720 
r 
W©V 3 
many small russet dots; flesh whitish, half- 
fine, juicy, melting, sweet, slightly vinous, 
and of very good quality. It ripens from the 
hist of September to the middle of October.” 
A specimen of Grand Isle, which I have just 
eaten (September 21), agrees exactly with Mr. 
Downing’s description, and the tree 
in my grounds has made a most 
thrifty and healthy growth after 
enduring the extreme severity of 
last Winter. 
\ Another of the Maeouiber seed¬ 
lings. is Little Gem, This is a small 
pear, not larger than Seekel, of 
regular pyriform shape, and golden 
yellow color with russet around the 
stem, which is short (% inch). The 
flesh is whitish, very juicy, sweet 
and spicy. Season September. This 
little pear has the important advan¬ 
tage over Seekel that each specimen 
if / is in good eating condition for four 
* / or five days, instead of an equal 
/ number of horn's. Its approach to 
f / ripeness is also indicated by a dis- 
/ tinct change of color from a light 
/ green to a clear yellow. If one buys 
/ r a dozen Seckels at the street corner, 
the ripe ones cannot be selected by 
the eye, and most of the dozen will 
usually prove immature. I believe 
Little Gem could be made a close ri¬ 
val in market, therefore, of the 
Seekel. It is an excellent, regular 
bearer. 
The third of the Maeomber seedlings is 
Refreshing, the tree of which is very vigor¬ 
ous aud a x'egular and free bearer, but it 
never overbears. The fruit is small, me¬ 
dium in size, roundish-obovate; skin very 
smooth, yellow, rather thick; stalk stout, an 
inch long, cavity full; flush wlitish, juicy, 
melting, sweet; quality very good. I regard 
this as a valuable pear. It much resembles the 
Fulton, with a lighter color ami a sweeter skin. 
There are several more of these tine, hard}' 
seedlings, which I will take another occasion 
to describe. One is from Flemish Beauty, of 
large size aud good quality, another a keeper 
equal to Winter Nelis, aud a third a fine pear, 
of remarkable beauty of color aud form. 
the class, are undoubtedly valuable, especially 
for the Northwest; but I now refer to varie¬ 
ties which do not wait for the testing of years 
aud a slow multiplication before they can be 
had for planting. 
Among known sorts well tested. Flemish 
THE CULTURE OF PEACH TREES. 
o rchard, and here they ran, getting nothing 
but the orchard grass aud water, and such 
immature fruit as dropped from the trees, until 
the middle of July, at which time they were 
turned iuto the pea-field. This field is the pear 
orchard, and in it is a spring where the 
hogs could got all the drink they 
required. They helped themselves 
to the peas, and thus became fitted 
for the market without any further .a 
trouble. It might be supposed that 
there would be a great deal of waste ■yi.jSSjj 
in feeding peas in this way, but the l 0fjM 
soss is nothing, except that now aud 
then a pea may be trodden into the 
ground, and not picked up after - 
wards. Nearly all the peas which 
The price of fine fruit is eternal vigilance, 
but when vigilance aud care give such satis¬ 
factory results as they do iu the case of peach 
trees, the vigilance is well rewarded. 
' ■ , 71 
is needed to produce the crop. He has au op¬ 
portunity to purchase wood ashes from a 
wood-pulp mill near at hand, and contracts 
for the entire amount produced from the 
fires that ruu the engines. These ashes he 
drills in with the seed at the rate of five 
bushels to the acre. These five bushels of 
ashes give him better yields than 200 pounds 
of superphosphates drilled in on the same 
amount of ground. Another advantage is that 
the ashes are not exhausted in one year, but 
are gradually improving the producing capa¬ 
city of the soil. In this connection, I noticed 
the past Summer, in the corner of a field near 
my place, the difference in the growth of the 
grass almost to a line, where two loads of 
ashes had been spread more than 50 years 
ago. There was double the amount of grass 
on the ground which had been covered with 
ashes. This field, once densely wooded, has 
been cleared aud cultivated nearly 100 years. 
Undoubtedly the ingredient most lacking in 
this old region is potash, especially on the 
sandy and sandy-loam lands. The potash 
will hold out longer in the clay-loam, but be 
lacking also in the mucky lands which have 
been cropped so long. How in uch material goes 
to waste on every farm, which might be used 
as bedding, or go into the compost heap, or 
be burned for the ashes. In one of these 
three places almost everything can be turned 
to good account. 
LAW OF GROWTH IN MEAT PRODUC 
T10N. 
PROFESSOR E. W. STEWART. 
The production of meat is the great agricul¬ 
tural interest of this country. Grass is our 
great erop—sometimes called king—and the 
great bulk of this is consumed in meat produce 
tion. A thousand millions of bushels of our im¬ 
mense corn crop, together with the by-products 
of our oil and flour mills, go with the gross crop 
to perfect this meat production. So great an 
interest should be studied iu all its economies; 
but until within a few’ years very erroneous 
views were prevalent, and among the most 
misleading svas that which advised that cattle 
be kept till four years old before fattening. 
Bo prevalent was this opinion that fat cuttle 
were seldom shown twenty-five years ago un¬ 
der four years of age, and often they were 
five and six years okl. At early Smithfteld 
shows the finest animals exhibited were four to 
six years old. The same was true of the fairs 
of the various civilized countries. 
The most important point as to the economy 
of such long feedfug does uot 
seem to have been considered at 
all. Farmers had been feeding 
animals from birth to maturity 
all their lives,‘but had not fully 
\ discovered the fact that the cost 
n, of growth wan the least at the 
\ earliest age, aud that it coustnnt 
\ ly i ncreased as ( ho age and weight 
\ advanced to maturity—that is, to 
\ put 100 pounds on a calf when 
\ two mouths old costs less than the 
I same growth at three months, 
1 and at three months less, than iu 
M four mouths, and so on—less the 
tk hrst year than the second, each 
k H additional yeur costing a largely 
increased jiercantage for the gain 
SOME GOOD PEARS, HARDY FAR 
NORTH. 
T. H. HOSKINS, M.D 
There are “iron-clad” peal's as w r ell as 
apples. I am not now referring to the new 
Russian pears lately brought to notice by 
Prof. Budd, of the Iowa Agricultural College, 
and Mr. Charles Gibb,of Abbottsford, Quebec. 
Of these it would seem that a large number 
arc as resistant to cold as the Siberian crabs, 
aud some of them, such as Bergamotte Sapie- 
gauka. are “equal iu quality to Flemish 
Beauty,” while Besseminanka is “pleasant 
aud satisfying in quality.” These, and others of 
TWO NEW RUSSIAN APPLES. 
At our request a specimen 
each of the Russian apples called 
Arabskoe (Arabian Apple) aud 
Titouka (Titus Apple) was sent ^ 
to us by Messrs. Ellwanger & zflBgS 
Barry, of Rochester, N. Y. The A 
latter reminds us iu its markings 
of the Alexander. The skin is 
of a greenish yellow, striped and 
splashed with rod. The flesh is 
coarse aud sub-aeiri. The for- 
mer is of medium size, roundish- 
oblate. The skin is a dark red, 
with a puiqilish-liloom. The flesh 
is white and juicy. The Titouka ejp* 
rqtens about the same time as 
Duchess of Oldenburg (Septem- 
ber); the Arabskoe about ten 
days later. The trees are good 
growers, aud have large, hand¬ 
some foliage, and have this year 
yielded a heavy crop, when oth- 
er kinds l>ore but little. The i 
illustrations (Figs. 668-fi69) are 
true portraits, drawn from speci¬ 
mens sent to us from the above 
firm. These apples may add two 
varieties to our hardy list. 
■From Nature. 
Titouka Apple, 
l 
