilder and even 
Rebeccas and Ionas, to train onr palates to a 
liking for Clintons. 
Is it not about time to look the question of 
the hardiness of the various berry plants fairly 
in the face? Truly the Cuthbert may be said 
to be more hardy than the Herstine and the 
Brinckle's Orange; but why not lay down the 
inflexible law of nature that no raspberry, 
black-cap or blackberry yet produced, or ever 
likely to be, is strictly hardy ; that they are 
attach the word seedling to the names of their 
productions, as though they could, by possibil¬ 
ity, be any thing else than seedlings. I take 
occasion to protest against the practice as 
always cumbrous and unnecessary, and to 
urge that we be vouchsafed the warrant of the 
horticultural authorities of the world for lop¬ 
ping It off whenever and wherever we shall find 
it attached to the name of plant, tree or fruit. 
Instead of doing this haltingly and in partial 
defiance of law, we need the highest authority 
The crop of blackberries, in this vicinity at 
least, will not equal the great early promise, 
though there will still be plenty. The heavy 
rains just at the time the fruit was setting pre¬ 
vented perfect fertilization, and in some cases 
seem to have prevented it altogether. I find, 
on examination, that where the flowers were 
protected from the rain by leaves immediately 
above them the fruit is abundant and well 
formed; bat where, on the contrary, the flow¬ 
ers were fully exposed many of them are either 
entirely blasted or have set veiy imperfect 
fruit. I should like to know if others have 
observed the same thing, as some interesting 
deductions may be drawn from it. 
I have seen a number of disk cultivators in 
use this season in corn and potatoes. I have 
not used one myself. It seems to me, how¬ 
ever, that such a form of cultivator may be a 
very good thing among young plants, but I 
should suppose its use, especially among corn 
after it has attained to some size, would be 
very likely to destroy the toots, and so prove 
to be, in a measure, Injurious rather than 
beneficial. 1 shall have occasion to see it 
many times during the season, and shall watch 
it with interest. An expression of opinion by 
snch of the readers of the Rural as have used 
it would be useful. 
[We, for our part, should not use it in this 
way. Editors.] 
THE SMALL-FRUIT NUMBER 
Showing vakiatons in eobm 
for transmuting Wilson's Albany Seedling and 
Parmelee'* Crescent Seedling, into simple Wil¬ 
son aud Crescent; and even the command of 
such authority that it be done. 
Gen. Win. H. Noble remarks, "No man 
should market fruit who does not make it a 
business." In such case what would become 
of the small town and village markets, the ca¬ 
pacity of which would fail to afford to any one 
T. T. LYON 
brambles growing naturally in sheltered locali¬ 
ties, and that even our hardiest natives will 
fail when subjected to the unchecked Influ¬ 
ence of sun and wind in a severe Winter. 
Better think less of hardiness and more of na¬ 
ture’s requirement—shelter. 
"What’s in a name!" The person who 
christened his novelty Lost Rubies, should at 
once secure a patent on his discovery. So 
Re-beading my remark respecting Cres¬ 
cent Seedling and WHbou Strawberries, that 
“ neither can ever become popular with the 
best growers,” and considering It in the light 
of Dr. Hoskins’s remarks upon these varieties 
in the same number, it occurs to me that I 
may have said too little to convey just the 
Idea Intended ; whieh is that the most thor¬ 
oughly effective culture aud handling, result- 
In the Spring I recommended the use of a 
lime and soot puddle for cabbage plants to 
protect them from the attacks of a certain 
maggot- In going about l have seen cases 
where it has been tried by some of the Rusal 
family, and the results were snch as to leave 
