y/3Pgg\?/*’ 
Voi,. XLIII. No. 1812 
NEW YORK, OCTOBER 18, 1884 
PRICK K1VK CENT& 
*3.00 PER YEAR. 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, la tho year 1811 , by tho R iral New Yorkjr la tho oillce of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.] 
man, who was a professional grafter, who 
had come to Maine on a business tour. I 
showed him one or ray apples. "Oh,” said he, 
‘‘that is not a Rhode Island Greening at all; 
the Rhode Island Oreening never has a parti¬ 
cle of red about it.” Now Downing says that "it 
sometimes shows a dull blush near the stalk.” 
That description, however, will not do at all 
for those raised on my farm (1 have hulf a 
dozen old trues on different parts of tho farm), 
for almost every specitneu is strongly red on 
the cheek. One particular tree bears Green¬ 
ings with a bright rad cheek. Tho same tree, 
on the other side, bears bright red-cheeked 
Koxbury Russets—tho brightest that l ever 
saw—aud 1 see that to this apple, also. Down¬ 
ing only concedes "rarely a faint blush on one 
side.” 
Kino Sweeting is a desirable apple. This 
delicious little fruit caunot be too highly 
commended for those who like sweet apples, 
and who live in the right latitudes. It origi¬ 
nated iu the town of Sidney, Kennebec Co., 
Maine, and is at home iu all the central and 
southern parts of the State. It is not very 
Some are earlier to ripen than others; some 
are notably sweeter, aud there are some per¬ 
ceptible variations in color. 
Black Spots on Baldwin Apples.—A 
neighbor who has a Baldwin orchard of about 
a tbousaud trees on a high, gravelly ridge— 
rather poor soil originally, but enriched 
enough by the application of various fertiliz¬ 
ing material aud by pasturing with sheep to 
secure a good growth of trees and abundance 
of apples—has boeu troubled with black spot 
attacking his apples, especially in the highest 
aud driest part of the orchard. It attacks 
them before they have attained their growth, 
and seriously affects their size aud quality. 
Tho most serious Injury occurred in 1881, when 
upon many trees not a single apple was fair 
enough or largo enough for first quuiity. 
Great quantities were shaken off and sent, to 
the cider-mill. The total crop that year was 
about B,(XX) bushels, and the damage caused 
by the black spot was estimated at $1,000. 
The cause is not yet discovered, but is thought 
to be iu the soil; since the diseuse is local, 
not affecting all purts of the orchard, nor, so 
notice the difference in varieties aud kinds 
in regard to their ability to resist severe cold, 
beat, drought or wetness and disease, etc. 
1 have nearly 1(M) varieties, and of these the 
Isabella was least injured by the late spring 
frost. Champion (Talrnan) came next. Aga¬ 
wam third (and hero let mo say Agawam with 
us is a noble grape, very productive of large, 
finely-colored grapes, which bring the 
highest price in market). Worden came 
fourth. (Worden with us is most susceptible 
to the attacks of the Grape Curculio—Coeliodes 
iuaiquali*). Sulern, Delaware, Martha, Lind- 
ley, Clinton, Vergonnes, Early Victor, etc., 
etc., suffered in tho order named. Concord, 
the usual stand by, was almost a total failure, 
as wore many of the new sorts. 
There has boeu no mildew or rot among our 
vines this seasou. We have had a lone- 
THE LE CONTE PEAR, 
BOUT August 15th, we re- 
oeived from a friend at Americus, 
"*! xT rp'" Georgia, a box containing 12 
Beautiful and perfect Le Conte 
Pears, and one each of Bartlett 
and Durhesse. The Bartlett and 
Duchesse were both knotty, 
scurfy, and badly scabbed. Tho 
liflflii Le Contes were tine, tho 12 weigh¬ 
in' ing 7% pounds, or averaging 
jw over H) ounces each. The largest 
JSL weighed 13 ounces; and the 
%i second in size, 12Ji ounces. There 
M was not a spot or blemish on the 
lot. One of the largest wo had 
^2 drawn, and it is shown at Fig. 
890. This gives the character¬ 
istic shape and appearance, save the color, 
which was a pale greenish yellow, with 
no blush at all. The 
friend writes: "The 
Burtlett and Duchesse 
are us good as I can 
find. I never had a 
perfect specimen. The 
Fondante d’Automne 
is in every respect su 
perior to any pear 
grown here,save iu pro- > 
ductivcness, in which / 
it is excelled by the s' 
Le Conte. Clapp's is S' 
worthless, rotting be- / 
fore maturity; Seckel / 
does admirably, and is / 
next to Fondante in / 
quality. I wish you / 
could see the true from / 
which the Le Contes / 
sent were gathered—it / 
was just bending with 
its load of fruit, and is 
now putting out its sec¬ 
ond bloom. Seven 
years ago this tree was 
a cutting put out, and \ 
now it has bushels of \ 
pears, in clusters of \ 
from live to twenty. \ 
Youueed not wait for \ 
them to get very mel- \ 
low,as they ripen at tbe \ 
core first.” \ 
The Figure shows a \ 
cross-section and the \ 
inside structure. It \ . 
will be seen that the \. 
core is pretty large. 
The flesh is a little 
coarse, quite juicy, aud, 
to our taste, much bet¬ 
ter iu quality than the 
Dry weather seems to 
be beneficial to 
grapes. 
During the drought our 
grupe-vlueH have kept 
right ou, growing fine¬ 
ly and holding their 
leaves nicely, while ev¬ 
erything else was suf- 
ering severely. 
Although T. A. P,,of 
South Bend, lud., has, 
as he tells us in a late 
Rural, been badly 
swindled in buying 
grape-vines, 1 tbink he 
ought to thunk that 
& New York State uur- 
seryman for sending 
§K him Brightous in place 
|H of Lady Washington. 
HE t\a • • 
Morris 
Kiiilii 
tit ?;• l '• ' ; .-•••. 
sin 
Of my hundred sorts, 
I know of only ten or a 
dozen I could spare as 
well as we could the 
Lady W. 
I cauuot see why Mr. 
Rogers will uot allow 
the Rural to place his 
portrait in its gallery. 
If I had succeeded lu 
giving the fruit grow¬ 
ers of America one-half 
as much us Mr. Rogers 
has, I would allow them 
to see how I look, if I 
were as homely as Cal- 
iban. Lot us also have 
the portraits of the 
LE CONTE PEAR. [From Nature.] Fig. 396 
Kic-ffer, being about as good as an ordinary 
Clarp. We tbink from the appearauue of tbe 
specimen that tbe Le Joute will be quite liable 
to rot ut tbe core, if uot marketed before fully 
ripe. If it will grow at the South, and pro¬ 
duce largely of such pears as those received, 
it will be worth planting extensively. 
MAINE APPLES. 
Red-cheeked Greenings and Russets.— 
I tbiuk our Maine apples a re in general higher- 
colored thau the same varieties grown West. 
Perhaps this is too broad a generalization; but 
I have something to support it. For instance, 
I was once tx-aveling iu March, and had in my 
grip-sack a few unusually fine R. I. Green¬ 
ings, that had decidedly red cheeks, and which 
had been grown in or uear the town of New¬ 
castle. I fell into conversation with an Ohio 
hardy, and therefore will doubtless fail in the 
most northerly districts of New England ami 
New York, arnl In the Northwestern States 
generally. I think I have beard that in the 
Middle States it grows larger and coarser, and 
is not at all so desirable as iu its native State. 
It is a medium or small apple—long, conical, 
a rich yellow iu color, with generally a faint 
blush, beautiful to tbe eye; flesh fine grained, 
tender, with a small core; juiciness medium; 
very sweet. Season, September, lasting into 
October, though windfalls are very good in 
August. It is a universal favorite where 
known. Tbe man who introduced it to notice 
announced his discovery to his family thus: 
"1 here, I have eaten to day the best apple 
that ever grew.” I tbink this variety is sub¬ 
ject to considerable variations in characteris¬ 
tics, which, I may be allowed to suggest, may 
be induced by the stock on which it is grafted. 
far as known, other orchards in the vicinity. 
Dusting the trees and young fruit with air- 
slaked lime, aud various applications to the 
soil, Lave been tried without result. This 
year it is proposed to try a liberal dose of 
wood ashes applied to the soil. 
Manchester, Maine. C. G. a. 
SMALL FRUIT NOTES. 
I his has been a hard season for grapes. 
Tho frost of May 2!) came when nearly all 
varieties were in bloom, or about to bloom, 
and nine-tenths were destroyed. Tbe rest of 
the seasou has been so cold that they have 
not ripened as well us usual. It is amusing to 
ern men are always busy, aud will never Lave 
time to come aud see you face to face; so 
please, let us have your photos. 
I agree with Mr. Purdy iu what he says of 
the James Vick Strawberry. 8harpless also 
is not worth growing. It is very large; but 
unproductive aud poor iu quality. We can 
get ulong without either. 
There is no perceptible difference iu the 
ripening of the Crimson Beauty and Hansell 
Raspberries with u»; but the (j. B. is tbe bet¬ 
ter berry. Michigan Early ripens afew days be¬ 
fore either, aud is as good, but quite soft. 
I have found a use for the peach trees on 
which the buds fail to “take;” and for those 
that are too old to sell: I use them for pea brush 
and grape stakes—the smaller for pea brush, 
and the larger for one and two-year-old grape 
