accomplished much in this direction, and he 
hoped it would continue in the good work so 
earnestly urged by President Wilder. 
Next was a paper by Mr. Gibb, of Quebec, 
Canada, on “Nomenclature of Russian Ap¬ 
ples.” He alluded somewhat in detail to the 
confusion which now prevails in Russian 
nomenclature, and considered it a great obsta¬ 
cle to the introduction of Russian apples into 
this country. When he advised uniformity 
in the spelling of Russian names, the members 
laughed spontaneously. The names should be 
euphonic to the English ear. “Lougerfeld- 
skoe” and “Schriakobitscbiko” are objection¬ 
able instances. He said the Russian language 
is as musical as the Italian. None of the 
members expressed any doubt on that subject, 
but Mr. Woodward offered a resolution to the 
effect that before these Russian apples are 
placed (n the society’s catalogue, a committee 
should be appointed to revise the list and the 
names, and this resolution was afterward ap¬ 
proved and adopted. The society then ad¬ 
journed for the second day’s dinner, h. h. 
INJURY TO STEMS OF FRUIT TREES. 
BY PROF. J. L. BUDD. 
A correspondent asks the Rural about 
the causes of the wreck of orchards at the 
West. The answer—that the dry, hot sum¬ 
mer and warm, wet fall had most to do with it, 
is, in the maiu, correct, yet it may be useful 
to direct attention to a few leading facts in 
regard to our widespread losses. 
1. Such varieties as Jonathan, Gilpin, and 
Rambo, noted for indeterminate growth dur¬ 
ing our warm and often moist Autumns, were 
killed back in the top, and were also injured 
in the forks and the .cambium layer of the 
stems. 
2. Such hardy varieties as Ben Davis, Wil¬ 
low, and Grimes’s Golden, showed little signs 
of injury at the terminal points of growth, 
but careful inspection of the stems, just above 
the crown, showed fatal injury of the new 
wood, and the complete loosening of the bark. 
Where this liftiug of the bark extended 
around the trunk, the trees gave evidence of 
life in the tops until July, and where a narrow 
bridge of sound bark was left on apple, cherry, 
or plum, the tops still look well and have 
perfected a fair crop of fruit. 
3. The hardy varieties subject to occasional 
injury—more or less fatal—of stem, have come 
through iu perfect condition where top-worked 
on such irou-clad stocks as the Duchess and 
Hibernal at the North, and the Gros Pomier 
or Plumb's Cider in the southern parts of 
Illinois and Iowa. 
4. Hardy varieties—only subject to stem 
injury,—have stood more or less perfectly 
on soils favorable to rapid and complete 
surface drainage; comparative elevation of 
orchard sorts seeming to have less to do with 
the stem injury thau the character of the soil 
and subsoil. 
5. The true iron-clads, which have stood 
the severest trials as root-grafts on varied 
soils north of the 4lst parallel, have been 
schooled to certain peculiarities and fixed 
habits in an air and soil like ours in North 
Eastern Europe and Asia, or are seedlings of 
such varieties. 
Possibly it is not wise to condemn our 
Americau system, known as root-grafting, in 
propagation of varieties such as Duchess, 
Hibernal and Anis, which never fail to ripen 
their cell structure of the eabiurn layer down 
to the roots , without regard to untimely heat 
or rain of Auturnu. Yet I am compelled to 
admit that we have a number of valuable 
varieties of the apple and other orchard 
fruits, which ou our rich alluvial drift, ripen 
their wood downward, and would probably 
finish up the process if the bark at the crown 
did not take up water from the surface soil 
and pass it upward by capillary attraction. 
A hint as to the real defect of such varieties 
is given by the behavior of some of them in 
the nursery about the time of the droppiug of 
the leaves. After a warm rain, the bark of 
whole rows, just above the crown, is found rup¬ 
tured, sometimes entirely ruining trees. In this 
case, we know the inelastic bark is ruptured 
by the swelling of the protoplasm of millions 
of cells of the cainhium layer on account of a 
surplus of water absorbed by the bark from 
the wet surface soil. The thicker and tougher 
bark of bearing trees would prevent this 
early rupture of bark, but the swelled water- 
ladeu cells will as surely bring mischief with 
the adveut of the first severe freezing of 
Winter. 
That such varieties will be benefited by top¬ 
working, as practiced over the whole of 
Northeastern Europe, is reasonable, and my 
own practice so fur fully confirms the belief. 
DAWSON—JARGONELLE. 
Ark they one and the same pear under dif¬ 
ferent names! Not as we have them both 
growing here standing near each other on 
similar soil and with similar treatment. In 
1840 we imported from Andre Leroy, 
P’rance, 312 varieties of pears, the trees of 
which were all planted in one orchard. 
Among them was the French Jargonelle, 
which has made a strong, healthy growth and 
borne moderately, though the fruit is not 
quite so early iu ripening or so handsome as 
the Lawson, which we purchased of the owners 
of the original tree. By this mail we send 
some branches and foliage of the Lawson and 
Jargonelle for comparison. [They are differ- 
erent. Eds.] 
The Hon. Marshall P, Wilder requested us 
to send him some branches and foliage of old 
and young wood that he might determine if 
the Lawson and Jargonelle were identical. We 
sent them, and he decided, promptly, that they 
were not. william parry. 
Parry, N. J. 
NOTES AND COMMENTS. 
Yes, Horticola, the Plumbago capensisisa 
beautiful conservatory plant. I speak from 
experience, having had a plant some 25 feet 
in hight in bloom all Summer. To do this 
plant justice, I allow it to grow and bloom at 
its will all Summer when it can be given 
plenty of room. Early in September, it iscut 
back severely, and thus it occupies but little 
space when the room is required for other 
purposes. My plant is placed iu a deep, well 
enriched border, and I give it copious supplies 
of water, both over head and at the roots, dur- 
its season of growth. After it has beeu cut 
back, 1 keep it rather dry. Young plants can 
be procured of almost auy florist, aud, if 
liberally cared for, nice specimens will soon 
be obtained. 
t_ 
This Plumbago is an excellent plant for 
growing as single specimens for use iu the 
mixed border. It can be planted out early in 
May, and carefully taken up aud placed in a 
large pot or box early in September. When 
potted, it should be thoroughly watered aud 
placed in a sheltered situation until the 
approach of cold weather, wheu it can be 
brought inside. It can be wintered in any 
cool, dry, frost-proof cellar, or under the 
green-house stage, but in the latter case, care 
should be taken to prevent the plant from be¬ 
coming too wet. If it is grown in a box, there 
is no necessity for removing it, but plunge 
the box; when this has decayed, the plant cau 
be easily placed in another a little larger. 
As far as my experience with this Plumbago 
has exteuded, I fiud that it flowers more 
freely wheu plunged. It requires but little 
care, and is one of those choice plants that 
can be grown by all who have the slightest in¬ 
clination to care for it. [We used the same 
plant of this for five years; in a conservatory 
during Winter; in rock-work during Sum¬ 
mer.—Eds.] 
I noticed, in a recent Rural, a few remarks 
in regard to the Tyson Pear. I regret to say 
that I cannot advise anyone to plant It, on ac¬ 
count of its being so tardy in coming into 
bearing. It is all that one could desire as far 
as the manner of growth and quality of fruit 
are concerned, but the tardiness of the tree in 
coming into bearing is a decided objection to 
its being recommended for planting on an ex¬ 
tended scale. 
I am much pleased to see that the commit¬ 
tee having in charge the Horticultural De¬ 
partment of the American Institute, have de¬ 
cided to have an exhibition of coniferous and 
other evergreen plants and shrubs during Oc¬ 
tober, and for the purpose of having as large 
and varied a display as possible, they have 
ottered very liberal prizes. Amateur and 
other planters will greatly appreciate the op¬ 
portunity afforded them to see at one time 
complete collections of these valuable plants, 
aud no doubt will improve the opportunity to 
take the names of the most distinct and desir¬ 
able varieties, with the view of making dis¬ 
tinct and choice collections. The officers 
having this department in charge may rest 
assured that their efforts will be highly appre¬ 
ciated and that they will receive the thanks 
of many amateur planters. In offering liber 
al prizes they have done all iu their power to 
make the exhibition a complete success, and 
it now rests with our nurserymen to say how 
flue aud varied a display we shall have, and I 
trust they will all contribute as liberally as 
possible. They will certainly find it to their 
interest to do so. 
[Rural readers from all parts of the coun¬ 
try, visiting New York, should attend this 
exhibition. —Eds. ] 
It appears to me very singular that the 
White Spruce (Abies alba) is not more gener¬ 
ally planted. It is far superior to the Norway 
Spruce (Abies excelsa) iu all respects, and is 
about the same in price. The White Spruce 
is more compact and symmetrical in form 
than the Norway, and not so rapid in growth. 
The foliage is light and silvery-gray, On ac¬ 
count of its peculiar manner of growth, it is 
well adapted for small places, where the Nor¬ 
way would be objected to on aecouutof its 
vigorous growth and the larger size to which 
the specimens would ultimately attain. This 
is one of those choice things that are but little 
known. 1 think it deserves all that can be 
said in its praise. [It is very true.— Eds.] 
Queens, N. Y. Charles e. parnell. 
D cun) 1} us ban tin}. 
THE NEW YORK DAIRY COMMISSION¬ 
ER AND THE MILK DEALERS. 
We have received the following letter from 
Mr. J. K. Brown, Dairy Commissioner for 
this State, dated from his office in the Capitol 
Building at Albany, on September 30. It 
reached us too late for insertion in last week’s 
Rural: 
“A friend calls my attention to an article 
in ‘Brevities’ column of the Rural of Sept. 
10. Your informant could not have been in 
possession of much, if any, reliable informa¬ 
tion himself. No person has been prosecuted 
unless, upon a chemical analysis of the sus¬ 
pected milk, it was shown to be below the 
legal standard. I inclose a blank form used 
by our experts in making their reports upon 
samples taken. This report is properly filled 
up and, with the sample obtained, delivered 
to the chemist, whose analysis is placed npon 
the outside of this report, and then the whole 
is forwarded to this office. Instead of there 
being over 4,000 suits commenced, as stated 
in the article referred to, there have been not 
more than 25 such cases in the whole State. 
By referring to section 19 of the act, a copy 
of which I inclose, yon will see that for viola¬ 
tion of the milk sections, the penalty is £100, 
and for violations of the oleo sections, $500. 
Section 15 provides that one-half of all these 
penalties is paid to the Dairy Commissioner, 
who shall account therefor to the Treasury of 
the State, etc. The Commissioner himself gets 
no part of these penalties, and no addition is 
or can be made to his regular salary. The 
truth of the whole matter is that, during the 
hot weather, very little ‘oleo’ was sold, and 
the batter experts were temporarily added to 
the force of milk experts at the time of year 
when the milk shipments were largest: this, 
of course, made the milk inspection quite 
active, and all our working force was profit¬ 
ably employed. As the weather became 
cooler, the butter men went back to their own 
work, and such of the milk expert® as could 
be spared were added to their number, and 
the work of obtaining evidence against oleo 
manufacturers and dealers was taken up 
again. 
Several prosecutions of these people have 
already been made, and several more are to 
follow; suits have been brought for the $500 
penalties, aud criminal proceedings have been 
instituted in several cases already. It will 
not be long before it will be fully demonstrat¬ 
ed that manufacturers of aud dealers in ‘oleo’ 
are receiving due attention from this depart¬ 
ment.” 
Remarks. —Our information was derived 
principally from articles in the daily press of 
this city, chiefly the Sun, which gave the fig¬ 
ures editorially. We watched for a contradic¬ 
tion iu auy of the papers, and as none ap¬ 
peared, we naturally supposed the information 
correct. We are glad, however, to allow the 
Commissioner full opportunity for correction, 
and sorry that we were misled into doing an 
unintentional ‘injustice to his department, 
with whose objects we are in full sympathy. 
TEST OF DAIRY COWS. 
VALANCY E. FULLER. 
In the “advance reports” issued by Professor 
Wm. Brown, of the “Ontario Experimental 
Farm,” some most valuable aud interesting 
comparative tests are set out between a cow 
of each of the breeds claiming especial at¬ 
tention as dairy animals,—namely: Jerseys, 
Ayrshires and Holsteins. The Jersey was 
three years old, weighed 830 pounds, aud had 
calved iu February. The Ayrshire was four 
years old, weighed 1,150 pounds, had calved 
in January, ana the Holsteiu was three years 
old, weighed 900 pounds, aud had also calved 
iu January. 
The first series of tests was for the months 
of February, March aud April, or S9 days, 
with the following results for that period: 
Fb units Pounds Pounds Pounds 
3tiik. Cream. Butter, Curd, 
Jersey.,.... 1,602 296.7 127.6 224.8 
Ayrshire ........ 1,780 228.0 85.5 240.8 
Holstein.. 1.958 237.7 73.1 205.6 
The next is a summer test with the same ani¬ 
mals iu May and June, and applying the tests 
to aggregate quantities for the 61 days, the 
outcome is as follows: 
Pounds Pounds Pounds Pounds 
iliUc. Cream. Butter, Curd. 
Jersey. 1,343 190.5 116.2 282.1 
Ayrshire. 915 134.5 66.3 143.6 
Holstein. 1,231 U2.T S4.9 157.5 
Taking the three cows for the whole 151 
days, the length of the tests, the following are 
the results: 
Pountls Pounds Fbumia Pounds 
Milt. Cream, Butter. Curd. 
Jersey. 2.944 487.2 243.8 456.4 
Ayrshire. 2,695 362.5 151.8 SS3.9 
Holstein,.... 3,2«9 350.1 108.0 363.1 
In other words the Jersey weighing 830 
pounds aud three years old, gave 249 pounds 
more milk than the Ayrshire four years old, 
weighing 1,150 pounds, and 285 pounds less 
than the Holstein—900 pounds and three years 
old; but the J«rsey gave 248 pounds of butter 
