jaw a© 
NEW-YORKIR. 
and, providing the grounibewell drained, 
it will bear a few degrees of frost without 
being hurt. It blossoms freely in early 
Spring, the flowers are white with a bunch of 
yellow anthered stamens, and it bears lots of 
seeds which are about the size of chinquapins. 
When sown these seeds germinate freely. 
The Tea Plant is also easily increased from 
layers. For the South it is a fit companion 
for Magnolia fuseata, Pittosporum Tobira, 
Cape Jessamines, Raphiolepses and other 
ornamental evergreen shrubs that bear the 
Southern Summers unhurt, but are too tender 
for our Northern Winters. 
* * 
Mary Wager-Fisher, p. 706, says: “The 
pitcher plant—nepenthes—ns most people 
know, is one of the meat-eating plants, a dis¬ 
covery made by * * * Darwin. The flow¬ 
er, which is in the shape of a vase and at¬ 
tached to the tip of the leaves, contaius an in. 
toxieating liquid that has an aroma which at. 
tracts insects, which when allured into the 
pitchers are then quietly digested by the 
plant,” Perhaps they are. Insects seek and 
are captured in these traps, but most certain¬ 
ly a meat diet (?) or rather, the putrefying 
meat hastens the decay of the vegetable trap. 
Another fact is, that the finest and longest- 
lived pitchers on the plants are those from 
which insects and other meat have been ex¬ 
cluded. The pitchers are not the flowers of 
the nepenthes any more than the pitcher-like 
leaves of our common side-saddle flower are 
its blossoms; no, the pitchers of nepenthes are 
merely ornamental tendrils. 
COLD pits. 
A Virginia lady writes: “Your lady read 
ers belong mostly to farmers’ families, among 
whom not-houses are rarities, but cold pits 
are becoming common. Please tell us some¬ 
thing about them.” A serviceable cold pit is 
four feet deep, Dine or twelve feet long, b)4 
feet wide, lined with spruce plank supported 
by cedar split posts, braced with three-inch 
by four-inch scantlings—braces at ends and at 
six feet intervals aud where they may act as 
rafters; intervening rafters to be of two-inch 
by three-inch strips, dovetailed into, but not 
nailed to, the pit lining. If your plants are 
large you may need a deeper pit; its length 
will depend on the number of sashes you wish 
to use,giving three feet to a sash; it9 width 
being six inches narrower than the length 
(six feet) of your sashes allows of a fair pitch 
and the sashes to lie full on the frame, and 
thus be better able to throw off water and 
keep all snug aud dry within. See that the 
edges of che upper planks are beveled so that 
the sashes shall lie flat on the two-inch thick¬ 
ness rather than on the narrow edge. Hot¬ 
bed sashes are three feet wide, six feet long, 
1)4 to inch thick, and glazed with six by 
eight iucaes single or double thick glass, and 
when they leave the factory are finished so 
far as glazing and priming are concerned. 
They cost then from $3 to $9.50 each. When 
you get them give them one or two good coats 
of paint, and afterwards, a single coat every 
second year, and your sashes should last for 
many years. I prefer the lighter sashes be¬ 
cause they are so easy to handle. In glazing 
sashes, the glass is bedded in putty, tacked 
into place, then puttied again on the cop, as is 
the case with glass on old-built greenhouses, 
or, in fact, in windows; but I do not like that 
way of setting glass. 1 prefer the modern 
method, namely: Bed the glass in putty, tack 
it into place with large-sized brads and 
points, use no putty at all on che upper side, 
but, instead, a stout coat of white paint. Tne 
drainage in a cold pit should be perfect, and 
at front and back of the pit the bank (if there 
be one) or lay of the land should be so that 
water would run away from rather th m to¬ 
wards the pit. Drip from the sashes is a seri¬ 
ous evil in pits, it is caused by condensed va¬ 
por within the pit, the thawing of the frost 
upon the glass aud by too little pitch in damp 
weather. Grooving the strips of the sashes 
would help matters, but that is somewhat im¬ 
practicable, zinc strips turned up at the edges 
ami fastened under the wooden strips would 
lead off the drip, and a steep pitch 
assist in mending matters in all oases. 
Home-made straw mats six feet by seven 
feet are an excellent warm covering to put 
over che sashes, providing you have light 
shutters three feet by seven or soven-and-one- 
half feet to lay over them to keep them dry; 
but a wet mat of any kind is a poor covering. 
Shutters made of one-half-inch matched pine 
boards, planed, are light, easy to handle, 
very effectual, and with care will last a dozen 
years. Snow is a warm covering, and in 
case of severe frosty weather may lie on the 
pit for some time, but as soon os a thaw comes, 
off with the snow, else it will melt and wet 
your coverings, cause drip in your pit and 
mold on your plants. In the event of pro¬ 
longed severe weather partly uucover one or 
two of the sashes for a little while at noon so 
as to give light, and if there is bright sun¬ 
shine at the time ventilate a little, too; but 
cover up early. Until severe weather sets 
in ventilate your pits freely. In fine weather 
pull down or lay back the sasbes, and in 
rainy weather tilt them up. Although a 
gentle rain may benefit your plants, a soak¬ 
ing rain will make things bo wet that should 
frosty weather soon follow and you have to 
shut up closely, leaves aud soft-wooded plants 
will be apt to rot badly. Pick off ; gather up 
and remove all decaying leaves aud other 
matter and keep everything as clean and free 
from mold as you can. If you nurse your 
plants too warmly in the Fall they will be. 
come so tender as to be liable to injury when 
severe frost comes. Keep them as inactive 
as you can till towards Spring, when they 
will start to grow more vigorously and bloom 
better than if you stimulated them in Winter. 
To the people of the Southern and more 
favorable Middle States a cold pit may be 
turned to as good account as a small green¬ 
house may be in the North, and instead of a 
house to store plantB in, it may be used as 
a greenhouse to grow and bloom them in. 
Chinese Primroses, cinerarias, cyclamens, 
pelargoniums, Tea Roses, arbutilons, and 
other Winter favorites can be grown well 
in a cold pit. And if the pit be a double or 
span-roofed one with a pathway down the 
middle, so much the better for the plants and 
the more enjoyable for the owner. These 
soft wooded flowering plants should be kept 
as near the glass as possible and in fair 
weather receive the all day light and free 
ventilation. A span-roofed pit should run 
east and west, thus exposing a full broadside 
to the south, and in this way get all the Win¬ 
ter sunshine available. 
* * 
I do not like repotting house plants in mid¬ 
winter. Even the bunches of coleus, geran¬ 
ium, salvia, ageratum, abutilon, end helio¬ 
trope cuttings, for next Summer’s garden and 
which are now pot-bound and starving will not 
hurt a bit if kept so for some weeks to come. 
Were they repotted now they would take up 
a lot of room, need a deal of attention, and 
with good care would get too big before plant¬ 
ing-out time. If you want a good show of 
Vinca rosea next Bummer, the sooner you sow 
a lot the better. The white one with the red 
eye is the favorite. These vincas are excel¬ 
lent Summer plants; they delight and flourish 
in the warm sunshine and keep in blossom 
from tbe time they are planted out till frost 
kills them in the Fall. Spring raised plants 
need too much coaxing to grow to get them 
large enough to make a show at planting time, 
hence the reason why we should sow so early. 
Many gardeners sow them in October or No¬ 
vember. Seed a year old is perfectly good, 
but two-year-old seed is not to be trusted. 
Pcnnolcu]ical. 
KIEFFER’S HYBRID PEAR. 
WILLIAM PARRY. 
There appeared, in a recent number of the 
Rural, an extract credited to C. M. Hovey, 
representing the Kieffer Hybrid pear as being 
of poor quality. That may be his opinion; 
people’s tastes d ffer; and a fruit that is 
pleasant and agreeable to one person, may 
not be so to another, and the quality of differ 
ent specimens of the same variety of fruit 
may differ; we sometimes find Lawrence 
pears of poor quality, bitter and disagree¬ 
able, though the Lawrence is considered a 
good pear. The same may’ be said of other 
varieties: there are several circumstances to 
be observed—the pear should be well grown 
on a healthy tree, and properly ripened. 
It requires several years to establish the 
reputation of a new fruit. At one time the 
editor of the Germantown Telegraph, a pop¬ 
ular and influential paper, denounced in 
strong terms the Kieffer Hybrid pear as 
“ worthless”—“totally worthless in (his) es¬ 
timation—at least as a table fruit.” Since 
then, having become better acquainted with 
its merits, he has changed his views, and 
placed it in the select list of valuable fruits 
recommended to his numerous readers. 
It is natural for the iutroducer of a new 
fruit to esteem it highly, aud no doubt C. 
M. Hovey does esteem the Hovey Seedliug 
Strawberry, Introduced forty years ago, 
higher than the Albany Seedling of more re¬ 
cent date; yet the verdict of fruit growers in 
our wide couutry of fifty millious of people, 
is against him. if we judge by the catalogue 
of the American Bornological Society where 
there are but 17 stars given to the Hovey 
aud 63 to the A Ibany Seedling. Some are fond 
of the peculiar piquant aroma of rijie Kieffer 
pears, and during the Fall I indulged in eat¬ 
ing one or more almost every evening be¬ 
fore retiring, in preference to the Lawrence 
pear, of which we had plenty. I never 
claimed for the Kieffer best quality’. In a 
description given on a former occasion, I 
rated it as " simply good; about equal to the 
Duchesse d’Angouleme.” In reply to this 
Dr. Thurber says, “ We think he does what 
is unusual with introducers of new fruits, 
i. underestimates its quality.” “Our 
recollection is, that it has a refreshing brisk¬ 
ness that the Duchesse has not. The fruit, 
while it may not come up to the high stand¬ 
ard of “ best,” is of sufficiently good quality 
to be acceptable to those who esteem the Bart¬ 
lett, which, while regarded as second or third- 
rate by critical amateurs, meets the general 
taste, and every' candidate for popular favor 
must stand comparison with that best 
known of all our pears.” “We have 
not in a long time seen a fruit that ap¬ 
peared to unite so many elements of popu¬ 
larity as ‘Kieffer’s Hybrid,’ and shall 
be much disappointed if it does not prove to 
be a valuable and profitable market fruit. The 
tree is a strong and vigorous grower, bears 
early, is very productive and apparently as 
free from disease as the Sand Pear, which i3 
one of its parents. The fruit is of good size, 
of an attractive color aud keeps well, never 
decaying at the core. ” 
The Centennial Fruit Committee gave it a 
prize medal and certificate, as introducing “a 
new race of great excellence;” and at the 
fifteenth annual exhibition of the Pennsylva¬ 
nia Horticultural Society it received “ hon¬ 
orable mention,” It was tested and found of 
“good quality.” And at the annual exhibi¬ 
tion of the Burlington County Agricultural 
Society, held 1841, it was awarded the only 
prize medal given to any pear. The editor of 
Gardeners’ Monthly, in the January number, 
1880, says: “ We have eaten fruit of the Kief¬ 
fer pear, wnich was equal in luscious richness 
to any pear we have ever eaten,” [Has he not 
since changed his opinion ? Eds.] The whole 
of the judges at the Centennial, who had some 
fruit before them, also seem by their report to 
have had a favorable experience of the Kief¬ 
fer. Now, if there are some gentlemen who 
have had fruit of it that was not commendable, 
it is no more than general experience with 
other fruits, for everybody has had Vicars and 
Flemish Beauties and other fruits, that were 
not worth eating. If these poor samples hap 
pen to be sent for opinions, of course, no edi¬ 
tor can do anything else but speak of them 
accordingly. We expect, some time, to have 
a poor specimen of the Kieffer, as well as of 
any other kind; but that will not alter our 
opinion about the excellent fruit we have 
tasted.” 
One extensive pear-grower who exhibited 
800 varieties of pears at one exhibition of the 
Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, in Pbila- 
delphia, stated that “ his faith in the Kieffer, 
as the coming pear, was supreme.” He had 
the past year about 200 busl ,els of this vari¬ 
ety, all grown upon grafts set two years ago 
last Spring. The fruit sold readily in market 
at from 50 to 75 cents per half-peck, and se¬ 
lected specimens at from 25 to 50 cent3 each. 
He says that the Kieffer and Le Conte pears 
will revolutionize the whole business of pear¬ 
growing, aud make pears more plentiful than 
heretofore. 
Aaother extensive fruit-grower in this 
neighborhood, who has been sending Kieffer 
pears to Philadelphia market for three years 
past, finds the demand and price have in¬ 
creased each year as the fruit became better 
known. In the Fall of 18S(J Kieffers sold at 
25 cents a half peck; in 1881 they brought 50 
cents a half peck, while goed Lawrence pears 
were selling in the same market at 20 cents; 
and in the Fall of 1S82 he had 40 bushels, 
mostly grown on young grafts set two years 
last Spring, which sold readily at 50 to 75 
cents per half peck, and he disposed of several 
bushels to one person at #6 per bushel. 
Kieffers also found customers in Massa¬ 
chusetts, as several bushels grown in Burling¬ 
ton County, N. J., were shipped to Worces¬ 
ter, Mass., aud although delayed a week by 
an accident on the railroad, they sold readily 
on arrival at $6 per bushel, the same as 
in Philadelphia. 
The writer of this imported in 1840, from 
France, 813 varieties of best selected pears 
and carefully planted them; since then he has 
added to the orchard many others that were 
highly recommended, but has never found 
any other variety that eombiued so many de¬ 
sirable elements of profit to the fruit-grower 
as Kieffer’s Hybrid Pear, which is a strong, 
vigorous grower when propagated on pear 
stalks from buds cut from healthy standaid 
trees having no quince sap in them. It is an 
early bearer, will produce fruit the second 
year from the graft set iu older trees, and on 
young trees when three yeurs from the buds, 
and it is enormously productive. The fruit 
is large, measuring from 10V^ to 11 inches 
around, weighfug from 10 to 13 ounces each, 
and very uuiform in size. It is of double 
turbinate shape, pointed at each end; skin 
greenish-yellow, some russet; flesh white, 
buttery and j uicy. It ripens in October and 
will keep through November when other 
pears are scarce and high-priced. 
The Kieffers color up beautifully, giving a 
rich yellow appearance; red cheek next to 
the sun. They do not rot until very ripe, and 
remain firm at the core to the last. They 
have been shipped to England, and bear trans¬ 
portation as well as apples. Possessing, as 
it does, so many good qualities, this variety 
is destined to work a revolution in pear eul 
ture, and will occupy the same position among 
pears that the Concord does among grapes, 
and the Albany Seedling has heretofore 
among strawberries. 
The Kieffer is the pear for the millions and 
can be grown as easily and abundantly as 
apples, and sells much higher in mar set. 
Delicious flavor is not the only property for 
fruit growers to look for. The most import¬ 
ant considerations for those w r bo wish to grow 
fruits for profit are to obtain trees and plants, 
that are hardy and productive, yielding an 
abundance of fruit of fair quality, that carries 
well and sells well in market. Fruits that 
cannot be grown to a profit will not be much 
grown for market. 
My advice to the young fruit grower, is to 
plant what pays best in bis section, and look 
to the columns of the Rural New-Yorker 
for the results of valuable experiments that 
are being carefully made continually, and 
freely distributed through that National Jour¬ 
nal to all the subscribers thereof. 
We have planted and tried to grow the 
Orange, Hornet and other choice varieties of 
raspberries, but could make no profit from 
them here; while 10 acres of Brandy wines— 
dry, firm berries, not of best quality for table 
use—yielded one season 26,800 quarts which 
carried well, looked well and sold for $4,338,50, 
and after deducting all expenses, left a net 
profit of $2,800—an average of $380 per acre. 
Apples that are the most delicious for table 
use are not the most profitable to grow for 
market. Maiden’s Blush and Early Hagloe, 
second or third-rate apples, are very profit¬ 
able tor market and largely grown; while 
the luscious Summer Fearmain and Early 
Joe, apples of first quality, are not profitable 
nor much grown, one tree of each bemg 
plenty for one farmer to have. The Secbel, the 
most delicious of all pears, is not very profit¬ 
able nor much grown here by market-men. 
We have planted trees and tried to raise 
the Washington, Jefferson and Coe’s Golden 
Drop, plums of the finest quality; but they 
could not resist the eureulio, and we got but 
little fruit aud no profit from them and quit 
growing those varieties, while the Wild Goose, 
a little red plum, was yielding more than a 
bushel to a tree, which sold readily in market 
at $3 per bushel; they are very profitable and 
being planted largely. 
Peaches and Bartlett pears have been and 
still are the most popular fruits in their season. 
Unfortunately they both ripen at the same 
time, and when both are abundant and cheap, 
there is no need of, nor much call for, other 
fruits. Fortunately Kieffer pears come in 
later, and, being larger, handsomer, firmer, 
bearing transportation better, and having no 
competition in the market, sell higher than 
either peaches or Bartlett pears in the season. 
Kieffer pears come at a season to occupy a 
vacancy not filled by any other fruit; and 
fruitgrowers may cultivate all the peaches 
and Bartletts to which they can properly 
attend, and have another orchard of Kieffers 
to come in later yielding more profit than 
both of the others. 
Burlington Co., N. J. 
PEAR BLIGHT. 
GENERAL WM. H. NOBLE. 
I believe there are different sorts of pear- 
blight. Why does not the Rural ? I grant 
I have not suffered very damsgingly from the 
ailment; but 1 regard the blight that kills 
one or more of the limbs or a whole tree as 
entirely unlike that which only blurs or 
blackens and makes pale the leaf. I have 
never had but one case of pear-blight that 
destroyed a limb ; not one that has ruined a 
tree. But every year some of my trees have 
their leaves dimmed, enfeebled in their work, 
or entirely blighted and blackened and they 
drop. Some trees are more susceptible than 
others. The Pemberton, the most beautiful 
of pears, and one of the best August varieties, 
rarely perfects its crop. The leaves all 
blacken and fall. Next comes the Flemish 
Beauty as a sufferer from the ailment. This 
and the cracking of its fruit have forced me to 
•graft all trees of that variety. 
In that only case of limb blight I cut off 
the limb down well below the deadened barb. 
The tree has never since had a symptom of 
the disease. That was a pure case of limb 
blight aud leaf blight together; the leaves 
bluckeued, aud the bark withered up, above a 
marked cirele; but the other leaves held on, 
while those that blackened under leaf blight 
dropped and left the spray of the tree unin 
jured. To me the leaf blight, pure and 
simple, seems entirely unlike that which kills 
the wood as well. 1 believe the former to be 
